If you've ever biked north from Hyland Lake Park Reserve and wondered why the trail doesn't just take you to the Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail, there's now a plan to finish that link. Three Rivers Park District says design of the missing section begins next year. It's part of the Hyland Lake Regional Trail, which used to be called the Canadian Pacific Rail Regional Trail.
Danny McCullough, the district's regional trail system manager, gave the update to the Edina City Council on Oct. 20. That night the council approved a cooperative agreement with the park district that sets out who handles property rights, design, construction and maintenance on the Edina side.
Most of this stretch already exists. When it's finished, the Nine Mile Creek-to-Hyland section will be 7 miles long. The district said about 5.5 of those miles are already in place through Hyland Lake Park Reserve and Bloomington. The remaining 1.5 miles are in Edina, with construction scheduled for 2029.
Here's the planned Edina route, starting from the Bloomington end. The trail would run along East Bush Lake Road from West 84th Street to the city line, and along Bush Lake Road from West 78th Street. From there it goes down Dewey Hill Road to Cahill Road, then up to West 70th Street, where it meets the Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail. It will be a standard 10-foot-wide paved regional trail. The park district will put $35,000 toward a railroad crossing on Dewey Hill Road.
So why not just build it on the rail line the trail was originally named for? "We get a lot of questions about why we aren't putting it in the railroad corridor," McCullough said. "We've been working with the railroad for many years. They indicated no signs that they are ready to sell the corridor."
The bigger plan reaches well past Edina. The district's master plan covers a corridor of about 21 miles through Bloomington, Edina, St. Louis Park, Golden Valley, New Hope and Crystal, and calls it a fix for a "critical north-south gap in the regional trail system." The southern segment would connect the Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail, Hyland-Bush-Anderson Lakes Park Reserve and the Minnesota River. Other segments farther north, including one in Crystal and New Hope, are also aiming for 2029 construction.
For Bloomington riders, it's a change coming to Hyland. Once the Edina gap is closed, you'll be able to ride from the reserve to Nine Mile Creek without the patchwork of streets in between.
