§ VIII · the demand · 681 voices
681 told us. One ask.
From March 2 to May 2, 2026 we asked the people who use the Saint Paul skyway what they want from it. 681told us. The corridor’s own constituency is already demanding what the precedents prove.
the demand, ranked
the essentiality question is free-text in this dataset; classified as "high essentiality" if the response contains a positive endorsement token (very, essential, extreme, critical, vital, etc.) and no negation phrase · n=611
top-ranked entry in the multi-select frustrations field · n=681
top-ranked entry in the multi-select "select up to three improvements" field · n=681
top-ranked entry in the multi-select event-types field · n=681
in their own words
“We wanted to walk 365 days a year and not worry about the dangers of cracked sidewalks, pollution, traffic, or cold, hot or bad AQI days.”— resident · uses 6–7 days/week · more than 5 years · 71+
“Commitment from our mayor and Downtown business alliance to reopen the Skyway.”— resident · uses a few times per week · more than 5 years · 71+
“Fix and clean them up. They have suffered terrible under-investment for years.”— resident · uses a few times per week · more than 5 years · 51–70
“In the past, I know that the Skyway was very popular, very happening. Today, not so much. My workplace has a lot of people who were around 30 years ago when it was popular. How do we reinvent that?”— resident · uses 6–7 days/week · 1–5 years · 20–50
“The community, because it's a neighborhood unto itself. Also, the weather shielding for obvious reasons.”— worker · business owner · more than 5 years · 20–50
“Getting them all open! The closure at Alliance Bank has really severed the city in 2.”— worker · uses a few times per week · more than 5 years · 51–70
“I appreciate this work; downtown solutions need to be "and" not "or" when it comes to skyway vs. street level — both are really important.”— worker · uses a few times per month · more than 5 years · 51–70
“Safety, and fostering small businesses. Also bringing new people into downtown. That is the foundation, physical and economic safety. Without that we have nothing.”— visitor · uses a few times per week · more than 5 years · 20–50
“I spend time walking with my younger grandchildren, without worrying about crossing streets.”— visitor · uses a few times per week · more than 5 years · 51–70
who answered
respondents may identify with more than one category · total respondents = 681
methodology
When: March 2 → May 2, 2026 (681 responses)
How recruited:open-link survey shared via skywayfriends.org, the Skyway Weekly newsletter list, and word-of-mouth across downtown buildings. Not a probability sample — respondents self-selected.
What was asked: 22 questions covering use frequency, time of day, frustrations, requested improvements, the most urgent action, demographics, and free-text reflections (plus an auto-recorded timestamp).
How stats were computed: percentages on multi-select questions use the count of respondents who answered thatquestion as the denominator (not the full 681). Each headline figure includes a methodology note inline. Multi-select questions can produce overlapping totals — a respondent can select multiple frustrations or events; bars represent share of respondents, not share of mentions.
Quotes:verbatim from respondents’ free-text answers, reproduced with light spelling and punctuation normalization. Attributions are demographic only — no names.
Raw data: a sanitized CSV (contact details removed) lives at data/skyway-survey-2026-05.csv in the project repo.