Project goals

The goals of the access improvement project are to:

• Improve connections between the Midtown Greenway and nearby areas for people of all abilities
• Address the existing 1.5-mile gap where there are no ADA connections to the Midtown Greenway from Whittier Neighborhood and other nearby areas
• Address the lack of ADA-accessible ramps to Midtown Greenway
• Provide more direct connections from the Midtown Greenway to nearby schools, businesses, housing, parks and bike network in the Whittier Neighborhood and Lyn-Lake area
• Help Midtown Greenway users avoid busy street intersections with high traffic volumes
• Come up with a design that preserves the integrity of the surrounding areas, including the Soo Line Community Garden

Site selection

This location between Garfield and Harriet avenues was selected because it is in the middle of the 1.5-mile gap where no ADA access to the Midtown Greenway exists and is the best location where we can build ADA-complaint ramp access.

People already use an informal wood chip path at this location to informally access the Midtown Greenway. However, it is not ADA-complaint, and the nearest existing Midtown Greenway entrance ramps at Girard and Bryant avenues are also not ADA compliant. The nearest ADA access points to the Midtown Greenway are the at-grade crossings at Humboldt and 5th avenues.

This site is in the Whittier Neighborhood, a racially and economically diverse neighborhood, underserved by the Midtown Greenway with limited entrance points. Full Greenway access at this location will enable more people across diverse cultural and racial communities and people of all abilities to use the trail and the parks system it connects.

Constructing ADA-compliant ramp access at this location will provide many benefits including, more direct connections from the trail to schools, businesses, housing, parks and the bike network. It will also allow trail users to avoid busy street intersections with high automobile traffic volumes.