MnDOT plans to reconstruct Central Avenue NE beginning in February 2029. The 3.5 miles of work will go from 2nd Street SE to 37th Avenue NE, five blocks north of the above photo, taken at the intersection of Central and St. Anthony Parkway. Central Avenue is part of MN Hwy. 65, which ends in downtown Minneapolis to the south and goes north to Littlefork, Minn., a city 20 miles south of Canada. (Davis Steen)
On Aug. 27, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved the final concept layout for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT)’s Central Avenue reconstruction, including support for an art walk along the corridor.
The resolution passed after an amendment by Council President Elliott Payne to add language showing the city’s support of an art walk. The amendment was co-authored by Michael Rainville, Ward 3 Council Member. In March, Payne and Rainville submitted a letter to MnDOT in support of the project.
“The City of Minneapolis strongly supports the art walk concept and requests MnDOT to acknowledge that this part of Central Avenue is not a highway but a dense urban art district,” said the amended language of the resolution.
The Columbia Heights City Council is expected to vote on the project at a meeting on Sept. 14.
The project
Central Avenue, Trunk Highway 65, is expected to be reconstructed beginning in February 2029.
The Minneapolis portion of the project runs 3.5 miles along Central Avenue from 2nd Street SE to 37th Avenue NE. It is projected to cost $85 million, with Minneapolis paying $6.2 million in addition to the cost of utility construction. Columbia Heights would pay around $1 million for the project, primarily to fund a new traffic signal at the intersection with 43rd Avenue NE.
The project will reduce Central Avenue from four to three lanes. That space will be instead used for a dedicated bus lane, central turn lane, expanded sidewalks and protected bike paths on either side of the road. These shifts would apply to both Minneapolis and Columbia Heights.
The project will include transit improvements for Metro Transit’s F Line and underground utility improvements while addressing aging road infrastructure and poor sidewalk conditions along Central Avenue, according to a July 9 letter from Mathew Thibert, project manager at MnDOT.
The proposal includes two single-lane roundabouts at 46½ Ave. NE and 47th Ave. NE as well as multi-lane roundabouts at 49th, 51st and 53rd Avenues NE.
From 37th to 46th Avenue, there would only be a northbound bus lane owing to higher northbound traffic in the evening. North of 49th Avenue NE, MnDOT would maintain two lanes of traffic in each direction to accommodate heavier traffic heading towards Interstate 694. According to an August 20 presentation on the project from Peter Bennett, transportation planner with Minneapolis Public Works, the goals of the renovation are to improve pedestrian safety, decrease overall crashes and reduce bus travel time while improving bus reliability.
Art walk
For months, the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District has sought for official recognition of an art walk from 14th to 27th Avenues NE in order to “give the Minneapolis arts community a visual presence unlike anything else in the country, create a draw for our city and state and support local artists and businesses,” according to their website.
The art walk, in the District’s telling, would serve a dual purpose of drawing visitors into the neighborhood as well as to slow down traffic along Central Avenue.
Specifically, the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District sought wider sidewalks and eight art pads to host art installations at each corner of two intersections: Central Avenue and Broadway Street as well as Central Avenue and Lowry Avenue NE.
While sidewalk space will increase with the plan, the art pads are not included in current designs.
For more information on the Central Ave construction project, visit the MnDOT’s project website at www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/centralavempls-columbiahgts/