Ayd Mill Road history
This is a brief history of Ayd Mill Road and the controversies around it. Blue links are to cited documents. You can watch an early history of the Ayd family and the land at the southern end of Ayd Mill Road on YouTube here. If you're really a history buff, you can read about the building of the Selby Bridge over the Short Line railroad in 1890, look at some photos of that bridge before it was rebuilt, or learn about the Selby Line streetcar that crossed over that bridge.
1800s to 1950s: The ravine through which Ayd Mill Road currently runs is often cited as the the pathway of Cascade Creek, which ran through property owned by John Ayd, a German settler who operated a grist mill near present-day Jefferson and Milton in the 1860s. Cascade Creek in fact originated near Cretin Durham Hall, went northeast toward St. Clair and Griggs, then went southeast about 300 yards along the path of the current Ayd Mill Road toward Benhill and Milton, then crossed present-day-I35E and dropped down to the Missippi (see map on page A46 here). Though it is clearly a ravine, there is no record of a water course through the Ayd Mill Road passage from its northern terminus to St. Clair Avenue, nor were there any springs along the route. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (CMSPP) Railroad acquired the right-of-way through the ravine in the late 1870s, diverting the creek and building the “Short Line” railroad through the passageway. Although there was talk of building City Parks in the area during the 1880s and 1890s, these were primarily in the area from the current Summit Overlook Park to around Linwood Park and a little further west, on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. In the ravine, the railroad, with the creek underground, made the passageway not attractive for recreation. (You can read a little about Cascade Creek in this document, pages D-17 and D-18.)
1900 to 1960: With the advent of the streetcar system in the 1910s, much of the Short Line became redundant and was converted to heavy rail, although passenger trains continued to run between St. Paul's Union Depot and Minneapolis' Milwaukee Road Depot through the ravine long after, and trains still travel there today. There is also no record of a roadway in the ravine before 1960.
1960s to 1980s: With the intention of building a below-grade, limited-local-access link between I-35E and I-94, the City of Saint Paul negotiated right-of-way through the ravine from the railroad, and obtained property along the western edge of that route, in the early 1960s. "Short Line Road" was then constructed between 1962 and 1966. Local opposition and the delayed construction of I-35E (due to other local opposition) prevented a direct connection, however. Between 1965, when the road opened, and 1992, the roadway remained unstriped and carried very little traffic, ending at-grade with Selby Avenue on the north and with Jefferson Avenue in the south.
1990s: Because of traffic congestion in downtown St. Paul in the final stages of I-35E construction, the City of Saint Paul built a ramp from Short Line Road to I-35E at the south end in the summer of 1992, directing traffic onto City streets at the north end. The ramp was closed and barricaded and Short Line Road returned to its previous low-density use in the fall of 1992. In 1993, the City renamed Short Line Road to Ayd Mill Road and established an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Task Force to develop a final disposition of the roadway. Six years later, in 1999, the Task Force released a draft report identifying six alternative dispositions and later that year selected “Linear Park” as its Preferred Alternative. The St. Paul Planning Commission, however, over-ruled the Task Force and directed that “4-lane Extended to Saint Anthony” be the Preferred Alternative studied in the Final EIS. Several years of struggle followed wherein funding for the Final EIS was held up.
2000s and beyond: In 2002, five months after being elected, Mayor Randy Kelly ordered a test of three Ayd Mill Road alternatives, using MSA funds and bypassing the CIBC and City Council. Per this test, an asphalt overlay was put on the roadway and it was connected to I-35E on the south end. At the end of the test in 2004 (data from which went into the Final EIS), Ayd Mill Road was left in the primary test configuration.
In 2004, still under Mayor Randy Kelly, the City Council approved funding for a Final EIS examining the Preferred Alternative chosen by the 1999 Planning Commission: two lanes of traffic in each direction following the existing Ayd Mill Road alignment with a posted speed limit of 45 mph, an extension (via a spur railroad track) on the north end to connect to St. Anthony Avenue, and a permanent connection to I-35E on the south end.
The Final EIS was completed in 2005, including a Record of Decision issued by the Federal Highway Administration supporting the Preferred Alternative. The roughly 1/3-mile extension of Ayd Mill Road proffered goes behind Concordia University’s Barnes and Carlander Fields, just west of Higher Ground Academy, through the Snelling Heating & Cooling property, and across I-94 to St. Anthony Avenue. You can look at some "videos" of the proposed changes here.
