What will become of The Dinky Ditch?

            The first time I came to campus when I was a Junior in High School, my cousins gave me a pretty insider-esque tour of the area. Even though the highlight of the trip for me at the time was the final stop at Ben & Jerry’s (RIP), I couldn’t help but note Dinkytown as we circled Washington by the new stadium and headed west on 4^th. As we passed McDonald’s and drove though the campus social center on the way out, I initially thought that the Dinky Ditch was actually a creek of some sort, providing a long segment of open space and trails for the students and community. I was quite saddened to see it was only an old, essentially abandoned rail ditch (Which I learned later is truly historic in a way… it was one of the rail lines that once crossed the Stone Arch Bridge).

            Now after attending the U for a couple years, I’ve kept my eye and done my research about this prominent ditch that splits campus from Dinkytown, and cant help but question its present condition as a passive rail yard. With the ditch in the location that it is, there should be no reason why it can’t be changed to something more intriguing for the surrounding population, turning it into something like this.

            In fact, the University and the City have tried to facilitate that slow transformation by changing the old Northern Pacific #9 Bridge into a non-motorized trailway. Currently, the trail awkwardly ends behind the Education Sciences Building (at a delightful Dunn Bros Café which most people don’t seem to ever notice). However, the University has also persisted through many land ownership arguments to finally connect the bridge and create the U of M bike trail, which should be open by year’s end. Even though the City had to do a split-trail agreement with the U that requires the trail to be built on part of the existing road, the path is currently only used for service vehicles, so the present cars won't make a significant difference. This is great news for commuting professors or off-campus students to the West, as they now don’t have to maneuver through this as much. 

Wouldn't a bike trail look great on those rail tracks?

            However, the ditch has some other interesting proposals, including the much-discussed Granary Road Corridor, a semi-truck-ready road that could carry trucks from I-35W to the industry near MN-280 without driving down University/4^th Street. This obviously wouldn’t be just for industrial traffic, as everyday commuting drivers could also use it. This also means that it could also possibly bring a substantial amount of commuters off of University/4^th as well. In a long term scope, this also means commercial or residential development could move into the ditch (Which I will touch on a later date).

            This brings up a discussion, though – as the U of M bike trail is implemented, it will, at least initially, resemble the Midtown Greenway in the sense of its segregated ditch location. This brings up the question: Would a road carrying all types of traffic be destroying the purpose of the segregated trail? Wasn’t the purpose of the Midtown Greenway to separate the two types of traffic, allowing a lowering of stress for both auto/bike users and pedestrians? Or, with college students being as daring as they are anyways, would it not matter that an industrial road is juxtaposing the trail? I mean, it does work in places, including the stretch of the Diagonal Trail along Stinson Boulevard north of Como.

            Regardless of what happens to the ditch in the long run, the implementation of the U of M Trail is a great catalyst for the area north of campus which currently lacks a segregated bike trail. It could also help ease the minds of college hipsters like this.