Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board : New Project Aims To Improve Wayfinding At Theodore Wirth Regional Park

Press release from the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board:

2021-07-29

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) just launched a new project to update and improve wayfinding at Theodore Wirth Regional Park!

Wayfinding and signage within Wirth Park is out of date and in many cases, non-existent. This project seeks to fix this and make the park more accessible to a greater variety of users.

The park should be easy to navigate while still offering opportunities to “get lost” in nature. New signs will help orient folks as they arrive by foot, bike, bus, car or other means. The wayfinding plan will be vetted through community open houses this summer to better understand how visitors use the park and why some visitors might not use the park.

The tentative schedule is to perform planning and design work and create a wayfinding master plan by fall 2021. Then construction documents will be created and the project bid to sign fabricators in winter 2021-22, with signs installed in spring 2022.

There are two ways to get involved: Take the online survey linked below, or read on for in-person opportunities at Wirth Park coming up in August.

Take Wirth Wayfinding Survey

Share this survey with anyone who may be interested using the link surveymonkey.com/r/TheoWirthWayfinding

Deep Dive Week

Anyone interested in this project is encouraged to drop by Deep Dive Week Aug. 10-12, where the design team will gather input to better design and implement a useful wayfinding plan. The team will explore the park and meet with park users, staff and partners. Then it will create concept designs, present the designs and gather more feedback.

Open House #1

Date: Aug. 11, 2021
Time: 2-4 pm
Location: The Trailhead
Address: 1221 Theodore Wirth Parkway
Topic: First of three open houses to gather input on how visitors use the park and what they’d like to see in terms of wayfinding and signs. This will be an open house-style meeting where anyone can drop in any time and have a conversation with project staff.

Open House #2

Date: Aug. 11, 2021
Time: 6-8 pm
Location: The Trailhead
Address: 1221 Theodore Wirth Parkway
Topic: Second of three open houses to gather input on how visitors use the park and what they’d like to see in terms of wayfinding and signs. This will be an open house-style meeting where anyone can drop in any time and have a conversation with project staff.

Open House #3

Date: Aug. 12, 2021
Time: 6-8 pm
Location: The Trailhead
Address: 1221 Theodore Wirth Parkway
Topic: Project staff will report back feedback received at the first two meetings and talk through some of the initial designs for the signs and their locations. This will be an open house-style meeting where anyone can drop in any time and have a conversation with project staff.

If you can’t make these meetings, all information presented will also be posted shortly after Deep Dive Week to the project page linked below, along with an online survey for feedback. Share the project page with anyone who may be interested using the web address minneapolisparks.org/TheoWirthWayfinding.

This press release was produced by the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board. The views expressed here are the author’s own.