The record shows, I took the blows...and walked the Skyways

I had to spend a few days working downtown Minneapolis this week and came across what would likely be called one of the city's defining features (aside from the Mary Tyler Moore statue, which I also saw).

The Minneapolis Skyway System connects virtually every downtown block via a series of covered walkways, accessible from each building's second or third floor. Take a look at this map and you'll see just how far you can navigate the entire downtown without ever stepping foot outside -- you can go from the 4th Street Garage all the way to the Convention Center (near 12th Street), albeit not in a straight line.

We walked from the hotel where we were working to a restaurant a few blocks over, and it was basically one long, never ending shopping experience -- restaurants (both fine and casual), banks, newsstands, clothing stores, nail and hair salons, you name it. It's like some forward thinking civic planner way back when convinced every building owner to gut every second floor in the downtown area to build (with apologies to the Mall of America) the world's biggest mall.

It's not hard to see the benefit here -- while we have yet to experience our first Minnesota winter, I can only imagine what it must be like having to walk the downtown streets to get to and from work every day. The fact that each walkway has a different design is also very cool.

I couldn't help but wonder about the potential downside, though. What is the effect on the businesses at the street level? How does it affect the foot traffic that is so essential to a vibrant downtown?

Think about what Boston might be like if you could get from, say, the State Street T Stop to the Theater District by walking through the second floors of every building in Washington Square, with every potential need available without ever going down to the street. Great in the winter, sure, but wouldn't something be missing?

Well, it likely wouldn't work in Boston anyway. Minneapolis' grid layout makes an endeavor like this relatively easy to pull off -- Boston's cow path layout would make it a nightmare.