Draft Midtown Greenway Regional Trail Plan is open for public comment

View draft plan and submit comments by August 5, 2024

A draft Midtown Greenway Regional Trail Plan is open for public comment until August 5, 2024. Use the links below to view and comment on the draft plan:

• Draft Midtown Greenway Regional Trail Plan [PDF]
  • Please tell us what you think
• Las Zonas de Servicios en el Plan Preliminar – Midtown Greenway Regional Trail Plan [PDF]
  • Por favor díganos qué piensa
• Meelaha Adeega Ee Qorshaha Qabyada Ah – Midtown Greenway Regional Trail Plan [PDF]
  • Fadlan noo sheeg siday kula tahay

Next Steps

After the comment period closes in August, a public hearing will be held, likely in the fall or early winter. Following the hearing, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Commissioners will consider approval of the plan.

FAQ: Midtown Greenway Regional Trail Plan

Project Background

This work stems from Resolution 2023-127, in which MPRB Commissioners directed staff to prepare a regional trail plan for the Midtown Greenway.

The underlying landowners of the Midtown Greenway are the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority (HCRRA) or the City of Minneapolis, depending on the trail segment. The City of Minneapolis owns the trail and both the HCRRA and City operate and maintain the trail.

The MPRB has not formally been involved in the Midtown Greenway since its inception; however, the MPRB is the only agency within the City of Minneapolis that is eligible for regional park and trail funding. Therefore, the MPRB’s involvement was requested to obtain regional trail status for the Midtown Greenway and use some of that funding on the trail.

This trail planning process will result in a written and graphic document that fulfills regional plan requirements outlined by the Metropolitan Council. It will also include an Agreement between the City of Minneapolis, HCRRA, and MPRB that is focused on ownership, operations and use of regional funding for the Midtown Greenway if it receives status as a regional trail.

The regional trail plan document will build on design work, community engagement, analysis, recommendations and completed projects from other agencies, organizations, and the community since the inception of the Midtown Greenway. The document will also include MPRB adopted park plans for applicable locations being incorporated into the regional trail boundary.

Following guidelines outlined in Resolution 2023-127, community engagement for the draft plan document is focused on lower-cost amenities, like portable restrooms, garbage and recycling bins, benches, drinking fountains, picnic tables, community gardens, wayfinding and ecological enhancements. Funding and community engagement for any higher-cost capital expenditures like new ramp infrastructure, lighting, permanent restrooms, pavement repaving, trail expansions and like-items will have to be covered by the current agency owners/operators or other interested parties.

If a Regional Trail Plan for the Midtown Greenway is approved by MPRB Commissioners and the Metropolitan Council, the Greenway would receive regional trail status and be eligible for regional funding sources. Additionally, as part of the regional park system, the Midtown Greenway would be incorporated into the Metropolitan Council’s Annual Use Estimates, Visitor Study, and potentially other Council research.