No single note, joke or trope on the bridge is art, but to my eye that afternoon, the whole assemblage of aging concrete and graffiti was a pleasing eye-opener. Eden Prairie city code considers them vandals, but they could just be neighbors hankering to make a point more durable than an emoji on a smartphone screen. Those armed with cans of spray paint probably work in the dark with get-in and get-out urgency. Sharing the tunnel with a silent, fast-moving Tesla is not an option. But there are no pedestrian lanes to take safe measure of the crazy quilts of hearts, save-the-planet, political and naughty blazes of graffiti. Minnesota Nice and warning signs help prevent crashes. Most drivers slow to a crawl for oncoming vehicles, one car at a time. A MnDOT bridge inventory classifies it as a two-laner. The pavement narrows to 20 feet for the underpass. I have driven and bicycled under the Indian Chief Road bridge for some 25 years. I parked the car and walked back to the bridge with a camera. The rustic, all-season camp serves children with special needs. It could have been a diorama at the Bell Museum of Natural History.Īt the underpass, I took a right into Eden Wood. I carefully snailed down the icy slant to the bridge, slow enough to notice its weathered concrete and graffiti. I was heading towards the railroad bridge, Birch Island Woods and home. I turned off County Road 62 onto Indian Chief Road alongside the 8th fairway of Glen Lake Golf Course. 28, 2020: A grey, featureless sky and a throw of snow had fixed Eden Prairie into a monochromatic slide show. Built in 1930, it has yet to inspire an album, a movie or much interest. Two miles away, on quiet Indian Chief Road, another graffiti-spackled bridge still carries freight trains. The album - a hit the film - a critical dud the bridge - a memory. The following year, 1991, the railroad span was demolished. The bridge’s abutments had become canvasses of layered spray and brush painted “Let’s Go Crazy” shouts for Prince, peace, school graduations and upright middle fingers. Their namesake, a railroad span over Valley View Road in Eden Prairie, was just five miles east of Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen. Rock artist Prince released the movie Graffiti Bridge and its soundtrack 32 years ago.
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