Midtown Greenway
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Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Grade Separation
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A look at the Midtown Greenway Trail looking westward from Nicollet Avenue. The rock on the left side is former ballast from the Milwaukee Road line.
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| Location | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
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| Coordinates | 44°57′00″N 93°17′10″W / 44.95000°N 93.28611°WCoordinates: 44°57′00″N 93°17′10″W / 44.95000°N 93.28611°W |
| Built | 1912 |
| Architect | Charles Fredrick Loweth, H.C. Lothholz |
| MPS | Reinforced-Concrete Highway Bridges in Minnesota MPS |
| NRHP Reference # | 05000508 |
| Added to NRHP | June 1, 2005 |
The Midtown Greenway is a 5.7-mile (9.2 km) rail trail in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is considered under segregated cycle facilities.
Used both recreationally and for commuting, the partially below-grade Greenway runs east-west about one block north of Lake Street. It provides cyclists, inline skaters, runners and pedestrians a virtually traffic-free route across the city.
The Greenway lies in a former Milwaukee Road railroad corridor along 29th Street. This corridor had been abandoned west of Hiawatha Avenue but is still active east of Hiawatha as part of the Minnesota Commercial Railway. The rail line was originally built between 1879 and 1881; however, as traffic increased, the city of Minneapolis mandated a trench be built between Hiawatha and Irving avenues in 1910. The trench, bridges and retaining walls were evaluated in 1989 as part of the Reinforced-Concrete Highway Bridges in Minnesota MPS, and then listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Grade Separation. In 1993, the railroad property was purchased by the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority.
Phase One of the Greenway opened in August 2000, starting at the intersection of 31st Street and Chowen Avenue, just inside Minneapolis city limits. Running between Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun, the Greenway enters the 29th Street trench near Hennepin Avenue. Phase Two opened in November 2004, running from 5th Avenue to Hiawatha Avenue. The rest of the Greenway to the Mississippi River opened as Phase Three in September 2006. In fall of 2007, the new Martin Olav Sabo Bridge was opened by Hennepin County and the city as Phase Four, eliminating a dangerous at-grade crossing at seven-lane Hiawatha Avenue.
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