The owners of Stanley’s Northeast Bar Room expressed concern about a proposed roundabout on University Avenue. The new plans have a four-way traffic signal instead. (Mark Peterson)
After more than two years of planning and community input, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has announced a final design for a large makeover of University Avenue from Central Avenue NE to 27th Avenue NE.
Utility work will begin next year and major construction will start in 2027.
The plan includes narrowing University Avenue (State Highway 47) from four lanes to three, adding medians and bicycle improvements, making changes to street parking and modifying the intersections at Lowry Avenue and Broadway Street. Planners said this design “will increase safety and make University Ave. Northeast easier for everyone to travel on.”
MnDOT said that most of the community feedback, gathered at meetings in 2024 and 2025, approved the proposed separate lanes for bicycles and the change from four lanes to three, with a center turn lane, with some suggesting that it will reduce speeding.
Most people agreed that medians at key intersections would provide safer pedestrian and bike crossings, but there were concerns about left turns being restricted. About half of the people were in favor of reducing or removing street parking on University, while many were concerned that eliminating parking near the Northeast Farmers Market and businesses near East Hennepin would impact accessibility.
The proposals for the Broadway and Lowry intersections drew the most attention. The previous proposal suggested roundabouts as alternatives to the existing layouts, but the community was more inclined to worry about pedestrian safety, especially for those with disabilities, and less about improving drivers’ experience.
At Broadway, the new design calls for an enhanced four-way intersection, keeping the traffic signal. The proposal includes audio cues for visually impaired pedestrians and boulevard space between the roadway and the sidewalk. It would also eliminate the separate lane for right turns to the southbound lane on University. No buildings would be impacted by this design.
The issue with the Lowry intersection is a little different. The crossing, which serves two very busy streets, has around four times the accident rate as others in the city. One potential solution involved replacing the intersection with a roundabout. Businesses on each quadrant of the intersection raised concerns about the proposal.
Installing a roundabout on that intersection would necessitate taking bites of various sizes of each property, especially Stanley’s Northeast Barroom, on the northwest corner, which sits a few feet from the existing intersection. The bar’s co-owner, David Benowitz, has expressed concern that the project might take the building through eminent domain, which he said would be the end of his business.
The new design is a four-way traffic signal intersection, shifted to the south; it still appears to cut very close to all the businesses, three of which would lose a bit of their parking areas. With the proposed design, Stanley’s remains where it is and the avenue’s lane reduction gives that building a bit more space at the corner.
The corner of University and Broadway would implement an enhanced four-way intersection with a traffic signal as well as added boulevard space, making it safer for pedestrians. (Mark Peterson)