About
A clearinghouse, drawn as a globe.
Skyway Governance collects, in one structured place, how the world's enclosed pedestrian systems are governed. Every record answers the same questions: who owns the bridges and the corridors, what legal instrument creates the public's right to pass, what hours the system must keep and whether anyone enforces them, who pays to heat, clean, light and repair it, what it cost to build, and what is being argued about right now.
It began in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where the skyway is city-owned and governed by recorded easements and Chapter 140 of the Legislative Code, and where the St. Paul Skyway Map and the Skyway Library gathered the research this atlas extends to 41 systems worldwide.
How the data is built
- One record per system, validated against a published schema before every build.
- Every number, date and cost carries a citation; primary sources (ordinances, policies, council records) outrank news, which outranks reference sites.
- Unknowns are left blank, not guessed. Each record shows its confidence level and research notes.
- Saint Paul's bridge catalogue links the recorded easement agreements for each numbered bridge.
Use the data
The whole database is published as JSON, with schema.org structured data on every page for search engines and language models. © 2026 Open Civic Intelligence Ventures LLC. All rights reserved. Quote it with attribution and a link; see the terms for anything more.
Corrections and additions
Found an error, or a system we are missing? Email hello@skywaygovernance.com. Published by Open Civic Intelligence Ventures LLC (open-civ.com), which also builds the St. Paul Skyway Map and the Linear Park Alliance. Map tiles by OpenFreeMap and OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors; corridor geometry © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); Saint Paul structures from the City of Saint Paul Downtown Skyways GIS layer; imagery © Esri. Full attributions on the legal page.