A $20 million tunnel? Twin Cities suburbs look for ways to help pedestrians cross the road

France Avenue near Southdale in Edina was designed for cars: six lanes across, with a 40 mph speed limit.

But that easy access for drivers zipping in and out of the shopping district increasingly collides with the city’s hopes to build apartments in the area and make it friendlier to walkers and cyclists. And finding a fix is proving costly.

One solution, an estimated $20 million pedestrian tunnel across France between Gallagher Drive and 72nd Street, has won enthusiastic support from the City Council and some community members. But skeptics, including one council member, characterize the project as more of a “want” than a “need,” raising questions about spending so much to connect what are now two sites on tap for redevelopment.

“I think it’s probably premature, if necessary at all,” said Ron Anderson, a former member of the City Council.

Cities like Edina are thinking differently today about aging neighborhoods like Southdale than they did in the ‘60s and ‘70s. As those areas redevelop, they’re catering to residents who want to walk or bike places, in addition to drivers.

The discussion illustrates the challenges in retrofitting car-centric suburbs, whether they’re dealing with explosive growth on the fringes, like in Chaska, or planning redevelopment, like in Edina.

Bill Neuendorf, Edina’s economic development manager, recalls watching pedestrians try to cross from offices on the west side of France to restaurants on the east before the city improved crosswalks.

Underpasses, or wide tunnels, can be an expensive solution to problems like this, but they can encourage people to walk or bike instead of driving by removing the potential for conflict between pedestrians, cyclists and cars. They are often better-suited for seamless bike and walking experiences than overpasses, another option Edina studied, because of the long ramps and high clearances required for such bridges, said Kyle Shelton, the director of the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies.

Removing obstacles for pedestrians helps make communities that combine residential and commercial space successful, he said.

“That’s not just about the design, the welcomingness, the openness, but also the activation overall,” he said, because pedestrian spaces promote browsing in shops, stopping for coffee or spontaneous conversations.

It’s not just mixed residential and commercial areas where suburbs are considering tunnels as a way to help walkers and cyclists cross busy roads.

Carver County is putting the finishing touches on underpasses at the intersection Highway 41 and Engler Boulevard as part of a more than $23 million road reconstruction project. The new tunnels will make Chaska schools and the city’s community center more accessible on foot.

Before the redo, Mielke said, the roads had swelled in as the population boomed: “It was definitely heavily focused on road users at that time and then they gradually added trails, sidewalks as development happened.”

In Edina, the France Avenue tunnel came up as the city planned for redevelopment of key parcels along the thoroughfare, which is a Hennepin County road. On the west side of France, a mixed office-and-retail development is underway and apartments are planned. To the east, on the site of the closed Macy’s Furniture Store, the city has approved another live-work-play development.

“It’s not just tearing down a Taco Bell and building a McDonald’s,” Neuendorf said of the area’s planned transformation. “It’s completely transforming the site from something that worked in the 1950s or ’60s to something that will thrive” in the 21st century.

In August, the City Council voted 4-1 to continue exploring the underpass idea. That vote sparked debate in the community, with some residents raising doubts about the project’s practicality and the city’s assertion that it won’t affect their taxes.

Neuendorf said he’s trying to get the discussion moving now in order to allow the developer on the west side of France to build accordingly.

But Lois Ring, who lives in a condo south of the discussed underpass, said she doesn’t feel like the city made enough efforts to contact nearby residents about the project, and thinks the underpass would mainly benefit the developers.

She and others are also skeptical of allowing the use of tax subsidies to help pay for the project.

So far, the council has directed staff to continue assessing the underpass idea, including trying to get a better handle on its cost.

Neuendorf said the project won’t move forward until the city is sure there will be progress at the Macy’s site on the east side of France Avenue. And even then, he said, it would require additional approval by the City Council.