There’s no better way to observe and enjoy wildlife than when they aren’t aware of your presence, and hoping to create these conditions at the Minnesota Zoo, the administration has converted an old monorail track into a pedestrian walkway that’s winning awards.
Opened in 2023, the Treetop Trail was recently called the Best Specialty Construction of the Year by Engineering News Record.
The Treetop Trail gives guests year-round access to hundreds of acres of hardwood forest, ponds, and marshes, and the diverse wildlife that call Minnesota home while simultaneously providing new perspectives on many zoo animals, including tigers, moose, and bison.
Opened in 1978 with a completed monorail in 1979, the Minnesota Zoo would eventually decommission its overhead transport line in 2013, leaving the rusted track and platforms to do little more than shade visitors.
Snow Kreilich Architects and PCL Construction turned the monorail into the world’s longest elevated pedestrian treetop walkway (1.25 miles). Measuring 8 feet for the entire length, it has several platforms that stretch far from the main concourse and which allow visitors to gaze down at the larger enclosures containing the flagship species.
20-foot-long segments were prefabricated by PCL and associated contractors before being shipped to the job site for assembly. Teams of harnessed construction workers then bolted the segments into place on the monorail’s steel skeleton.
MORE AMAZING ARCHITECTURE: Skyscraper Bursting with 80,000 Plants Opens to the Public in Singapore–LOOK
Work was divided into four stages and done to consider the zoo animals’ daily routines.
“The Treetop Trail marks a new chapter for the Minnesota Zoo,” said Minnesota Zoo Director and Foundation President John Frawley in a statement at the Trail’s opening. “As we look ahead to the Zoo’s next 45 years, the Treetop Trail is a major step in furthering connections to nature and animals in an accessible and immersive way.”
SEE what it looks like below…
SHARE This Award-Winning Attraction In The North Star State With Your Friends…