Midtown Greenway Coalition

We're the nonprofit that had the idea for the Midtown Greenway and worked to get it built.  We're proud it has become an essential green transportation corridor for so many people and helped Minneapolis become the best place to bike in the nation. 

We're working hard to keep the Greenway safe, clean, green, and full of public art.   And we're working to extend it over the river and through Saint Paul!

We're a 501c3 nonprofit organization that relies on donations to fund our work for the Greenway.  We hope you will consider making a donation and becoming a member of our Coalition.  All donations of $100 or more, or sustaining monthly donations of $10 or more, will make you an official FRIEND OF THE GREENWAY!

Your support will help us:

• Extend the Greenway over the River and through Saint Paul!  We're making progress.  The first section of the trail has been built along Ayd Mill Road.  The Met Council has just launched a new study of the bridge over the river, inspired by our previous study that showed the bridge can be rehabbed and a trail added.  Once the new bridge study is completed, we expect to issue a call to implement the findings and rehab the bridge and extend the Greenway!
• Ensure the Park Board completes the Greenway Regional Trail Master Plan.  Last year we had to stop Park Board Commissioners from killing the Master Plan, which would have blocked the Greenway from becoming a Regional Trail.  Regional trails are eligible for more funding, and the elevated status would bolster our efforts to extend the trail over the river.  The Plan is now completed, and the Park Board and Met Council will vote on approving it soon.
• Convince Minneapolis Public Works to re-do their poor repaving job.  We did it!  The trail was repaved and looks great.
• Install the Nation's Best Pollinator Pathway.  Next year we will install 15 new gardens in the Greenway, creating a 5-mile long pathway to support monarchs, rusty-patched bumblebees, and other pollinators.
• Create the Nation's Best Cultural Bikeway.  We plan to install at least 5 new murals in the Greenway next year, adding to the already rich collection of murals and other artworks.  With these new murals, the Greenway is truly becoming the best cultural bikeway in the nation.
• Coordinate our Midtown Bike + Walk Ambassadors who bike and walk in the Lake Street-Greenway corridor to welcome visitors, support small businesses, and work to create a safe and welcoming community for all.
• Create safer street crossings and better wayfinding signs
• Lead legal battles to protect the Greenway.   A few years back we won the battle to keep Xcel's high voltage power lines out of the Greenway!
• Install trees, native plants, and gardens to help fight climate change and beautify the Greenway.  We've helped plant more than 5,000 trees and shrubs in the Greenway so far!
• Sweep glass and clean up trash from the Greenway.  We hold regular Greenway clean-ups thanks to our Greenway Adopters.
• Guide development along the corridor to ensure it enhances the Greenway.  We make sure building don't shadow the trail and include public walkways along the Greenway's edge.
• Install murals and public art and organize the Greenway Glow Arts Festival.  Have you seen our great new murals in the Greenway near Bryant Avenue?  We're also working on a solar-powered wayfinding sculpture/light for the 18th Ave ramp.

We're powered by donations and receive no operational funding from the government.   Donations are tax-deductible.

"We can trace much of the city's bike renaissance to the Midtown Greenway, a 5.5-mile former railroad opened in 2000 that has since has become a non-automotive superhighway. Cyclists and pedestrians can hop on and off at various points with ease, and the striking Martin Olav Sabo Bridge sends cyclists over busy Hiawatha Avenue. The path even has its own dedicated bike shop complete with bike parking, water, bathrooms, and showers for commuters. Basically, it's a cyclist's dream." 

- GRIST Magazine