Richfield (Minnesota)

Richfield is a suburban city in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. It is an inner-ring suburb just to the south of Minneapolis, which Richfield shares a border with.

By car

 * Interstate 35W runs through Richfield and connects it with Minneapolis to the north. The most useful exit is at 66th Street. There are also exits at Lyndale Avenue (along the Minneapolis-Richfield border) and at 76th Street, but only for southbound traffic.
 * Interstate 494 runs along the southern boundary of Richfield and connects it with the airport and Mall of America to the east. There are exits at Penn Avenue, Lyndale Avenue, Nicollet Avenue, and Portland-12th Avenues (eastbound traffic exits at Portland, westbound exits at 12th). There are also interchanges with I-35W and Highway 77.
 * Minnesota State Highway 62, sometimes referred to locally as the Crosstown, is a freeway running along the northern boundary of Richfield, including a three-quarter mile concurrency with I-35W, known locally as the Crosstown Commons. The freeway links Edina and the southwest suburbs to the west with the southeastern corner of Minneapolis to the east, close to Fort Smelling and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. There are exits at Xerxes Avenue, Penn Avenue, Lyndale Avenue, Portland Avenue, and an eastbound-only exit at Bloomington Avenue. There is also the aforementioned interchange with I-35W and an interchange with Highway 77.
 * Minnesota State Highway 77, is a freeway running along the eastern edge of Richfield, separating it from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and linking Minneapolis to the north with Bloomington and Apple Valley to the south. Locals sometimes refer to it as Cedar Avenue, which is the name of the Minneapolis grid street that runs into the northern end of the freeway, about a half-mile north of the Richfield border; the road running along the west side of the freeway is still called Cedar Avenue. The main exit for Richfield is at 66th Street; there is also a southbound-only exit at Diagonal Boulevard, a minor street that eventually runs into 73rd Street. The freeway has interchanges with Highway 62 and Interstate 494.

By bus

 * Route 4 operates on two different branches through Richfield, one along Penn Avenue and the other along Lyndale Avenue. Coming from Minneapolis, southbound buses serving the Penn branch are branded as Route 4P, while those serving the Lyndale branch are branded as Route 4L. Both branches terminate at 82nd Street near Interstate 35W in Bloomington.
 * Route 5 runs along Portland Avenue through Richfield. Coming from Minneapolis, southbound buses serving Richfield are branded as Route 5E, which terminates at the Mall of America in Bloomington (also a transfer point to the METRO Blue Line); buses branded as 5A or 5B don't serve Richfield at all. If coming into Richfield from the Mall of America, any Route 5 bus will do.
 * Route 14 runs along Bloomington Avenue and terminates near 66th Street and Cedar Avenue. Coming from Minneapolis, southbound buses serving Richfield are branded as Route 14C; other Route 14 buses don't serve Richfield.
 * Route 18 runs along Nicollet Avenue through Richfield. Coming from Minneapolis, southbound buses serving Richfield are branded as Route 18C, which only goes to 66th Street and Nicollet Avenue, Route 18D, which terminates near Nicollet Avenue and American Boulevard in Bloomington, or Route 18E, which terminates near 106th Street and Interstate 35W in Bloomington; buses branded as 18A or 18G don't serve Richfield. Coming from Bloomington, any northbound Route 18 bus will bring you to Richfield.
 * Route 515 is an east-west crosstown route running mostly along 66th Street through Richfield. The route starts at Southdale Mall in Edina (a major bus transfer point) and runs along 66th Street until Bloomington Avenue were it splits into three branches. The 515C heads to the Mall of America in Bloomington (transfer point to the METRO Blue Line) via Bloomington Avenue; the 515B also heads to the Mall of America, but does so by continuing to the end of 66th Street and taking Longfellow Avenue (east frontage road of Highway 77). The less frequent 515E heads to the southeastern corner of Minneapolis and terminates at the VA Medical Center (also a transfer point to the METRO Blue Line).
 * Route 535 is a weekday-only limited stop route running from Downtown Minneapolis to Bloomington, via Richfield. There is a stop at 66th Street and Interstate 35W, and also a few stops on the south end of Richfield where the bus meanders around the Best Buy corporate campus (close to Penn Avenue and Interstate 494).

Get around
Starting in the west, the major north-south arteries are Penn Avenue, Lyndale Avenue, Nicollet Avenue, Portland Avenue, and 12th Avenue. There are two major east-west arteries in Richfield. 66th Street cuts across the north side of Richfield, linking with Southdale Mall in Edina to the west and Highway 77 to the east (adjacent to Cedar Point Commons, a major strip mall development anchored by a Super Target and a Home Depot). Cutting across the south side of town is 76th/77th Street, which runs close to Interstate 494 and acts as an alternative to it. Specifically, traffic runs along 76th Street from Centennial Lakes in Edina until just east of Interstate 35W, where traffic jogs one block south to 77th Street, which eventually dead-ends at Cedar Avenue (a street that effectively acts as a service road for Highway 77).

Sidewalks are found on major streets; thoroughfares with less traffic like 12th Avenue, Bloomington Avenue, and 70th Street only have them on one side of the street. Non-major residential streets don't have sidewalks at all.