Strolling Downtown out of the Elements — The Minneapolis Skyway

Minneapolis is a modern cosmopolitan city with a booming downtown, professional sports teams, and the largest indoor shopping mall in the world.  However, when people think of Minneapolis and her sister city and state capital St. Paul, the first thought that comes to mind is the bone chilling cold of the harsh Minnesota winters.  Clearly, the prospect of strolling around the downtown of the city in the midst of a blizzard, ice storm, or sub zero temperatures is not something that many shoppers find attractive.  In order to encourage year round downtown patronage, the cities of both Minneapolis and Saint Paul constructed large skyways that thread their way through the heart of both cities.

A skyway is a covered and enclosed bridge that connects adjacent buildings typically at the level of the second or third floor thereby allowing pedestrian traffic to pass underneath.  The Minneapolis skyway is one of the largest in the world, stretching over three miles in length while enclosing more than eighty blocks of prime downtown Minneapolis real estate.

The Minneapolis skyway is privately maintained but is made available to public use.  Local merchants who pay skyway fees benefit from the increased business that they pull in because of the increased traffic that comes from having an enclosed, climate controlled way for customers to reach their stores.

The Minneapolis skyway has been a boon to downtown Minneapolis businesses.  By protecting shoppers from the harsh elements of the Minnesota winters, the skyway is one of the major enablers of the Minneapolis economy.