Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board launches renewed effort to complete Grand Rounds Missing Link

Trail design open house planned at the Market at Malcolm Yards Blueprint Room, 501 30th Ave. SE, on Thursday, May 23, 4:30-6 pm

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is launching a renewed effort to complete the longstanding gap in the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway!

A family-friendly public open house is planned on Thursday, May 23, 2024, 4:30-6 pm at the Market at Malcolm Yards, 501 30th Ave. SE. The event will be held in the Blueprint Room. Stop by to get involved in the latest efforts to design and build trail connections to complete the Grand Rounds Missing Link.

An event flyer is linked below. Please share with anyone who may be interested in this project!

Grand Rounds Missing Link Open House Flyer

Grand Rounds sign on Main Street SE in October 2022

About the Project

The Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway circles almost all of Minneapolis in 51 miles of continuous parkway and bike and walk trails. It travels along the Mississippi River, Minnehaha Creek, Chain of Lakes, Theodore Wirth Regional Park, Victory Memorial and St. Anthony Parkways, plus many more parks and natural features. However, there's a gap in NE/SE Minneapolis between Stinson Parkway and East River Parkway that has existed for 140+ years.

Several plans were developed over the past 100 years to complete the Grand Rounds, but the trail gap has persisted. In 2009, a planning effort was supported by community members and the MPRB but was never adopted by the Metropolitan Council due to a lack of interagency support for the trail route and vision.

The 2009 Missing Link trail plan was revisited in 2019 as part of creating the East of the River Park Plan, which planned all neighborhood parks in Minneapolis east of the Mississippi River. An updated Missing Link plan was adopted by the MPRB as well as Metropolitan Council at the conclusion of that project.

Project Funding

This current renewed effort has two dedicated funding sources. The Minnesota state legislature provided $5.5 million to Grand Rounds Missing Link as part of the 2023 state infrastructure bill. Also in 2023, the MPRB Code of Ordinances was amended to prioritize funding for “Regional Opportunity Facilities” in the regional park budgeting process, beginning in 2024.

Regional opportunity facilities are those that are not yet substantially connected into the regional park and trail system, either because of limited land control by the MPRB, or because of incomplete pedestrian and bicycle connections to and between other regional facilities. The Grand Rounds Missing Link and Above the Falls Regional Park are two places specifically called out in the amendment. Read the ordinance, PB 18-3, for more detailed information on how the MPRB allocates regional park funding.

So now, in 2024, the MPRB has dedicated funding in place to finally complete the Missing Link. However, building the new trail will require coordination with several other organizations that own the land in the Missing Link corridor, including the City of Minneapolis and University of Minnesota. Filling the Missing Link trail gap will happen incrementally, block-by-block, over the next decade.

Please visit the project website for more much more information, including historic planning documents from previous Missing Link initiatives. You can also sign up for email updates on the project website to stay informed as trail segments are added.

Grand Rounds Missing Link Project Page

Share Your Thoughts

Please share your thoughts, observations, concerns, and ideas about the corridor on the Grand Rounds Missing Link Corridor Map! Anyone can submit observations on opportunities and challenges on the proposed route to complete the Missing Link.

This summer, refined trail design concepts will be presented online and at community events for public feedback.

Design Criteria

Missing Link design efforts are guided by the following priorities:

1. Feasible
2. A vision founded on interagency coordination
3. MPRB parkway typology wherever possible
4. Connect the river to St. Anthony Parkway
5. Consider importance of industry to the city
6. Mitigate environmental justice challenges in industrial areas and corridors near freeways
7. Be an asset to the neighborhoods through which it passes
8. Be a safe route for all users
9. Regional trail connections to public transportation

Grand Rounds Missing Link Corridor Map

Posted by Chris Lautenschlager on May 16, 2024