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Central Avenue - Change is Coming!(Street templates designed by Recovery Bike Shop) Jan 15, 2025 MNDoT’s 2028 Central Ave redesign will be the most important and most impactful urban works project in Northeast in our lifetimes. It will set the tone for Northeast Minneapolis for the next half century and beyond. We have a chance make Central Avenue a destination worthy of the Arts District, worthy of the great businesses here, worthy of a great city! We couldn’t say it any better than Columbia Heights Mayor, Márquez Simula, “[This is our] main street, but its local charm is destroyed by the noise, by the safety problems, and the rush hour traffic.” It’s time to let MNDoT know what we want for our street. Now is the public comment phase and we’re the public. Write to project lead Beth Burton (and CC Northeast’s City Council Members Elliott Payne and Michael Rainville. Feel free to use our bullet points below. elizabeth.burton@state.mn.us elliott.payne@minneapolismn.gov ward3@minneapolismn.gov  MNDoT has put a lot of good stuff on the table: traffic calming for more livable streets, bike lanes, bus lanes, improved pedestrian access, and more. Right now MNDoT is painting with a broad brush while they wait to see what we actually want Central to be for the next half century. So… We want a destination! We want Central itself to have DRAW, to be a place where people spend time strolling the corridor, sitting for morning coffee, enjoying their community. We want safe, manageable traffic and wide pedestrian ways. We want activated spaces that not only draw people to the district but are comfortable and interesting, spaces where people choose to DWELL, to see their community, to enjoy the space, to continue shopping down the block. We want a livable street. We have all these cool businesses, we have all of this draw, but when I tell people I own Recovery Bike Shop they often ask, “Where is that?” “Do you know where Fair State is?” “Yes! I go to Fair State all the time!" “We’re next door.” Customers do not stroll Central. They don’t even look up. They are in a hurry to get where they’re going, get what they came for, and get off of Central. We are missing a huge opportunity.  - Wider pedestrian ways are the most important elements of an improved Central Avenue. This combined with less hostile traffic will transform the corridor (and Northeast). Traffic noise on Central does more to chase people away than anything else. Reduced car speeds, effective traffic calming, and wider sidewalks will bring people out to the avenue. There will be room for outdoor restaurant seating. We will have space for a future ART WALK! A comfortable and interesting street is all that is needed to activate Central Avenue. - 20 mph speed limit and street design to match. What the proposed MNDoT plan fails to do is honor Minneapolis' 20 mph municipal speed limit. This will increase safety and dramatically decrease traffic noise (tire noise overtakes engine noise at about 30 mph). It will help make Central a pleasant place to walk and shop. At Recovery Bike Shop, we don’t need a bell to let us know when a customer comes in. We can hear Central Avenue whenever the front door opens. 80 feet away in the back room, we can hear the wave of white noise rush through the 3 and a half foot opening. It sucks to stand outside next to this traffic. And it doesn’t have to. We don't need less traffic. We don't need fewer cars. We just need a slower, safer street. This is what MNDoT's redesign can bring to Central. MNDoT’s plan calls for 30 mph. Please tell Beth Burton we want 20 mph traffic in Minneapolis. - 4 to 3 “road diet” traffic lanes (1 lane of traffic in each direction with a center turn lane). This is where we get the space to improve Central and it’s already part of MNDoT’s proposal. 4 to 3 conversions have been shown to handle similar traffic loads while often improving traffic flow. This is because turning traffic can block through lanes causing cars to stack up. Separating these blockages keeps the through lanes moving.  - Narrow lanes and other traffic calming elements to help keep traffic at the desired 20 mph and the street quiet and safe (curb bump outs, medians, raised pedestrian crossings, etc.). Central Ave’s speed limit signs are not working. Traffic often moves at 10 or more miles per hour above the speed limit with plenty of people going 50 mph or more. It causes accidents. It destroys property. It is hurting people. Central’s traffic is hostile to drivers and pedestrians alike. Traffic speeds must be enforced by design. - Bus integrated traffic signals will be used to prioritize bus traffic and keep the new Bus Rapid Transit Line F Line moving on schedule. Lights will be green as the Rapid Transit buses approach and red after they pass. This will ensure that buses will have an unencumbered lane ahead of them at all times.  This is a much more efficient way to move people around a city and it will do more to reduce rush hour congestion than anything else we can implement. One bus holds more people than a block of rush hour car traffic. If you’re in a car, you want as many commuters on that bus as possible. (Really we want a trolly. If we can’t have a trolly on Central (yet), we want buses that are so reliable and efficient, people will use them. When people use mass transit it reduces the number of cars in traffic and we all get where we want to go sooner and safer.) - Protected Bike Lanes. We want street level (not sidewalk level) bike lanes on each side of Central traveling in the same direction as car and bus traffic. As avid urban riders, we feel safest in these types of facilities. Is it any surprise that Recovery Bike Shop thinks bike lanes are good for Northeast Minneapolis? Whereas traffic has a negative impact on draw and dwell, people on bikes help activate public places. Bikes and riders help with traffic calming. Shoppers who arrive by bike tend to spend more time and money at local businesses. Bicycle infrastructure reduces the burden on car infrastructure and lowers our tax bill. And every car mile replaced is a local dollar kept in Northeast Minneapolis that would otherwise go to big auto and big oil. - Parking? I’m not going to bold parking and I’m not going to advocate for it. I am ethically opposed to using public tax dollars to pay for free parking (until mass transit is also free) and we generally have WAY too much of it in our cities (7 spots per car and almost one car per person (including children)). However, we currently live in a car-centered city, so while we are shifting the needle away from car dependency, we need to continue the drip. Recovery Bike Shop benefits from having car parking available on Central as do all of our great neighbors and it would be devastating to eliminate street parking entirely. We are happy to lose a few parking spaces for the above amenities. We would support metered parking. But some parking must remain on Central for the near future. Last but not least, here’s something that is much more possible than you might think: - Art walk! This is the Arts District! Everyone should know it! We want Central Avenue to be filled with local art. Sculptures, murals, architecture, and even performances, markets, and happenings! The art walk should be capped at both ends with two massive gateways installed at the entrances of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District (Broadway & Central and Lowry & Central). These should be so impressive as to rival the Chicago bean! These should be destinations in their own right, where visitors come to take pictures to prove that they were in the Northeast Arts District. I was incredibly heartened by the informal polling during the MNDoT public meeting Dec 11. There were tons of supporters for slower cars, bike lanes, pedestrian infrastructure, and more. These are the ingredients that will allow Central Avenue to be a jewel for the city, a place where Northeast thrives. If we want it, if we ask for it, if we work for it, Central Avenue can be world class. Tell Beth that we want it! elizabeth.burton@state.mn.us elliott.payne@minneapolismn.gov ward3@minneapolismn.gov |
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