Cycling advocates have long proposed extending the Midtown Greenway from Minneapolis into St. Paul.

The proposed resurfacing of Ayd Mill Road has given them new cause for optimism, and a new video illustrates how a protected bike route could extend from the so-called “Short Line” to a railroad bridge over the Mississippi River.

In his 2020 budget proposal, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter called for the city to do more than resurface Ayd Mill Road over the coming year.

Carter wants the city to engineer a new bike and pedestrian greenway along the eastern length of the so-called Short Line, a 1.5-mile highway connector that links Interstate 35E at Jefferson Avenue to Selby Avenue at Snelling Avenue, which sits a few blocks south of Interstate 94.

Critics have questioned whether restricting car traffic to one lane in each direction will decrease safety, cause major back-ups and force spillover onto nearby thoroughfares such as Lexington Parkway.

Proponents say the neighborhood is overdue for traffic calming, and lengthy protected bikeways have provided widespread benefits in Minneapolis and other cities, including higher property values.

On Wednesday, the St. Paul Bicycle Coalition released a stop-motion YouTube video illustrating how the Ayd Mill Road bikeway could connect to the existing Midtown Greenway using the Shortline Railroad Bridge over the Mississippi River.

The nearly 3-minute video follows Canadian Pacific Railway track northwestward across the intersection of Snelling and Marshall avenues, Carroll Avenue, I-94, through industrial areas along Prior Avenue and then Cleveland Avenue, under Cretin/Vandalia Street, over I-94 and under Pelham Boulevard, and then to the Shortline Bridge.