July 15, 2004: Hiawatha Avenue LRT Hike (Minneapolis)

Join Larry Martin for a hike into downtown Minneapolis on a route paralleling the route of the recently opened Hiawatha Avenue Light Rail Transit line, with the return trip aboard the LRT (the fare is $1.25.) Ground for the LRT line was broken in 2001. The line uses Bombardier-built self-propelled electrified train vehicles, each 94-feet long and articulated, with 66 seats, that can carry 187 passengers at full capacity. The line connects three of the Twin Cities most popular destinations, downtown Minneapolis, the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, and the Mall of America in Bloomington. The line travels through 7,400 foot tunnels under the airport runways in addition to a tunnel by Minnehaha Creek. The Grand Opening of the line is scheduled for June 26, 2004. The LRT line is estimated to cost $530.17 million to construct. Hiawatha Avenue and nearby Lake Hiawatha are named for the poem Song of Hiawatha by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), which sold 50,000 copies following its release in 1855 and which was apparently a reformulation of the Finnish epic Kalevala. Hiawatha was a legendary chieftain of the Iroquois from the 16th Century and had no connection with the area that became Minnesota.

If coming by car: The group will meet at the Southeast corner of the parking lot of the Lake Street Target Store, 2500 E. Lake Street. From downtown Minneapolis, take 8th Street east to Hiawatha Avenue and proceed southeast on Hiawatha Avenue. Take the Lake Street Exit off of Hiawatha Avenue and proceed east on Lake Street about two blocks, towards Snelling Avenue South. The Target parking lot entrance will be a bit before Snelling Avenue South, just across from the Minneapolis Third Precinct police station.

If coming by public transit: Take Metro Transit route(s): 21 and 53. The closest bus route drop off point seems to be Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue. Applicable Metro Transit Map/General Transit Information

The group will reassemble at a nearby restaurant after the hike for dessert or dinner.

Maps On Us map to the hike start point

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This page was last updated on July 13, 2004.