Published July 27, 2009 by

Tree removal happening soon on MTT connection through Riverside Park?

Trees at Riverside Park and 5th St. Bridge Trees at Riverside Park and 5th St. Bridge  Trees at Riverside Park and 5th St. Bridge  
The routing of the new trail ($245,000 from the City’s Master Development District Fund) from the Mill Towns Trail bridge through Riverside Park will evidently necessitate the removal of (some? all?) the trees along the river adjacent to the 5th St. bridge. Among the larger trees there are three Norway (red) pines, an ash, a Chinese elm, and a diseased American elm.

Griff Wigley

Griff Wigley

City

Master Development District Fund Mill Towns Trail Riverside Park Riverside trail extension

7 Comments

  1. Patrick Enders said:

    Can anyone tell me what the plan is here? Are they trying to put the bike trail under 5th, or have a crosswalk here? When I looked at that tree-lined spot a couple weeks ago, it didn’t look like there’d be much room for the bike trail to go through this narrow area.

    Unfortunately, I’m afraid it will indeed take removal of all the trees to get a trail through there.

    July 27, 2009
  2. Sean Hayford O'Leary said:

    Patrick, the intention is for the trail to route people onto the new 5th Street bike lanes. It gets hazier from there — I think the idea was to bring people up to Union Street, over to 4th, and then out of town somehow. However, the 4th Street lanes are narrow, in poor condition, and don’t connect to the 5th Street lanes.

    In any case, there’s no need for the trail to go under the 5th Street bridge.

    July 27, 2009
  3. Griff Wigley said:

    In the [Sept. 18 Friday Memo][1], Brian O’Connell writes:

    The bid documents for the construction of the Riverside Trail project are nearing completion so that this project can be put out to bid. It is anticipated that bids for this trail construction should be received in early October with actual construction on portions of the trail beginning in late October. Since the start of the construction of this project is so late in the construction season, it is certain that the completion of the construction of the trail will be during the summer of 2010.

      [1]: http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/assets/0/091809-JW.pdf

    September 21, 2009
  4. Griff Wigley said:

    I’ve edited the blog post headline, appending the phrase “on MTT connection through Riverside Park?”

    September 21, 2009
  5. Griff Wigley said:

    Here’s a PDF sketch of the proposed trail through Riverside Park, connecting the MTT with downtown. Unfortunately, it’s upside down so you have to download it and then rotate it.

    Brian O’Connnell wrote:

    Griff,

    Attached is the most comprehensive plan drawing I have of the proposed trail.  This drawing shows the trail corridor, lighting locations, retaining walls, landscaping and other features associated with the trail construction.  Hope this works for your needs.

    We do not post construction documents like this on the city web site.  Contractors have to come to the city and obtain a copy of the plans and specifications which is a huge document.

    September 21, 2009
  6. Sean Hayford O'Leary said:

    The transition to the sidewalk and then bike lanes seems a bit janky — get off your bike, walk a quarter of a block, cross the street, then get on the bike lanes again. I can see a lot of bicyclists ignoring that “dismount warning sign” and simply riding on the sidewalk for that short distance.

    I think it would have been preferable to extend the bike lanes west of Water so that exiting bicyclists could immediately turn onto the lanes.

    Otherwise it looks very nice, though. I’m impressed that they were able to maintain almost-full width through the whole trail (10′ is what the city considers optimum, though most of the MTT is 8′).

    September 21, 2009

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