Walk along North Snelling sparks community conversation.

Snelling Ave. is a staple of the Hamline-Midway community, home to many local businesses, as well as serving a large commuting population of St. Paul. The road, however, can be dangerous to community members who walk, bike or jog the route. The unsafe conditions have been a point of community focus for many years, with a Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDoT) renovation plan dating back to 2015.

On Wednesday, Sept. 24, the community again came together to walk along the North Snelling sidewalks and then they gathered in Hamline University’s Anderson Center for a constructive conversation with community members and officials involved in city planning. The event was organized by the Hamline Midway Coalition (HMC) Transportation Committee.

“We’d love a recognition that these plans got developed with a tremendous amount of community engagement,” Mike Reynolds, co-chair of the HMC Transportation Committee and Hamline English professor, said.

The MnDoT renovation plans were a substantial topic of the conversation following the roadside walk. Many community members spoke to specific solutions they wanted to see to make Snelling more pedestrian-friendly rather than car-focused.

“Looking at green space as the intervention for traffic forming and to make the pedestrian experience one that’s enjoyable,” Organizing Director of HMC Justin Lewandowski said.

Green spaces are areas in urban environments that retain natural elements like grasses, trees, bushes, and flowers.

The call for community input on what could be done has remained a large part of the plans for Snelling, dating back to 2015, when the original plans were drawn up to add widened sidewalks and seven-foot bike lanes to the road.

“I had so thoroughly looked at that as a pedestrian and a biker and thought that space is not for me,” President of the HMC Dawn Einwalter said.

Questions of accessibility as well as safety were raised by the group.

“What’s been really eye-opening for me is to listen to people’s stories, stories of the people that I walked with, stories about what it’s like to get a motorized wheelchair across there or what it’s like when there are two cyclists on the same side and you have to pin yourself against the railing,” Einwalter said.

A focal point of community concern was questions of safety regarding the narrow sidewalk, allowing for about two people standing shoulder to shoulder to walk along the road.

“At what point does safety make [Snelling Ave.] a priority?” HMC Interim Executive Director Lisa Nelson asked.

Pedestrian-first street designs that allow for safe use of road space often come with heavy price tags.

“I want to say it was between 30 and 50 million dollars around ten years ago, which would be nearly double today,” Director of Public Works for Ramsey County Brian Isaacson explained.

The large price tag, as well as the lifespan of the current bridges and pavement on North Snelling Ave., means renovation will likely take time.

“It’s about having alignment of opportunities to come, federal agencies change their priorities from time to time, so you have to strike when the iron is hot, when those priorities are available and available funds are accessible,” Manager of the North Area of MnDoT Dale Gade said.

Time and budgetary constraints often limit the speed at which projects can be completed in neighborhoods. The community took time to acknowledge the victories they had previously had in improving the Hamline-Midway neighborhood.

“It took 20 years to get that traffic light in, but there’s a traffic light there now,” Reynolds said.

Closing the discussion for the night left many questions regarding next steps for addressing the multifaceted issues faced by the Midway community when using Snelling Ave.

“Hope and imagination are the catalyst for literally any major infrastructure change, and how do we then keep this momentum going in a way that’s not pie in the sky but tangible organizing steps, both on short-term solutions and engaging folks on this larger infrastructure conversation right here at Hamline University,” Lewandowski said.