Improvements to the historic Victory Memorial Drive on schedule
11/01/2010
Victory Memorial Drive, the historic landmark commemorating the 568 soldiers and nurses from Hennepin County who died in World War I, is the only linear urban memorial of its kind and the largest WWI memorial in the U.S. The memorial was constructed in the 1920s, and it’s been in need of some serious reconstruction work for some time.
Improvements to Victory Memorial Drive began this past summer. By the end of November a new flag plaza, refinements to the Lincoln/ GAR Circle and the placement of two gateway monuments at the Drive’s entrances should be complete. Led by the Victory Memorial Drive Task Force, this work is part of the $6 million collaboration between Hennepin County, the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, the State of Minnesota and the City of Minneapolis (visit www.victorymemorial drive.org).
The new flag plaza, which is being paved with granite from a quarry in Cold Spring, Minnesota, will include granite balustrade walls, a granite flag base and benches, and new plantings and lighting. Project Engineer Dean Michalko said, “Everything is looking good.” He said most of the work is on or ahead of schedule (street lighting, paving, irrigation, etc.), the trail lighting will be done this winter and the entire project will be completed by next June.
The project is going as planned, said Principal Planning Analyst Andrew Gillett, “The biggest change is that the rededication ceremony has been rescheduled from Veteran’s Day to June 11, 2011. This date is 90 years to the day that the first dedication was held. We still plan to have construction substantially completed by the end of this November.”