The ground-breaking ceremony to kick off the Lowry Avenue Corridor construction redevelopment project aimed at revitalizing the once-vibrant transportation thoroughfare in North Minneapolis is Monday, May 1.
Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Stenglein, Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson and neighborhood representatives will take part in the 10 a.m. ceremony in the lot at the northwest corner of Lowry and Fremont Avenues.
“The Lowry Avenue Corridor has become an area of concentrated poverty and unemployment, with associated high rates of crime and drug use,” said Stenglein. “The goal of this redevelopment project is to address the decline of Lowry Avenue by improving the livability of the corridor, as well as serving as a catalyst for regional revitalization.”
The initiative is a partnership of the county, the 10 neighborhoods along the Avenue and the City of Minneapolis.
The project’s first phase involves the complete reconstruction of Lowry Avenue between Girard Avenue and I-94. Improvements include new pavement, curb and gutter, medians, bike lanes on both sides of the street, parking areas, wide sidewalks, traffic-signal systems and landscaping. Utility work, including a new storm sewer, will also take place.
“Our aim is to use public infrastructure improvements to leverage private investments in the neighborhoods along the corridor,” Stenglein said. “We want to create a corridor that is inviting for all levels of housing.”
The County Board designated the Lowry Avenue Corridor as a Hennepin Community Works project in 2000. Hennepin Community Works is an employment, public works and tax-base development program, based on the premise that carefully designed and integrated parks and public works projects enhance the long-term tax base and viability of neighborhoods while improving the quality of life.
With this designation, planning began to determine how Lowry Avenue (Hennepin County State Aid Highway 153) was being used for transportation and what needed to be improved or changed. The focus was developing strategies to expand access to jobs through public transportation, reinforce key intersections, increase street safety, and enhance pedestrian and bicycle connections to schools and parks.
The extensive planning process in 2001 and 2002, with considerable input from community residents and businesses, resulted in the Lowry Avenue Corridor Plan, which identified the following strategies to improve the livability of the corridor: Remove blighted buildings to make way for new multi-income housing; attract private investment into the neighborhoods; provide neighborhood-serving retail and other services at transit-centered nodes; and reconstruct the Avenue with intersection improvements, on-street bicycle lanes, wide sidewalks and landscaped boulevards.
Implementation of the plan is now under way, with the start of phase one. During construction, Lowry Avenue between Girard and Washington Avenues will be completely closed to motorists. Traffic will be detoured around the project, using routes on Penn, 26th, Washington and Dowling Avenues. Detours will be in place until mid-November when the new roadway will be ready for traffic.
Two-way traffic on Fremont, Emerson and Lyndale Avenues will be maintained during construction, with occasional temporary closures. Metro Transit buses will be detoured to 30th and 31st Avenues.
The second phase of the project involves the segment of Lowry Avenue from Girard Avenue west to Theodore Wirth Parkway, with reconstruction tentatively scheduled for 2007-2009. For info contact Hennepin Community Works at 612-348-2997 or visit www.hennepin.us.