Proposals due November 3, 2023 at 3 pm
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) has issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Design and Engineering Services for the Grand Rounds Missing Link project.
This Request for Qualifications is intended to solicit responses from qualified consultants or consultant teams to build from the Grand Rounds Missing Link 2019 Regional Trail Plan to develop designs and help implement portions of the Grand Rounds Missing Link (GRML) Regional Trail over a multi-year timeframe.
RFQ Schedule
Questions or requests for clarifications due: October 17, 2023
Last addenda posted, including MPRB responses: October 20, 2023
Proposals due: November 3, 2023, 3:00 pm
Interview notifications, if required; November 8, 2023
Interviews, if required: Week of November 13, 2023 or Later
Updates to the schedule and answers to submitted questions will occur only via an
addendum to the Request for Qualifications. All addenda will be posted on the MPRB
Business Opportunities site.
View Request for Qualifications
Project Background
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s (MPRB) Grand Rounds Missing Link is a 140-year trail gap in the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway that stretches from East River Road and Franklin Avenue in SE Minneapolis to Stinson Parkway and St. Anthony Parkway in NE Minneapolis. There have been several master plans developed over the past 100 years to complete the Grand Rounds.
In 2019, the trail plan was revisited and an updated plan was adopted by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the Metropolitan Council. The 2019 Regional Trail (Master) Plan for the Grand Rounds Missing Link is the adopted policy direction for MPRB and the Met Council.
Met Council required a single route for the master plan, but MPRB opted to maintain a flexible vision for the middle segment of the Grand Rounds Missing Link (GRML). The GRML moves through an industrial part of Minneapolis that is still an active workforce center. It will require extensive multi-jurisdictional coordination since most of the trail routes run along City and County rights-of-way (ROW) or property owned by other entities including the University of Minnesota and private land holders.
In development of the 2019 Master Plan, MPRB convened a Regional Trail Committee as well as a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) that met to advise in the route selection process. The CAC recommended three routes to the MPRB Board of Commissioners for consideration, and the Board selected one proposed route along with two alternate routes in order to be open to opportunities as they arise. The committees developed a set of Route Considerations to guide development of the trail along with the routes. There are design solutions for each of the proposed routes that will meet the trail’s Route Considerations, which are as follows:
- Feasible
- A vision founded on interagency coordination
- MPRB Parkway typology wherever possible
- Connect the Mississippi River to St. Anthony Parkway
- Consider importance of industry to the city
- Mitigate environmental justice challenges in industrial areas and corridors near
freeways - Be an asset to the neighborhoods though which it passes
- Be a safe route for all users
- Regional trail connections to public transportation