Minnesota River Greenway Plan Updates Include Big Ideas for Downtown Mendota

Bicyclists, historians and downtown Mendota business owners may benefit from recent additions to the draft proposal.

Dakota County planners said they recently learned of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s plans for improvements along Sibley Memorial Highway, improvements that include a drainage pond just east of downtown and north of the highway.

If the two agencies were to work together, that pond site and accompanying road work could prompt development of a rest area near where the Big Rivers Regional Trail crosses Sibley Memorial Highway, a better connection down to Lilydale Regional Trail, and possibly a below-grade tunnel so that bicyclists don’t have to contend with traffic at the crossing at all.

Greenways are corridors designed to improve water quality, provide habitat for wildlife and create recreation and trail opportunities.

“It’s very preliminary so I don’t want to oversell it, but it makes sense to do the project together,” said planning supervisor Kurt Chatfield of Dakota County.

Hurdles for the project include property acquisition at the site and funding for the trailhead amenities. With the exception of the trail connectors, most of the northern half of the greenway plan follows trails that are already built.

MnDOT Engineer Sheila Kauppi said last week that the agency isn’t very familiar yet with the greenway project, but “we are definitely open to some discussions with Dakota County if they’d like to do that.”

“If we can pull together as agencies we can work together to make it better,” said the County’s project manager, John Mertens.

Mertens said that similar plans to better connect Big Rivers with downtown Mendota materialized in the ’90s, but were never pursued. “It just bypasses Mendota even though it’s right there,” said Mertens. “It has a lot to offer … the restaurants, the historic Sibley House and access to Fort Snelling State Park.”

Other ideas like a picnic shelter, a small parking lot, connections to the Sibley House site and a path around the pond are all on the “Wish List.”

Mendota City Council gave the plan their OK at the March meeting, though council member Alan Rahlston said he was skeptical of the project’s viability. “It’s all really nice, ‘pie in-the-sky’ —really expensive for a state that has no money.”

Mertens said that the “Complete Streets” movement to make roads more bike- and pedestrian-friendly could open doors for funding opportunities.

While many of the highway improvements will be completed in the next three years, the timeline for the greenway’s development is a 20-year plan.

“We’re going to try and make these improvements opportunistically,” said Chatfield. The road construction could provide just such an opportunity.

The process of connecting Lilydale Regional Trail and Big Rivers Trail could take longer. The connection would involve traversing railroad property and navigating an existing trestle. “It’s a bit of a challenging situation,” said Chatfield.

The Minnesota River Greenway could eventually connect Harriet Island to Burnsville and Scott County, according to the county’s vision.