Red Wing

Axellon
Block E
Posts: 3
Joined: April 14th, 2021, 8:03 pm

Re: Red Wing

Postby Axellon » April 14th, 2021, 9:19 pm

They've well into construction of a pedestrian bridge linking Old West Main St., a retail and residential strip, and the Upper Harbor/Baypoint Park areas of the riverfront. They're set to reconstruct the eastern, commercial part of Old West Main this summer, widening the sidewalks and adding some badly needed greenery and pedestrian crossings. I think there's a single crosswalk the entire length of Old West Main, and that's over half a mile away.

They also have plans to better utilize the Upper Harbor area as part of the project. There are some dirt lots there that are sorely underutilized. They have several plans on the project page, but I'm not sure if there's a finalized plan or timeline for that.

The bridge will end between the blue and red buildings. The red one is Kelly's Bar. The foreground is a dirt lot that's used for overflow parking for grain trucks and boat trailers, and will hopefully be improved at some point. Behind you is a marina.
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The berm that will lead to the bridge, with the railroad tracks to the left. The foreground has been an unmaintained grass patch forever.
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The only current connection between this end of Old West Main and the riverfront. The other connection is about three quarters a mile down the street. The tracks and small ridge are a barrier for most of the downtown area. This is just to the left of the previous photo.
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Axellon
Block E
Posts: 3
Joined: April 14th, 2021, 8:03 pm

Re: Red Wing

Postby Axellon » November 8th, 2021, 8:01 pm

The bridge is finished and open.

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In other news, they're starting demo of the old hospital (Street View of happier times). There are currently no plans for the hospital's block or the unused lot next to it that takes up most of another block, but housing has been discussed.

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Silophant
Moderator
Posts: 4470
Joined: June 20th, 2012, 4:33 pm
Location: Whimsical NE

Re: Red Wing

Postby Silophant » November 8th, 2021, 10:28 pm

Ooh, thanks for the update. My wife and I took the train to Red Wing for a weekend getaway in the Before Times, and found that the downtown area was cool to walk around, and the W Main area was cool to walk around, but getting between them on foot kinda sucked. That bridge will help a lot!
Joey Senkyr
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MNdible
is great.
Posts: 5989
Joined: June 8th, 2012, 8:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis

Re: Red Wing

Postby MNdible » November 9th, 2021, 10:13 am

Unfortunately, I don't think this bridge helps the connection between downtown and Old Main at all.

Axellon
Block E
Posts: 3
Joined: April 14th, 2021, 8:03 pm

Re: Red Wing

Postby Axellon » November 9th, 2021, 7:01 pm

Yeah, Old West Main (and all of the downtown area waterfront) is separated from the rest of the city from Hwy61/Main St. The bridge just crosses over the railroad tracks and makes it a little easier to get from Old West Main to the waterfront. They rebuilt 61 through downtown and added bump outs not too long ago. That helped a little, but it's still pretty foreboding.

There is actually a pedestrian tunnel from the Old West Main area under 61. But it leads to a dead end street and an overgrown set of stairs that dump you out across the street from a sidewalk on fairly busy street. Unsurprisingly, I doubt it's used much and I'm pretty sure there are plenty of residents that have no idea it exists.

Downtown is to the right:
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