Friends of the
Saint Paul Skyway

Built for the people of St. Paul.
It's time they had a say.

In 1967, St. Paul connected two downtown buildings with an enclosed pedestrian bridge — the first link in what would become the largest publicly owned skyway system in the world. Five miles of glass corridors, two stories above the street, connecting 47 buildings across the heart of the city.

For decades, the skyway was downtown's lifeline. Workers commuted through it. Families shopped in it. Residents lived their daily lives inside these corridors through Minnesota's most unforgiving winters. Unlike Minneapolis's privately owned system, St. Paul's skyway was built with public dollars and maintained as public infrastructure — a bold experiment in urban design that said this space belongs to everyone.

Today the system faces its greatest challenges. Building closures have severed critical connections. Maintenance disputes between the city and property owners leave sections in disrepair. Decisions about the skyway's future are being made — but the people who walk these corridors every day haven't had a seat at the table.

Imagine a downtown you can explore all winter without a coat.

Five miles of climate-controlled corridors connecting pop-up markets, local restaurants, art exhibits, and live music — a place where you grab lunch, discover a new shop, and catch a performance without ever stepping outside. Not a commuter shortcut. A destination.

The skyway should be the reason you come downtown — whether you live in Lowertown or drive in from Woodbury. A place families visit on Saturday afternoons. Where visitors spend an entire day they didn't plan. Where “let's check out the skyway” becomes a thing people say.

No other city in America has anything like this — five miles of publicly owned, glass-enclosed urban space waiting to be reimagined. The bones are here. The community is here. What's been missing is a vision big enough to match them.