You already haven't been able to get there from here on West River Parkway just south of downtown, and now that problem is going to get worse before it gets better.
Hennepin County announced Tuesday that a parkway closing that's in its 11th month will be extended further south starting Wednesday to accommodate the long-planned rehab of the Franklin Avenue Bridge.
Workers will be chipping away at the bridge near its west pier to remove spalling concrete. The closing of the parkway and the adjacent pedestrian and bike trails is expected to last for several weeks until the work shifts out over the river.
The parkway closing will begin 500 feet south of the bridge, or about a mile south of the current roadblock caused by a massive mudslide last June that followed heavy rain. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board hopes to have new retaining walls installed in the area below the Fairview medical complex by next fall, allowing that section to reopen.
There will also be parkway and trail closings next year. That's when precast deck panels being built this year upriver at Bohemian Flats Park will be floated down to the bridge and installed.
The Park Board already has a detour for bike and foot traffic, but the county has added a route for motorists. It follows the parkway to Franklin on the south ramp, Franklin to Riverside Avenue to 21st Avenue S. to S. 4th Street and back to the parkway.
