Greening the Green Line

The Trust for Public Land led a collaborative effort to integrate new parks and green space into the communities along the Green Line, an 11-mile light-rail corridor that started operating between Minneapolis and Saint Paul in 2014. 

Spurred by light rail access, new development along the Green Line is projected to include 17,000 new households over the next 20 years, along with new retail, commercial, and industrial development. We worked with a group that includes businesses, nonprofits, developers, governmental representatives, and others to identify opportunities to create parks and common public gathering spaces in tandem with these new developments. Our first phase of work resulted in a collaboratively developed report that includes recommended approaches and guidance for new parks and open space development in this fast-changing area.

We are currently working on Phase Two of this initiative to address the problem of the current park deficit in the Green Line, through advocacy and education, policy work and advancing on-the-ground park opportunities.