Plymouth Avenue bridge is back open to traffic after six-week delay

Construction on the east side of the Plymouth Avenue Bridge has taken a lot longer than expected, but the connection linking north to northeast Minneapolis has reopened to vehicular and foot traffic.

But it will be a couple of weeks before a new trail passing under the bridge is ready, with a concrete walkway installed on the south side of the bridge.

“Please stay off the trail until it opens and do not move or go around fences or barricades,” said Robin Smothers with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board.

The east-west bridge spanning the Mississippi River was shut down in April for a summer-long project to build a tunnel under the bridge to make it easier and safer for bicyclists and pedestrians to get between Boom Island and the new Graco Park.

Originally, the bridge was to reopen in August, but park board officials said they ran into “unforeseen challenges,” which delayed the opening.

The project called for crews to dig down 20 feet and build a 24-foot-wide tunnel to allow trail users to bypass an unsafe crossing at Sibley Street.

Bicyclists will be directed to that grade-level crossing until the railing on the new Boom Island Marina bridge is complete, Smothers said.

Workers uncovered remnants of the old Plymouth Avenue Bridge that has stood since the 1980s. That required some design adjustments. In addition, extensions to the steel pile supports for the underpass had to be installed to account for varying soil conditions, the Park Board said.

That added an extra month to the schedule. Look for a grand opening announcement when everything is done.

While we are on the topic of bridges, the 10th Avenue SE. Bridge, which runs parallel to I-35W in Minneapolis, has been dedicated in honor of the late state Sen. Kari Dziedzic.

Mayor Jacob Frey, City Council member Aurin Chowdhury, state lawmakers and several of Dziedzic’s family members gathered Wednesday for a ceremony to dedicate the “Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Karl Dziedzic Memorial Bridge.”

Dziedzic was 62 when she died in December 2024 of ovarian cancer. She had represented District 60 covering northeast Minneapolis from 2012 to 2024 and was the leader of the Senate DFL caucus in 2023.

The City Council passed a resolution this year to honor the long-time public servant who graduated from Edison High School and the University of Minnesota.

“Dziedzic was the chief author and worked tirelessly to secure state bonding dollars for the 10th Avenue Bridge in 2017,” part of the resolution reads. “Thanks to the state’s investment, the 10th Avenue Bridge has been transformed to include protected bike lanes and pedestrian walkways, making it safer for students and all residents.”