The remarkable vision to reconnect Rondo — the African-American neighborhood that was undone decades ago by I-94 construction in St. Paul — has received welcome new affirmation.

After a recent week of intensive study, a team of experts from the Urban Land Institute concluded that a significant Rondo community “land bridge” should move forward.

Such a highway “lid” — like those in place in Seattle and Dallas — would “re-weave” the neighborhood where families and businesses were uprooted in the 1960s. It would cover the interstate for a stretch that could include housing and commercial developments, as well as green space.

The recommendations mention a Phase One bridge centered on Victoria Street and running from 300 feet west of Chatsworth Street to 150 feet east of Grotto Street.

They also outline tasks to be accomplished in the next 12 to 24 months. “It’s like giving us a map to the future,” explains Marvin Roger Anderson, executive director of the nonprofit ReConnect Rondo. Recommendations are posted at reconnectrondo.org.

The land-bridge vision is years away and costs are to be determined. “It’s a big project. It’s a Hoover Dam project,” Anderson told us. “It’s a project that requires people, industry and government to think big to solve a problem.”

It further represents “what good government is all about,” said Anderson, a former state law librarian who also is co-founder of the nonprofit Rondo Avenue Inc., with efforts that include the annual Rondo Days celebration.

When you bring together the philanthropic community, private industry and government, “there is very little we can’t achieve in St. Paul,” he said.

Recommendations note that the state’s Department of Transportation should construct and maintain the bridge. They also suggest that ReConnect Rondo — in close partnership with MnDOT — should secure $6 million in pre-development seed money to be used over the next year or two to “bring the idea to the next step of design, engineering and cost estimates.”

Recommendations also emphasize that planning and advocacy for the effort are an opportunity for leadership and ownership by St. Paul’s African American community. They warn about gentrification and displacement: “Both can happen; the key is to put tools and program in place to mitigate their effect without halting progress that will create wealth, jobs and opportunities for home ownership among residents and growth for local business.”

Details include description of “a vibrant mixed-use center,” with anchor institutions that might include a higher-education branch facility, a health-care incubator/innovation center or training centers.

We’ve noted increasing recognition in recent years of the wrong done by government in bulldozing certain communities — often African-American — to build roads. New efforts to begin to put it right include apologies from city and state leaders, with MnDOT Commissioner Charles Zelle committing “to a new era where we do put people ahead of highways and community ahead of cars.”

In our most recent conversation, Anderson marveled at the group brought together for the week of events during the Urban Land Institute visit. “We have representatives from governmental agencies that in the past may never have listened to or heard a word we said.” He also noted the national panel of architects and economic development experts, as well as representatives of nonprofits and community organizations and “just plain folk.”

Bringing them together “is a tremendous achievement,” he told us. Indeed it is.

We’ve been intrigued about the land-bridge — using infrastructure and ambition to re-connect and re-create a neighborhood it divided — since Anderson first elaborated on the concept in a meeting with the editorial board a couple of years ago.

He muses that dreams begin with “the spark of an idea” and that “the longest journey starts with one step.”

Steps in the direction of job creation — with the wealth-building potential locally owned businesses bring for stable families and communities — make this promising concept even more appealing.