Neighborhood bridge transformed

The Seward and Longfellow neighborhoods threw a one-of-a-kind party on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. Following a weekend long paint-a-thon, the second stage of a two-year project was unveiled in the late afternoon: a gloriously colorful, freshly painted, transformed bridge.
The Greenway Overpass/Railroad Bridge on 36th Avenue marks the border between the Seward and Longfellow neighborhoods. Previously an eyesore with crumbling walls and dark spaces, the new version of the 111-year-old bridge is an inspiration on many levels.
Who could pull off a project on this scale?
The name of the organization behind it is 36th ART, which stands for Avenue Revitalization and Transformation. The group is made up of neighbors who live on and around 36th Avenue South, and envision it as more than just a fast connector between East Lake Street and 25th Street East.
For each of the projects they’ve completed in the neighborhood so far, the group has brought together local artists, residents, and businesses to reimagine under-loved spaces along the corridor, improving safety and accessibility with public art, nature, and opportunities for people to connect.
The bridge transformation has happened in two parts. Phase I, completed in 2023, is called River Memory. It involved painting murals on both walls underneath the bridge. Phase II, called Bridging Cultures, is what was just finished.
Longfellow resident and retired executive director of Forecast Public Art Jack Becker served as project manager for both phases. He said, “Mural making reaches people on a deep level: it illuminates histories, connects people, and gives voice to those who are not heard.”
He continued, “The two murals under the bridge belong there. They couldn’t be anywhere else; they’re pictorially about Seward and Longfellow. They have educational value, and conversation-starting value. I knew Phase II needed to happen as soon as Phase I was completed. We started looking for an artist to connect those two walls with the rest of the bridge, and Thomasina TopBear answered the call. The right people just kept showing up at the right time, and it’s not over yet.
“We’ve requested that the city put lighting underneath the bridge for safety, which they’ll do now that the mural is completed. And the University of Minnesota Design Center has committed to doing a two-year traffic-calming study, to see if the public art makes a difference in cars speeding.”

Creative partners
Just a few days before the scheduled paint-a-thon, the bridge was power washed and primed thanks to the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority.
Lead artist Thomasina TopBear is a self-taught muralist, illustrator, and organizer from the Oglala Lakota and Santee Dakota Nations, who lives and works in Seward. TopBear is also the co-founder of City Mischief Murals, a BIPOC artist collective focused on healing through art – and responsible for the profusion of joy and color that now span 36th Avenue.
She said, “Working on this project has been a great experience for all of us. We spray-painted straight through from Friday to Sunday without stopping. We had a few experienced folks from City Mischief Murals, and some community members who weren’t experienced at all. We did a stencil-making class with 10 ninth to 12th grade art students at Hiawatha Collegiate High School a couple of weeks ago, which is right next to the bridge. The students’ sense of pride in being asked to participate, and the pride their families felt, were so obvious.”

How it all started
Mia Bolte has lived on 36th Avenue for six years. She described a conversation she had with her neighbor Terry Barnes in 2022, when Barnes was a newly elected Seward Neighborhood Group board member. Bolte said, “Terry asked me if I had any ideas for improving our neighborhood. I told her that those of us who live on 36th Avenue feel overlooked. Our residential street is wider than usual and doesn’t have boulevards or boulevard trees. It’s a state road, which complicates matters because we need both city and state departments’ help to address issues.
“People drive 45 miles on it on it all the time, despite the posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour. There’s no enforcement of the speed limit, though we’ve asked the city for help.”
She continued, “The thing that bothered me most was the dilapidated Greenway Bridge. I wanted to see the bridge painted, and to look like somebody cared about it. Terry got back to me not long after and said, ‘I think we can do something about that bridge.’”
Two years later, 36th ART has gone and done way more than something. After talking tirelessly among themselves and with neighbors, they’ve collected ideas, problem solved, raised money, partnered with artists, and ultimately created a work of art to be proud of – a very large and useful structure that actually is Bridging Cultures.
For more information on this and other upcoming projects, go to www.36thart.org.