Work wraps up for the season in mid-December with water returning to the channel and winter recreation open, pending safe ice conditions
Kenilworth Channel closed between the Burnham Road Bridge and Cedar Lake on Sept. 7, 2021 for a project that removed the old wood channel walls and replaced them with a naturalized shoreline featuring plants, stone and soil.
Work related to this project will wrap up for the season soon and water will return to the channel in mid-December. Planting and stabilization of some areas of the new shoreline is planned for the spring.
The City of Minneapolis replaced an 80-year-old section of sanitary sewer line near the channel this fall as well. Please visit the Park Lane Sanitary Sewer Improvement project page for more details on that effort. Contractors for the Metropolitan Council will be working in the channel this winter to begin wall repair related to the Southwest Light Rail Transit project, but a winter trail will be open through the area when ice is thick enough to safely allow recreation.
Throughout the design process and during construction, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board coordinated efforts to preserve as much of the existing tree canopy as possible. This coordination will result in many trees being preserved, however, some tree removal is inevitable. An MPRB tree preservation expert evaluates any trees impacted by these public infrastructure projects to determine if they need to be removed to maintain a safe recreation environment when the channel reopens. At least one tree will be planted for every tree lost during construction.