Land bridge or boulevard? Ideas to transform I-94 compete for public dollars.

Promoters of two ambitious plans to repair decades of damage they blame on an inner city stretch of freeway insist they're not competing.

But backers of a land bridge that would cover part of Interstate 94 in St. Paul and those who favor converting 7.5 miles of interstate in Minneapolis and St. Paul into an at-grade boulevard sure sound like competitors trying to win the hearts and minds of residents, as well as local, state and federal officials.

At stake is at least hundreds of millions of dollars in potential state and federal funding as state transportation officials mull what to do with an aging, 50-plus-year-old section of freeway as part of their Rethinking I-94 project now in process.

In short, an organization called ReConnect Rondo has been working to build support for a land bridge over a half-mile stretch of I-94 somewhere between Dale Street and Lexington Parkway. Proponents say the bridge would not only "reconnect" areas north and south of the freeway, but spur associated development in the area.

Another proposal, released earlier this year by Our Streets Minneapolis, would replace a 7.5-mile stretch of the freeway between Marion Street in St. Paul and I-35W in Minneapolis with a ground-level thoroughfare. Our Streets officials say only a few minutes would be added to drive times, while air quality and health would be improved and about 100 acres of land would return to the tax rolls.

On Thursday, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a series of resolutions calling on the Minnesota Department of Transportation to, among other things, consider alternatives to rebuilding or expanding the freeway, including replacing it with a thoroughfare as it moves forward with Rethinking I-94.

"We will be using this resolution to pressure the St. Paul City Council to consider [the same]," said Carly Ellefsen of Our Streets Minneapolis, which in April released a report called Reimagining I-94 and has been conducting community meetings ever since.

Ellefsen said "St. Paul has maybe been slower to act" on the issue of replacing the freeway with a thoroughfare.

But St. Paul leaders, including City Council Member Anika Bowie, who represents the area where a land bridge would be built, and state Rep. Samakab Hussein, DFL-St. Paul, said last week that they favor the land bridge.

Land bridge idea

Promoted by ReConnect Rondo, the land bridge would also be a catalyst for an African American cultural enterprise district, said Keith Baker, executive director of ReConnect Rondo. He said the bridge, estimated to cost $313 million, would spark extensive new development to fan out from it. The project, he said, could eventually tap into billions in federal infrastructure money allocated to Minnesota.

Baker, who worked at MnDOT for 18 years before moving to ReConnect Rondo, said the land bridge idea first emerged in 2011 as a way to help mitigate damage done to Rondo by the freeway. Study of a land bridge has garnered nearly $11 million in state funding so far.

"MnDOT ultimately is going to decide what it's going to do with the corridor, right?" Baker said in a recent interview. "What I will say is we have influence over that because we've already been out of the gate, right? We've already provided a very good foundation."

And, Baker said, a land bridge has wide — and deep — community support in the old Rondo area of St. Paul.

Sharon Garth has lived near Central Village near I-94 in St. Paul for 50 years. The plan coming out of the ReConnect Rondo process "is the first time that I've seen something that is really going to shape this whole area of our community for the next 20, 30, 40 years," she said.

Garth said she supports the land bridge because that seems to be the best way to get money to improve the community.

As a boy of 4 or 5, Mychael Wright remembers playing in the mud that would become I-94. He credits the work that Baker has done to connect members of the community, through an effort called the Rondo Roundtable, and help them better understand the economic and social potential a land bridge could bring.

"My take is that this is bringing back the spirit of Rondo to the 21st century," he said. "Keith really spells things out very clearly. And all the great work that he's doing, and the roundtable are doing, is making sure that that information and knowledge goes to folks who may be naysayers and show them what's actually going on with this and how it will impact them positively."

Thoroughfare idea

The folks at Our Streets say they have been door-knocking and gathering community input in St. Paul since 2021. They say their plan would benefit communities all along the 7.5 miles of freeway — from Rondo to Cedar-Riverside and Phillips.

Filling in the I-94 trench and replacing it with a thoroughfare would benefit several neighborhoods along the freeway corridor with cleaner air, calmer traffic and increased housing and development. The cities, too, would benefit through increased tax revenues, Our Streets officials said.

José Antonio Zayas Cabán, executive director of Our Streets, said the thoroughfare proposal is "absolutely" compatible with a land bridge. If Rondo wants a land bridge, the thoroughfare could run below it. "Think of it as one of the options," he said.

Cabán said he's hopeful that the two organizations can find common ground. After all, he said, what they can agree on is repairing the harm done to the community — and predominantly communities of color — by the freeway.

He said there's been "a lot of misinformation that we have to live with a highway cutting through our cities. We are trying to appeal to St. Paul decisionmakers and Minneapolis decisionmakers to come together in solidarity."

It's clear, however, that Ellefsen and Cabán consider the Our Streets proposal and study to be more comprehensive.

"If you think about community benefits first, you shouldn't think about highways and a land bridge, but a repair of the damage done by highways," he said.

Because a land bridge is limited to the width of the freeway, it's often limited to parks and shorter buildings, he said.

Their efforts to convince public officials in St. Paul, as well as in Minneapolis and the state, will continue, he said. "We're trying to disrupt this narrative."

Continuing, as well, will be the door-knocking, said Ellefsen. "People's reactions are extremely positive," she said.