Join your friends, neighbors and greenway supporters tomorrow to mark the 16th annual Midtown Greenway Arbor Day celebration. Since 2001, the Midtown Community Works Partnership has hosted a yearly community planting event on the Midtown Greenway. Hundreds of volunteers have planted thousands of trees and shrubs along this important green space, adding to the urban tree canopy and promoting sustainability in the region. This year's planting will take place between Girard and Colfax avenues on the south side of the greenway. Bring your garden gloves and sturdy, closed-toe shoes and help keep the "green" in the greenway.
  
Arbor Day Planting Celebration
Saturday, May 7, 9 a.m. rain or shine
Between Girard and Colfax avenues

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has completed the preliminary draft of the Midtown Greenway Reevaluation, a historic reevaluation of the greenway corridor. MnDOT determined the reevaluation was necessary after reviewing recent redevelopment changes in the historic district. You can download a copy of the draft report online.

The report recommends further discussion between property owners, interested parties, and state agencies, including the State Historic Preservation Office, on how to proceed based on the reevaluation presented in this report. Comments on the draft reevaluation can be emailed to kristen.zschomler@state.mn.us, or sent via regular mail to:

Kristen Zschomler, Cultural Resources Unit Supervisor, Office of Environmental Stewardship

Minnesota Department of Transportation, MS 620

395 John Ireland Boulevard 

St. Paul, MN 55155

Each year people take more than a million trips on the Midtown Greenway to a host of destinations, many along Lake Street. Yet barriers still exist for people who might want to enter or exit the greenway. These missed connections limit the greenway’s effectiveness as a transportation route, economic driver, and neighborhood asset.

As the county looks to wrap up the Midtown Community Works program, it has been working with the City of Minneapolis, the Midtown Greenway Coalition and the Lake Street Council to develop a plan to address these barriers, connect to nearby commercial and cultural destinations, and ensure the greenway serves nearby residents. Making the Connections: Midtown Greenway to Lake Street  was developed with extensive research and community outreach -- including 2015's street design experiments. You can read or download the plan summary or detailed recommendations at www.hennepin.us/midtown. 

Please submit comments or questions to midtowncw@hennepin.us or mail them to:

Lisa Middag

Hennepin County Community Works

701 Fourth Avenue South, Suite 400

Minneapolis, MN  55415

Comments will be received officially through June 10 and incorporated into the next phase of this work. If you want to review the plan in person, hard copies will be available after May 12 at the following locations:

• Hennepin County libraries: East Lake, Franklin, Hosmer and Walker
• Lake Street Council
• Midtown Greenway Coalition