Since the Final EIS was completed and released in 2005, no significant changes have been made on Ayd Mill Road and it remains as it was at the end of the “test.” This configuration is
similar to the EIS Record of Decision without the extension. It is:
· Four lanes;
· A speed limit of 45 mph;
· A connection to I-35E on the south end;
· A northern terminus on Selby between Pascal and Saratoga;
· Several entrances/exits closed with temporary barricades;
· No space within the right-of-way for walking, biking, or handicapped mobility;
· Directing cars connecting from northbound I-35E to westbound I-94 about 2.5 miles via Ayd
Mill Road through the Snelling-Hamline South neighborhood and the Concordia University campus, onto the I-94 ramp at Snelling (7 stoplights);
· Directing cars connecting from eastbound I-94 to southbound I‑35E via the Snelling Avenue
ramp, Concordia and Hamline Avenues to Ayd Mill Road, to the I‑35E ramp near Randolph Avenue; and
· Giving connectors in either direction the option of going through the Selby Avenue terminus, the Selby-Snelling intersection and the Snelling/94 ramp.
In 2009, however, the St. Paul City Council passed unanimously, and Mayor Chris Coleman signed, resolution 09-878, stating it wishes Ayd Mill Road to remain a city street in perpetuity and wishes to involve the community in an SEIS process to look at the pros and cons of reducing the existing roadway to 2-lanes and extending the road to St Anthony Avenue. Furthermore, the current City of St. Paul Comprehensive Plan (adopted in 2010) recommends an“Ayd Mill Redevelopment Project, subject to a Supplemental EIS process involving a community task force” (Policy T‑2.4(e), page T-29).
Also in 2009, St. Paul Smart Trips, a local nonprofit promoting sustainable transportation, began working on the St. Paul Greenway project to create a comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle greenway through St. Paul, extending the Minneapolis Midtown Greenway across the Mississippi River east to Pascal Avenue and then south along the Ayd Mill Road Corridor, eventually connecting to the Sam Morgan Trail along the Mississippi River. For several years, the City of St. Paul negotiated with Canadian Pacific Rail for an easement in the Ayd Mill segment of the proposed route and more recently, the city attempted to acquire the land through legal action. The city was unsuccessful in both attempts, and the project is at a standstill until a solution for this critical segment is available.
In 2008, the Union Park District Council Gardens Committee published a conceptual plan for a park near the current Eleanor Graham Community Garden. Click on the link below to see that plan.
1800s to 1950s: The ravine through which Ayd Mill Road currently runs is often cited as the the pathway of Cascade Creek, which ran through property owned by John Ayd, a German settler who operated a grist mill near present-day Jefferson and Milton in the 1860s. Cascade Creek in fact originated near Cretin Durham Hall, went northeast toward St. Clair and Griggs, then went southeast about 300 yards along the path of the current Ayd Mill Road toward Benhill and Milton, then crossed present-day-I35E and dropped down to the Missippi (see map on page A46 here). Though it is clearly a ravine, there is no record of a water course through the Ayd Mill Road passage from its northern terminus to St. Clair Avenue, nor were there any springs along the route. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (CMSPP) Railroad acquired the right-of-way through the ravine in the late 1870s, diverting the creek and building the “Short Line” railroad through the passageway. Although there was talk of building City Parks in the area during the 1880s and 1890s, these were primarily in the area from the current Summit Overlook Park to around Linwood Park and a little further west, on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. In the ravine, the railroad, with the creek underground, made the passageway not attractive for recreation. (You can read a little about Cascade Creek in this document, pages D-17 and D-18.)
1900 to 1960: With the advent of the streetcar system in the 1910s, much of the Short Line became redundant and was converted to heavy rail, although passenger trains continued to run between St. Paul's Union Depot and Minneapolis' Milwaukee Road Depot through the ravine long after, and trains still travel there today. There is also no record of a roadway in the ravine before 1960.
1960s to 1980s: With the intention of building a below-grade, limited-local-access link between I-35E and I-94, the City of Saint Paul negotiated right-of-way through the ravine from the railroad, and obtained property along the western edge of that route, in the early 1960s. "Short Line Road" was then constructed between 1962 and 1966. Local opposition and the delayed construction of I-35E (due to other local opposition) prevented a direct connection, however. Between 1965, when the road opened, and 1992, the roadway remained unstriped and carried very little traffic, ending at-grade with Selby Avenue on the north and with Jefferson Avenue in the south.
