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Minnesota News
MPR News Staff

Minneapolis Park Board plans overnight closures of Stone Arch Bridge

The Minneapolis skyline and Stone Arch Bridge
The Minneapolis skyline is illuminated behind the Stone Arch Bridge.
Jim Mone | AP 2014

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Updated: 1:55 p.m.

The Minneapolis Park Board plans to close the landmark Stone Arch Bridge overnights this weekend through the Fourth of July holiday — though it’s revising those plans in response to pushback from some local residents.

The Park Board said the move to temporarily close the pedestrian and cyclist bridge each night from Friday through Wednesday will “help park staff and public safety agencies better manage crowds and safety during a very busy time for riverfront parks and neighborhoods.”

The overnight closures initially were set to take place from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. — but the Park Board announced Thursday afternoon that it was moving the start time to 10 p.m. “in response to community requests.”

Some residents of neighborhoods near the bridge had criticized the initial plan and the short notice.

“Any early closure will significantly impact theatergoers, baseball fans, festival attendees, and all those who walk and/or bike the Stone Arch Bridge for their daily commute,” Vic Thorstenson, president of the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association across the river from downtown Minneapolis, wrote in a letter in response to the initial closure plan.

The Park Board, in publicly announcing the closure on Wednesday, noted “unsafe, chaotic situations” in riverfront parks and neighborhoods on the Fourth of July last year.

Seven people were hospitalized after a shooting at Boom Island Park on July 4, 2022. Along Second Street, dozens of people gathered that night, with some shooting fireworks at buildings, out of moving cars and at people.

In the Wednesday letter responding to the closure plan, Thorstenson, with the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association, wrote that “while we understand there have been incidents near the bridge, our organization cannot support a 10-hour closure of this critical route” on short notice.

“We have residents and guests using this bridge as their primary route” to and from downtown events and venues, he wrote, noting the distance to alternate river crossings.

Speaking with MPR News on Thursday, before the Park Board revised its plan, Thorstenson said city and parks officials “had absolutely no interaction with us at all on this, and we could have raised these concerns and they could’ve worked around them. We’re very angry about it and hope they can see clear to changing their plans.”

Aside from its announcement of the revised closure times, the Park Board declined further comment on Thursday.

The Park Board’s announcement said pedestrians and cyclists will be detoured to the Hennepin Avenue bridge, about a half-mile away. The Third Avenue/Central Avenue bridge, which is closer to the Stone Arch Bridge, is closed due to construction.

MPR News reporter Olivia Stevens contributed to this report.