Protests prompt rerouting of parkway

The missing link in the Minneapolis parkway system may be plugged by a route that swings far east through the city's industrial hinterlands near Hwy. 280.

A more direct route for connecting St. Anthony Parkway and East River Road drew determined opposition from Como neighborhood residents last week.

That route, mostly following Stinson Boulevard and 18th and 19th Avenues SE., is one of three corridors still being evaluated by a citizen committee charged with recommending a route to bridge the parkway gap.

But Como neighbors expressed sufficient fear over losing homes and gaining traffic if a parkway bisects their area that committee Chairman John Erwin said he thinks the industrial area route running east of the neighborhood is preferable. Park Commissioner Walt Dziedzic agrees.

"It became clear that the neighborhood had real concerns about a parkway coming through it, and that the concerns outweighed the benefits," said Erwin, a former park commissioner.

Last week's public hearing will be followed by another on Oct. 18. Erwin said he wants to hear from northeast residents before the committee votes on Nov. 1 whether to eliminate routes from consideration. Their recommendation will eventually go to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

Last week's meeting was dominated by Como residents who opposed making a formal parkway out of the informal route through their neighborhood and the University of Minnesota long used by bikers to connect the missing link.

"Nobody wants it," Bevan Phillips, an 18th Avenue SE. resident, said bluntly.

"The most important resource here is the neighborhood," said Tom Weist; a parkway would exacerbate traffic already entering the area on Stinson Boulevard.

Neighborhood residents expressed a sense that their relatively isolated residential area is already suffering from student rentals and the closing of Tuttle School and Southeast Library.

But neighborhood activist Wendy Menken said a route on the eastern edge of the neighborhood, closer to 280, offers a chance to develop a regional park containing the wetlands that give rise to Bridal Veil Creek. Erwin said one feature to be considered will be an outdoor theater.

The citizen committee has identified four route variations that would skirt the city's eastern edge. All would start at NE. Ridgeway Parkway and Interstate 35W and head south toward the river.

Each would require lengthy bridges to span the railyards that bisect the area. But Erwin said he's hopeful that some of the business properties for sale along the route near 280 could be converted to parks for what he described as a park-starved eastern edge of Como.

The opposition from Como residents to the Stinson route was vociferous enough that Erwin and the committee didn't float one idea: breaking the parkway into paired one-way streets to minimize the amount of private property needed on 18th and 19th Avenues.

The committee also has looked at a proposal to remake NE. Marshall Street as a better street for bikers and pedestrians. Although the street is included in the committee's list of parkway routes, Erwin said the committee would more likely support it as a supplementary project.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438

Steve Brandt • sbrandt@startribune.com