How the Area of Lake and 35W Used to be Connected

The following two diagrams show how the Lake and 35W site used to be connected to the downtown grid of Minneapolis. Imagine an era when you could drive your '58 Chevy all the way from 50th and Nicollet to the Foshay Tower. Or, better yet, take the streetcar in the same direction, then go out to the lakeshore cabin on Lake Minnetonka, all on electric rails!

Anyway, here are the diagrams:
The above image shows the connections to downtown Minneapolis, previous to 1963.
The above image here are the current road center-lines, base on city data. Note the four interruptions to surface circulation (from North-to-South, generally): the Minneapolis Convention Center, MCAD, 35W and Wells Fargo, and K-Mart.

Granted, not all of these are bad things. The MCAD campus clearly contributes to the cultural health of Minneapolis. Some of the other sites, K-Mart in particular, could be re-imagined in my humble opinion, and this is exactly what my project aims to do.