Biking the Lakes: A Loop Worth Building a Day Around

Large portions of the two trails closed in 2019 when the Metropolitan Council began heavy construction for the Metro Green Line Extension, the 14.5-mile light-rail line being built between downtown Minneapolis and Eden Prairie. Officials expected the Kenilworth corridor to close for about three years; the trails were due to reopen in 2021 and 2022 but stayed shut for years of delays tied largely to the Kenilworth tunnel, the same work that helped push the project's budget from an original $1.25 billion to $2.86 billion. The line itself is slated to open in early 2027.

The trails reconnected this winter, and the Metropolitan Council marked the reopening with a celebration ride on March 25. For Minneapolis cyclist Lacey Morgan, the corridor had been a source of frustration. "This part of the trail has been, for the past few years, a little bit of a headache," she told CBS Minnesota.

With most of the corridor back, the Kenilworth and Cedar Lake trails are open between Cedar Lake Parkway and Target Field, letting a rider circle Lake of the Isles, extend to Cedar Lake, and continue into downtown or out toward St. Louis Park and Hopkins on a largely low-stress, off-street network. Two rough spots remain: a zigzag detour where the Kenilworth Trail meets the Midtown Greenway south of Cedar Lake, and a stretch of the Cedar Lake Trail near Target Field that is open but narrowed by fencing while construction finishes.

The reconnection matters most for riders who use the loop as a hub. With the links largely restored, a scenic circuit of the lakes again flows into a commute downtown or a longer ride west.