On Thursday, May 19th at 1:30PM, the Public Works and Infrastructure (PWI) committee will discuss the Hennepin Ave S Street Reconstruction Project, which includes layout approval, easements, repealing an associated one-way street, and parking restrictions.  

To start, I want to inform you of a proposed change to what was released to the public late last year: while the physical layout of the Reconstruction Project is the exact same as what was released by the Public Works Department last year, which includes dedicated bus lanes and bike lanes, and increased walkability,  staff is proposing changes regarding the bus lanes. They intend to shift from 24/7 (or all day) lanes to dynamic (or phased in) lanes. I oppose this change and am working to solve for this. 

I fully support 24/7 bus lanes and I have authored a Staff Direction, which I will bring to PWI Committee on May 19 and to Council on May 26. If passed, this Staff Direction will keep the 24/7 bus lanes as presented by Public Works staff in 2021. My amendment ensures the $40 million appropriation from the State of Minnesota for the METRO E Line arterial bus rapid transit is fully utilized and that the bus lanes in the Hennepin Ave S Reconstruction Project layout are full-time, dedicated, 24/7 lanes when the street opens following construction. I’ve offered this because 24/7 bus lanes are the single largest tool for racial and economic justice in this reconstruction project: 55% of bus riders are people of color and 64% have an annual household income of less than $35,000 per year. The Staff Direction also directs Public Works to form an Area Parking Management Task Force to bring staff, businesses, and residents together to identify strategies and locations for parking solutions and curbside management along and adjacent to the corridor prior to the start of construction. This accounts for stakeholder engagement many of our businesses have asked for in finding the creative parking solutions this corridor will need.  

Once the layout is approved by Council, staff will finalize the exact details of the design. Construction will not begin until 2024, and is expected to last 2 years, meaning the new street will not open until 2026. I cannot stress this enough: this is a long term project, and when completed, will last for another 60 years. We have to account for the conditions of today, 4 years from now when the street re-opens, and build for the community we want to live in.    

For our City to truly achieve equitable outcomes and improve the lives of working class Black and brown people, equity must be at the center of everything we do. The Hennepin Ave S Reconstruction Project is an opportunity for us to practice this work. Street design is a proven strategy for safer communities. City policies – and our urgent climate needs – guide us towards a future where riding the bus, biking, and walking must be viable solutions for getting around in our beloved city. We must be building for the future we want to live in, a future where people confidently choose to use their cars less and other transportation modes, like buses and biking, more because those options are reliable, accessible, and convenient. We’re also building for our current reality, a reality where 1 in 3 Black households in Minneapolis don’t have the choice to use a car, and need accessible walkways, rapid bus lanes, and safer bike paths.   

Hennepin Avenue South is one of the most dangerous streets for pedestrians, bus riders, bikers, residents, and visitors in the City. Hennepin Avenue, from Franklin Avenue to Lake Street is one of the higher crash streets in Minneapolis. It is a “High Injury Street,” and notably, on the high end of High Injury Streets. This section of Hennepin Ave had more than twice the rate of fatal and severe crashes per mile, total crashes per mile, and pedestrian and bicycle crashes per mile as the average High Injury Street from 2012-2021. Additionally, six of the intersections in this stretch of Hennepin are among the 100 highest crash intersections in the City since 2012. Those intersections are Franklin, Lake, Lagoon, 27th, 25th, and 28th.This data, alongside recognizing that 10,000 people live along this corridor, asserts that we must take necessary and urgent action to redesign Hennepin Ave S to center people – not cars.   

To inform my decision-making, I have engaged numerous stakeholders in a variety of ways: community and individual conversations, door knocking, and walking along the corridor itself. I have met with businesses along the corridor including Namaste Café, Nico’s Tacos, Osman Cleaners, The Corner Balloon Shoppe, Uptown Café, The New Uptown Diner, Graves Hospitality, and others. We’ve been in regular communication with the Uptown Business Association and have enthusiastically engaged in good faith in every conversation they’ve invited us to be a part of.  

I have personally knocked over 200 doors of residents that live in apartments and homes along the corridor. I’ve talked with residents about the upcoming plan, their experiences navigating the street, and a future for this corridor that best meets their needs. I’ve heard residents say they have a hard time navigating the street and/or feel unsafe doing so (including countless stories of near crashes between pedestrians and vehicles), want more reliable bus services to get to work and other critical services consistently, and want to be able to walk to the services available along the corridor. 

I have also walked the corridor at different times of the day on different days of the week to better understand the experiences residents have shared with me. Our office has read every one of the hundreds of emails, letters, and postcards sent to us regarding the Hennepin Ave S Reconstruction Project. We’re thankful for the heartfelt stories you’ve shared. This project won’t be complete for another four years. Between now and when construction is complete, and when the street opens and we utilize it day-to-day, we look forward to continuing to engage with you in good faith.  

In addition to the work our office has done, the Public Works Department has conducted extensive public engagement on this project, including over 10,000 comments and 50 community events. You can read their engagement summaries from Spring 2021 and Winter 2021.  

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our office. We’re always available via email at Ward10@minneapolismn.gov.  

In solidarity,  

Aisha Chughtai