About the Open Parkways Project
Posted on 3 June, 2022The Open Parkways toolkit and pilot project will enable greater flexibility, functionality, and aesthetics around changing the nature of use of parkways across Minneapolis from vehicle-centric use to active human use for a temporary duration of time. The concept toolkit and pilot project plan resulted from engagement with park board staff across departments, city traffic and safety staff and Metropolitan Council regional parks staff. The pilot project is proposed as a strategy to better engage with the community for feedback around the tools included in the toolkit.
The resulting Open Parkways toolkit will utilize infrastructure such as self-watering planters, gates, and bollards in conjunction with lesser amounts of traditional barriers in order to transition parkways to active human use for temporary periods of time. The pilot project planned for the summer of 2022 along West River Parkway between 4th Ave N and 13th Ave S will allow the Park Board to engage with the public and test performance the tools. The outcomes of the pilot project will be presented to the Park Board for their consideration in the fall.