I just read an interesting document:
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projec ... hmemo1.pdf

On the last page of this document, you'll notice a screenshot in the appendix showing a map of the Burnsville area. Next to the I35W river crossing it says "replacement in 2020".

This would be a fantastic opportunity to get a bike trail built alongside that brand new bridge and connect Bloomington to Burnsville. Lyndale Ave could be taken north from the river all the way to Minneapolis if a path were made to connect it to I35W bridge crossing. It could be connected to Cliff Ave on the south side of the river.

Cool. State law as of 2012 requires bicycle and pedestrian accomodazione for any bridge built between two incorporated municipalities, unless there are very close alternative routes that better serve the needs (like the Bloomington Ferry trail bridge that runs separate from, but adjacent to, the Bloomington Ferry 169 crossing). So that this would receive something is a foregone conclusion. The quality of what we see here, of course, could vary, and is worth keeping an eye on.

I'm still hopeful that we'll get something at the Cedar Ave crossing sooner than 2020 -- either restoration of the Long Meadow Bridge, construction of a new trail bridge, or retrofitting of the Cedar Freeway bridge.

A pedestrian crossing there would be fantastic. I drive across that bridge every day and it would cut several miles off my bike commute -- I currently have to ride over to the Mendota bridge. Although I've worked in that area for 18 years, 2020 is a long way off, though

I wonder what the new bridge will look like. One negative aspect of the current bridge is that like the 35W bridge that collapsed, one failure will take down the entire structure.