How to get to the Public Library from the Skywalk

Cedar Rapids Public Library (from crlibrary.org)

The Cedar Rapids Public Library is connected to our Downtown Skywalk System, but for over a decade I've struggled to figure out how. The old 1st Street library, now the headquarters of TrueNorth Wealth Management, was simple to find from the skywalks, because the skywalks literally terminated on the second floor of the library. All roads led to..., back then. Now, the connection is through the 4th Avenue Parking Garage. Many have been the hours I've walked up and down the ramps of that garage, looking for the magic portal, before giving up and walking out to the street.

If you are from Cedar Rapids, you probably don't have this problem. Even if you're from out of town, you probably have figured it out long ago. But perhaps you are as easily confused as your humble blogger, or you are planning to visit our town later this summer for the Iowa Downtown Conference and are worried about some sort of Iowa Downtown Association hazing process that would involve finding your way from the skywalk to the library. It is for you, though mostly for me, that I humbly write.

Main route

Follow the Skywalks until you're just above 4th Avenue. Look for this sign by the entrance to the Parking Ramp: 

You are here, on your way there

Enter the parking ramp by the elevator, but don't get on the elevator!

Find the sign, and walk up the ramp to the door

Almost there! Approaching the library entrance

Open this door...

Go down this hallway, and enter the library

Alternate route [might be preferable if you're okay with going up and down stairs]

find these stairs at the point where the skywalks make a 90-degree turn towards the river

Go down the stairs into the parking ramp

You're on level 2! Go up the steps...

...to level 3

Walk up the ramp until you get to the library entrance

See the "main route" for the rest.

Now I can do it, and so can you! It's still not super-intuitive, and involves more walking through the parking garage than you might expect, but the signage helps.