Popular west metro bike trails could be closed for another two years

• The North Cedar Lake Trail that runs near downtown Minneapolis will also be closed until 2025, and sections of the South Cedar Lake Trail in Hopkins and St. Louis Park will be closed until 2024.
• These trails were supposed to open in 2021 or 2022, the Met Council originally said when blocking them off for construction of the Green Line between Minneapolis and Eden Prairie.

Why it matters: 2,000-3,000 bicyclists and 300-500 pedestrians used the trails daily before the closure, according to 2017 counts.

Between the lines: Unless you were paying close attention, you might not have realized the length of the delays.

• Maps of construction schedules along the trails still have the old 2021/2022 opening dates, and when the Met Council announced a project delay in 2021, it never specified trail impacts.
• Staff began noting the later opening dates in May 2022 at the end of their construction newsletters.

Go deeper: Other trails around the Southwest LRT project have also been delayed. See all the closures and detours here.