Ride Boldly!

Bikes, bicycling, and road safety.

Bicycle Bridge Closures

August 2, 2007 by julie

In the wake of the I35W Bridge disaster, numerous bikeways and bridges are also to be impacted indefinitely. While cycling is encouraged, both now and ongoing as a way to ease congestion, certain routes are not open options.

The City of Minneapolis has announced the closure of the following roads and bridges that impact cyclists:

WEST RIVER PARKWAY
Closed between 13th Ave S to 1st St S
Local access only between 11th Ave and 13th Ave S
Local access between 4th St and 1st St S

2nd STREET SE
Closed between 8th Ave SE to 11th Ave SE
Local access between 3rd Ave SE and 8th Ave SE
Local access only on 11th Ave SE between University Ave and 2nd St SE

STONE ARCH BRIDGE
Closed until further notice

BRIDGE #9 – DINKYTOWN BICYCLE CONNECTION
Closed until further notice

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Author: julie

Julie Kosbab is an online marketing consultant and active transportation advocate living in Anoka County, Minnesota. She was one of Minnesota's only League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructors when certified in 2005. She is a past member of the National Bicycle Tour Directors Association. She has 2 children and 4 bicycles. Find her on Twitter as @betweenstations.

3 Comments

Leave a reply →

  1. Fritz
    August 2, 2007 at 3:03 pm

    Given the high bike usage in MPLS, this move to restrict bike access seems short sighted. Are there time estimates on bridge replacement yet?

  2. Jason
    August 2, 2007 at 10:35 pm

    If you’ll notice, the first two closures are only a few blocks. I’m sure the Stone Arch Bridge will reopen soon enough (it’s being used for vehicle transport for the bridge recovery). I’m not familiar with #9, but imagine the same is true. Frankly, I’m perfectly willing to take an alternate route since I know the importance of this effort. I live in NE and bike to the West Bank several times a week. Today I took the Washington Ave Bridge for the first time, and got to my destination a few minutes earlier than my usual Stone Arch route! Trying something new = Not bad at all

  3. Julie
    August 3, 2007 at 4:21 am

    #9 has has some approach issues recently regardless, because the East Bank side has a steep hill approach and it’s been being repaved.

    They’re using both bridges as recovery staging areas. I doubt this will last too long.

    A new bridge will take a while at the interstate, though. Minnesota is not a year-round construction state. It’s going to take some time to get all of the old bridge out, determine cause, prep the two ends to TAKE a new bridge, design the bridge and fund the bridge. The state is also going to have to put up more permanent temporary barricades — right now, it’s cones and horses, and those won’t do well with plows and ice storms.

    I think the realistic time frame for construction of a valid bridge part is next spring.