On the evening of October 7, Lakeville's Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Committee met at Ritter Farm Park's Ed Mako Environmental Learning Center instead of City Hall. The first discussion item was a tour of the Lake Marion Greenway Trail at Ritter Farm Park. Further down the agenda, under "Trail Signage," was a set of draft signs covering e-bikes and a citywide trail speed limit.
Those two items belong together. Lakeville already has plenty of trail miles, but most of them have worked as separate local loops. The greenway work going on this year joins downtown, Lake Marion, Casperson Park and Ritter Farm into one continuous route. A route that long and that connected brings different traffic than a neighborhood loop does, and the city is writing that traffic's rulebook during the same season the pavement goes down.
The new trail fills in a missing link
Lakeville already maintains about 150 miles of trails, according to Sun ThisWeek's report on the 2026 plans. Before this year, the city's Winter 2025 newsletter described the existing trail as running from downtown Lakeville to Casperson Park, with the connection to Ritter Farm Park still listed as future work. That leaves a gap between the city's downtown and one of its largest natural parks, and this project closes it.
Dakota County's project page lists what the city and county are building together:
- Resurfaced pavement between Kenrick Avenue and Holyoke Avenue
- ADA improvements along the route
- An improved trail crossing of Kenrick Avenue
- New trail construction inside Ritter Farm Park
- A new trailhead at Ritter Farm
- Landscaping and tree replacements
- Wayfinding signage
The Sun ThisWeek story adds a second trailhead to the plan, off Holyoke Avenue next to the Lakeville Area Arts Center. Both trailheads are planned with restrooms and bike repair stations, and parts of the existing downtown-to-Casperson Park trail are being repaved and widened.
Parks and Recreation Director Joe Masiarchin explained the goal to Sun ThisWeek: "This trail is going to create a really easy and fun way for people to be able to travel from one side of Lakeville to the other." He also said it would connect "our downtown and three of our larger parks."
With trailheads at both ends and a repaved, wider middle, the route becomes a place to start and finish a ride or walk, with a restroom and a bike repair station planned at each end.
The Kenrick Avenue closure was part of the trail
Anyone who drove Kenrick Avenue near Lake Marion in late summer saw the trail work without necessarily knowing it. In a notice posted August 7, 2026, the city announced that southbound Kenrick Avenue would close starting August 10. The work had two parts. One was repairing the Lake Marion sheet-pile retaining wall. The other was building a pedestrian crossing with a refuge island that connects to the Lake Marion Greenway. The city estimated about six weeks of work, weather permitting, and directed drivers to posted detours around the frontage-road stretch between 195th and 185th Streets.
A refuge island is a small piece of infrastructure, but here it carries a lot of weight. A trail meant to carry people across town only works if they can get over the busy roads in its way, one lane at a time if need be. Kenrick is the busy road between Lake Marion and the rest of the route.
The work started with trees in February
The visible construction began months before the Kenrick closure. On February 10, 2026, the city announced that greenway construction had started with tree removals at Ritter Farm Park. It said every removed tree would be replaced at a 2:1 ratio with native species. Dakota County's timeline matches, with tree clearing in February 2026 and regional trail construction planned for spring through fall 2026.
State money is also in the project. In its 2025 Local Trail Connections round, the Minnesota DNR awarded Lakeville $250,000 toward a $510,100 project to build new trail and rebuild existing trail between Ritter Farm Park and Casperson Park. That covers just under half of that stretch's cost, and the grant program specifically funds connections between trails.
The committee held its October meeting at Ritter Farm and started with a tour of the new trail, so the construction season the county scheduled is now in its last weeks. As of October 19, Dakota County's trail conditions page listed no current alerts for the Lake Marion Greenway.
The draft signs cover faster trail traffic
This is where the second agenda item comes in. In an October 2 memo in the committee packet, Masiarchin wrote that staff had been creating trail signs with "new information pertaining to e-bikes, Citywide speed limits, and other safety information." Staff contacted several surrounding cities to see what they post on their trails, borrowed design elements from city and state agencies, and asked the committee for input on content and readability.
One draft version reads:
Class 1, 2 & 3 E-bikes With operable pedals and a saddle seat are permitted. Helmets are recommended for all ages, helmets are required for riders under 18.
Travel at Safe Speeds Bikers must slow down and yield to slower trail traffic. Speed limit is 15 MPH unless otherwise posted.
The drafts also list what doesn't belong on trails. E-motos, ATVs, cars, trucks and other gas-powered vehicles are prohibited. Golf carts are allowed only by permit, and one version names the Lakeville Police Department as the issuer. Equestrian riding appears on the prohibited list. Dogs have to stay leashed, and pet waste goes in the receptacles. Each version ends with a QR code linking to an interactive trail map at LakevilleParksandRec.com.
None of this is adopted yet. The drafts went to the committee for feedback, so the final signs could change in wording or content. Still, the drafts show what the city is planning for. A trail where the expected users are walkers and kids on bikes doesn't need a posted speed limit. A trail that crosses town, with trailheads that invite people to ride in from somewhere else, does. The signs and the greenway were on the same agenda for that reason.
Where the 20-mile greenway stands
Lakeville's link is one piece of a much larger plan. Dakota County describes the full Lake Marion Greenway as a 20-mile regional route through Burnsville, Savage, Credit River Township, Lakeville and Farmington, connecting Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve, Ritter Farm Park, Lake Marion, downtown Lakeville, South Creek and downtown Farmington. The pieces are at very different stages:
| Segment | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset Pond Park to Kelleher Park, Burnsville | Existing regional trail, 2.37 miles | Dakota County |
| Ritter Farm Park to Holyoke Avenue, Lakeville | Construction scheduled spring through fall 2026 | Dakota County |
| Downtown Lakeville to South Creek Trail at Cedar Avenue | Described as the next Lakeville phase | City of Lakeville, Winter 2025 |
| Connection to North Creek Greenway in Farmington | Planned | Dakota County |
Sun ThisWeek reported that the Lakeville trail work is the first phase of the master plan the city and Dakota County developed together in 2013. Masiarchin put the long-term goal this way: "The long-term goal is that this would truly become more of a regional trail connection." That makes Lakeville one of the first places where the 20-mile plan turns into finished trail. The next phase, from downtown east to South Creek at Cedar Avenue, would push the route toward Farmington, and with it the reach of whatever speed and e-bike rules the city settles on.
The trail rules described here are city drafts and may change before any signs go up. Treat this as general information, and confirm current rules with the City of Lakeville before relying on them.
If the new greenway is making you think about where a trailhead or downtown Lakeville sits in your daily routes, Nicholas Thull can walk you through how projects like this fit into the parts of town you're weighing. Let's Connect.
