From his new project office near the corner of Fairview and University avenues in St. Paul, Brian Isaacson is rethinking Interstate 94.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation planner’s job is to build a better interstate, or at least try to spruce up what’s there, including improved outreach to the communities that live along the corridor.

“We have some needs that are pretty significant, from bridges to tunnels to pavement,” Isaacson said.

It’s no easy task.

The area in question runs more than 13 miles from U.S. 61 near downtown St. Paul to Minnesota 55 in North Minneapolis, west of the Lowry Tunnel. If that weren’t complicated enough, Isaacson is contemplating putting a lid on it. Not over all of the interstate, of course. It could be a short lid, a bit larger than the width of a bridge. Or it could run for blocks.

“There’s a whole range of scale to that,” said Isaacson, pointing to precedent around the country. “Some of them look like the Lowry Tunnel, that you cover the interstate for several blocks. And there are other examples where it’s more like a widened bridge with some artwork or sculptures.”

Firm plans are probably years away, if they come together at all. Isaacson has three potential study areas in mind, including the historic Rondo community in the Summit-University neighborhood of St. Paul, North Minneapolis and the Washington Avenue area in downtown Minneapolis. In each instance, the interstate effectively cleaves communities that could benefit from better cohesion. Some form of improved connection over the interstate could undo some of that damage. Related Articles As memories of George Floyd fade, activists make sure his legacy does not

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For examples, he highlights Chicago’s popular Millennium Park, which sits on top of a commuter rail station and parking garage, and Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, which was built over a freeway.

Representatives from both projects are on their way to Minnesota to meet with him this month. Neither project was easy to complete. Millennium Park, which opened in 2004 and spans 25 acres, cost more than $480 million to construct — double its projected budget — and opened four years behind schedule. The five-acre Klyde Warren Park, which opened in 2012, cost about $100 million.

Community input will be important, but so will feedback from real estate developers. They’ll be key partners, said Isaacson, especially if new streets are being built around their properties and they’re the ones building the structures that will fill those spaces.

“I-94 has a pretty substantial amount of real estate,” Isaacson said. “How do we get an impression from the commercial real estate community about the demand? We want to transform the public space.”

Another concern: operating costs.

In Dallas, Klyde Warren Park is managed by a private parks foundation that does its own fundraising to help with maintenance and operations from year to year. “It’s a substantial amount,” Isaacson said.

In St. Paul, he’s bound to hear an earful, and not just about whether to turn a section of I-94 into a tunnel. Community groups such as the Friendly Streets Initiative, the District Councils Collaborative, the Summit-University Planning Council and the Frogtown Neighborhood Association have formed a working group to focus on what they call overdue improvements to the Dale Street bridge. Ramsey County Public Works is also engaged.

Isaacson plans targeted meetings to community leaders for further input on a wide range of concerns. “We’re trying to develop projects in a little different way, more engaged with the community,” he said.