By 2016, a new set of recreation paths should extend up the East Bank of the Mississippi River in northeast Minneapolis, matching a set built on the opposite bank in 2007.
They'll be the first major expansion of park trails in the city since the West Bank trails, and a major stpe forward in plans to revamp the upper riverfront .
A community advisory committee has recommended a route for the new paths from the current ending point at the Plymouth Avenue Bridge and extending to NE Marshall Street where it's crossed by the Burlington Northern tracks.
That's a distance along the river of about three-quarters of a mile, but the proposed route is closer to a mile in length because it meaders.
That plan gets a public hearing at the Park Board at 6:30 on Nov. 19. Design work would start after baord approval and the project would be bid next year, with work finishing in 2016, according to the project schedule. Most of the money is coming from a $1 million federal grant, with metro money contributing another $600,000.
The proposed trails would be separated where possible, with a 10-foot bike path and an eight-foot foot trail. Where they'd be combined in places where space is tight, they'd be a minimum of 12 feet wide. The paths might be fenced in spots, such as where they run close to the river, or near the railroad.
The proposed rout meaders around various riverfront features. It passes under the Plymouth bridge close to the east abutment to leave space for the planned recreation of an island offshore at the future park planned for the former Scherer lumber site. Then it swings east to loop around that park site, so that it leaves room for construction equipment that will eventually build the island and park facilities.
Then the route swings toward the river, to fit behind the Graco complex, and goes under the Broadway Avenue Bridge. It swings on the inland side of the memorial at Sheridan Memorial Park, on the river side of a proposed play area there, and then along an abandoned rail spur to Marshall.
