New proposed designs detail plans for Minneapolis’ Grand Rounds Missing Link
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is excited to share new proposed designs for a project that will fill a longstanding gap in the Grand Rounds system!
The Grand Rounds Missing Link is an ongoing project to fill a major gap in the Grand Rounds – the 51-mile connected system of parks, trails, and parkways in Minneapolis that encircles most of the city.
The Grand Rounds is recognized as both a State and National Scenic Byway and includes trails and roadway along the Mississippi River, Minnehaha Creek, the Chain of Lakes, Theodore Wirth Park, Victory Memorial and St. Anthony Parkways, and many more parks and natural features. However, there’s a gap in Northeast and Southeast Minneapolis that has existed for 140+ years. This gap is known as the “Missing Link.”
New concepts for the Grand Rounds Missing Link focus on the development of a regional trail and new parkland opportunities throughout the corridor, including the city of Saint Anthony Village and the Mid-City Industrial, Como, and Prospect Park neighborhoods. The trail route is based on the regional trail plan, which was adopted in 2019 by the MPRB and Met Council.
Use the link below to explore the proposed design concepts through a virtual tour or interactive map and share your thoughts using a public comment map.
Grand Rounds Missing Link Concepts
About the New Concepts
The Grand Rounds Missing Link corridor is organized into four segments according to city or neighborhood: Saint Anthony Village, Mid-City Industrial, Como, and Prospect Park.
A future study will determine the feasibility of “Granary Crossing”, a potential bridge crossing over the major rail yards in Southeast Minneapolis that would connect the Como and Prospect Park segments of the Grand Rounds Missing Link. If implemented, these projects together would create an unbroken ring of public trails and parkland throughout the city.
Project Funding
The Grand Rounds Missing Link project 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 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.
Next Steps
Public Open House
The MPRB is planning an Open House this winter to go over the design concepts in person, stay tuned for details.
Consideration by MPRB Commissioners
Feedback will be collected over the next month, then the concepts and feedback will be presented to MPRB Commissioners at a Board meeting in the spring, where Commissioners will consider approving or amending the concept.
Initial Phase of Construction
If Commissioners approve a design concept, the MPRB will choose an initial phase of construction based on a variety of factors:
Alignment in capital projects from other agencies – can the MPRB coordinate with construction projects planned by other landowning agencies in the corridor?
How new trail will connect to built environment – new trail should make sense and not leave trail users in an unsafe or unproductive dead-end.
Whether the MPRB is successful in a planned application for a federal Scenic Byways grant for the northern segment of the Missing Link.
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.