The rebuilt trail through Valley Park reopened this September after a summer of paving. What reopened is Phase One of a two-phase Dakota County project, running from Marie Avenue west to Lilydale Road. The segment from Marie Avenue to Dodd Road, which includes the new tunnel under Dodd Road, is tentatively scheduled for the 2028 construction season. The trail's far west connection is behind a sewer-repair closure that should last into November. For now, Mendota Heights has a finished middle section with work still to come at both ends.
What came back in September
The trail is part of the River to River Greenway, a 7.7-mile route from the Lilydale trailhead of the Big Rivers Regional Trail to Kaposia Landing on the Mississippi River Greenway. It runs through Mendota Heights, West St. Paul and South St. Paul. In Mendota Heights it goes through Valley Park, an 84.1-acre city park off Marie Avenue about half a mile west of Dodd Road. The park has a playground, a picnic shelter, tennis courts, ballfields, natural areas and paved paths linking Dodd Road to Highway 13.
Dakota County's project page set the reopening for Sept. 7, 2026, after paving, signs, fencing, seeding and striping. As of the county's Oct. 1 update, the trail conditions page listed no current alerts for the River to River Greenway. A county update posted in August said the work came after "June's water main break" and a year of improvements and repairs. It also scheduled a ribbon-cutting for Monday, Sept. 14, at 821 Marie Ave. W., including tours of the environmental work.
The county's finished standard for this corridor includes:
- A 10-foot-wide paved trail
- Safer, more accessible crossings at local streets
- Connections to local trails and sidewalks
- Seating, wayfinding and interpretive signs, and landscaping
- Stabilization and stormwater improvements along Interstate Valley Creek
Some finishing work was always planned for after the reopening. According to the same August update, fencing, seeding and fall tree plantings would wrap up "as the weather cools." If you walk the trail this month and see crews or young trees going in near the path, that is the project still being finished on schedule.
The creek work is part of the trail project
The least visible part of the project may last the longest. The Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District received a $585,000 Clean Water Fund grant to stabilize the banks of Interstate Valley Creek and improve stormwater treatment. The goal is less stormwater volume, less erosion and cleaner water. The creek runs through Valley Park. The district expected that doing the creek work together with the greenway rebuild would save on engineering and construction costs.
This helps explain why the trail and the stream were rebuilt together. Phase One also replaced two existing bridges and included water main design work coordinated with St. Paul Regional Water Services. When a path, a creek, bridges and a water main share the same narrow valley, it makes sense to dig once.
One trail, two schedules
County materials describe the Mendota Heights segment as 1.4 miles between Dodd Road and the Big Rivers Regional Trail. The August event announcement went further and said the county "built a grade-separated tunnel." The Dakota County Board's own record gives a more precise timeline. Resolution 26-331, approved Aug. 4, 2026, splits the work into two phases.
Phase One | Phase Two | |
|---|---|---|
Limits | Marie Avenue to Lilydale Road | Dodd Road/Highway 149 to Marie Avenue |
Scope | Trail widened to county greenway standards, two bridge replacements, water main coordination | Full-depth reclamation and widening, new box culvert tunnel under Dodd Road near Highway 149, future link to Lebanon Hills Greenway |
Construction | 2025/2026 | Tentatively the 2028 season |
Funding | County | County and federal |
The Board record also shows how long the project has been in motion. The segment was first planned as a single county-funded bid package with construction in 2023. It was later split into two phases with separate bid packages and delayed by more than two years. The Valley Park section that reopened this fall is the half that reached construction first.
Heading west this fall: the Lilydale closure
Many people use the Valley Park Trail as a link to the river. That link is interrupted right now. Starting Sept. 14, the Lilydale Trailhead and the bluff section of the Big Rivers Regional Trail closed for the I-35E River Bridge Sewer Repair Project. The closure is expected to last about two months. Signed detours use Highway 13, and Dakota County has posted a detour map. If the work stays on schedule, two months from Sept. 14 points to about mid-November. The Metropolitan Council posts updates on its project page.
There is a second closure on the same side. Trail access from Lilydale across the Interstate 35E bridge into St. Paul is closed for a MnDOT construction project. So the trail through Valley Park is open, but its two main westbound connections, down the bluff and across the river, are both affected this fall. A loop that used to end at Lilydale now ends at Highway 13 for most of the season.
Heading east: Dodd Road stays an at-grade crossing until 2028
On the east side, the issue is the crossing at Dodd Road. Phase Two calls for about a mile of shared-use trail, including a tunnel under Dodd Road. Under the resolution, Dakota County leads the design, construction administration and right-of-way acquisition in 2026, with construction to begin in 2028. The August resolution was one of those 2026 steps. It approved permanent and temporary easements from one private parcel needed for the work.
The money is already budgeted. As of the Aug. 4, 2026 resolution, Phase Two had a total approved budget of $3,672,000:
- $2,080,000 in federal Surface Transportation Block Grant and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds, secured through the 2024 Regional Solicitation
- $860,195 from county sales and use tax
- $731,805 from the Parks Transportation Advance Account
The federal programs require a 25 percent county match. That federal share is also why Phase Two has its own schedule. Phase One was paid for by the county alone, so it could move ahead first.
When the tunnel is built, its reach will extend beyond Valley Park. The county's River to River planning lists the Village at Mendota Heights, Henry Sibley High School, Dodge Nature Center, Garlough Park, Marthaler Park, Robert Street and Thompson County Park among the places the greenway connects. Phase Two also sets up a future connection to the Lebanon Hills Greenway. The rebuilt section in Valley Park will then sit in the middle of a much longer route.
Using the trail this October
For the next six weeks or so, the most dependable trip is the reopened section itself. Start in Valley Park off Marie Avenue, follow the new pavement and bridges along Interstate Valley Creek, and turn around at Highway 13 instead of heading down to Lilydale. A few October dates nearby, all on the Dodd Road side:
- Oct. 10, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: The Mendota Heights Fire Department's free open house at 2120 Dodd Road.
- Oct. 17, 4 to 6 p.m.: Free Trick-Or-Teeing at the Par 3 Community Golf Course, 1695 Dodd Road, with costumes encouraged.
- Any evening: Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream, which announced an Aug. 31 opening at 750 Main St. in The Village at Mendota Heights.
Before heading west, check the county's trail conditions page. It is updated as closures change, and the Lilydale reopening will show up there first.
Questions about big public projects like this one, including what is funded, what is scheduled and what is still only planned, come up often when Mendota Heights clients talk about the blocks around Valley Park. If you would like to talk through what the 2028 Dodd Road work could mean for your part of town, Sally English is glad to walk through the county record with you. Let's Connect.