1990s: Because of traffic congestion in downtown St. Paul in the final stages of I-35E construction, the City of Saint Paul built a ramp from Short Line Road to I-35E at the south end in the summer of 1992, directing traffic onto City streets at the north end. The ramp was closed and barricaded and Short Line Road returned to its previous low-density use in the fall of 1992. In 1993, the City renamed Short Line Road to Ayd Mill Road and established an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Task Force to develop a final disposition of the roadway. Six years later, in 1999, the Task Force released a draft report identifying six alternative dispositions and later that year selected “Linear Park” as its Preferred Alternative. The St. Paul Planning Commission, however, over-ruled the Task Force and directed that “4-lane Extended to Saint Anthony” be the Preferred Alternative studied in the Final EIS. Several years of struggle followed wherein funding for the Final EIS was held up.
2000s and beyond: In 2002, five months after being elected, Mayor Randy Kelly ordered a test of three Ayd Mill Road alternatives, using MSA funds and bypassing the CIBC and City Council. Per this test, an asphalt overlay was put on the roadway and it was connected to I-35E on the south end. At the end of the test in 2004 (data from which went into the Final EIS), Ayd Mill Road was left in the primary test configuration.
In 2004, still under Mayor Randy Kelly, the City Council approved funding for a Final EIS examining the Preferred Alternative chosen by the 1999 Planning Commission: two lanes of traffic in each direction following the existing Ayd Mill Road alignment with a posted speed limit of 45 mph, an extension (via a spur railroad track) on the north end to connect to St. Anthony Avenue, and a permanent connection to I-35E on the south end.
The Final EIS was completed in 2005, including a Record of Decision issued by the Federal Highway Administration supporting the Preferred Alternative. The roughly 1/3-mile extension of Ayd Mill Road proffered goes behind Concordia University’s Barnes and Carlander Fields, just west of Higher Ground Academy, through the Snelling Heating & Cooling property, and across I-94 to St. Anthony Avenue. You can look at some "videos" of the proposed changes here.
Since the Final EIS was completed and released in 2005, no significant changes have been made on Ayd Mill Road and it remains as it was at the end of the “test.” This configuration is
similar to the EIS Record of Decision without the extension. It is:
· Four lanes;
· A speed limit of 45 mph;
· A connection to I-35E on the south end;
· A northern terminus on Selby between Pascal and Saratoga;
· Several entrances/exits closed with temporary barricades;
· No space within the right-of-way for walking, biking, or handicapped mobility;
· Directing cars connecting from northbound I-35E to westbound I-94 about 2.5 miles via Ayd
Mill Road through the Snelling-Hamline South neighborhood and the Concordia University campus, onto the I-94 ramp at Snelling (7 stoplights);
· Directing cars connecting from eastbound I-94 to southbound I‑35E via the Snelling Avenue
ramp, Concordia and Hamline Avenues to Ayd Mill Road, to the I‑35E ramp near Randolph Avenue; and
· Giving connectors in either direction the option of going through the Selby Avenue terminus, the Selby-Snelling intersection and the Snelling/94 ramp.
In 2009, however, the St. Paul City Council passed unanimously, and Mayor Chris Coleman signed, resolution 09-878, stating it wishes Ayd Mill Road to remain a city street in perpetuity and wishes to involve the community in an SEIS process to look at the pros and cons of reducing the existing roadway to 2-lanes and extending the road to St Anthony Avenue. Furthermore, the current City of St. Paul Comprehensive Plan (adopted in 2010) recommends an“Ayd Mill Redevelopment Project, subject to a Supplemental EIS process involving a community task force” (Policy T‑2.4(e), page T-29).
Also in 2009, St. Paul Smart Trips, a local nonprofit promoting sustainable transportation, began working on the St. Paul Greenway project to create a comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle greenway through St. Paul, extending the Minneapolis Midtown Greenway across the Mississippi River east to Pascal Avenue and then south along the Ayd Mill Road Corridor, eventually connecting to the Sam Morgan Trail along the Mississippi River. For several years, the City of St. Paul negotiated with Canadian Pacific Rail for an easement in the Ayd Mill segment of the proposed route and more recently, the city attempted to acquire the land through legal action. The city was unsuccessful in both attempts, and the project is at a standstill until a solution for this critical segment is available.
In 2008, the Union Park District Council Gardens Committee published a conceptual plan for a park near the current Eleanor Graham Community Garden. Click on the link below to see that plan.
| eleanor_graham_community_garden_and_ashland__park_design_project.pdf |