Minneapolis Groups Look To Past To Envision Future Of Olson Memorial Highway

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Neighborhood teams try to make main adjustments to a stretch of freeway in north Minneapolis.

Olson Memorial Freeway was as soon as sixth Avenue — a road with heavy foot visitors and a thriving financial system. However that every one modified when the freeway was put in.

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“There was a thriving Black and Jewish hall that existed on previous sixth Avenue North,” mentioned Nichole Buehler of the Harrison Neighborhood Affiliation.

Beginning at Lyndale Avenue, going a couple of mile west, lies a stretch of freeway with a bumpy historical past.

“Then in 1936, what’s now generally known as the Minnesota Division of Transportation made the choice to intentionally goal that neighborhood to assemble Olson Freeway,” mentioned Buehler. “And we’ve been coping with, you realize, the dangerous results of that call ever since then.”

Our Streets Minneapolis and the Harrison Neighborhood Affiliation have a mission to convey again sixth Avenue. They held a block occasion and pop-up museum Sunday, displaying what as soon as was right here.

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“Every part actually shut collectively,” mentioned Jade Ryerson, a grad pupil on the College of Minnesota that tackled the analysis for the pop-up museum. “There have been synagogues, church buildings. It was similar to this actually wonderful place the place you can like actually go in any course and discover so many issues to do on this road.”

The street because it at present stands is described as harmful and a divider of the neighborhood. These looking for change are presenting a long-term transfer from freeway to a smaller, walkable boulevard.

“Once you cut back the dimensions of the freeway, as a result of this freeway is extremely underused, it’s made redundant by [Interstate] 394 – we all know that one thing that’s known as visitors evaporation occurs,” mentioned Jose Zaya Caban, with Our Streets Minneapolis. “Any freeway-to-boulevard conversion that we’ve checked out as a corporation has all the time led to folks utilizing both totally different routes or they simply begin utilizing different modes of transportation.”

In response, MnDOT and the Metropolis of Minneapolis have dedicated to begin engaged on security enhancements as early as this July.

“We really feel just like the company is responding and we’re gonna proceed to attempt to maintain them accountable,” mentioned Zaya Caban.

By way of a “first part” of this proposal, these teams wish to decrease the velocity restrict, re-stripe the lanes, and add pedestrian security enhancements.

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“That is what was right here earlier than, it may be that manner once more,” mentioned Ryerson.