Option 1, the best choice for a pleasant, safe and vibrant Hennepin Avenue.
- Protected bike paths encourage more people to bike. Right now, it’s scary to bike on Hennepin—and that means fewer customers for our local businesses. Safer biking and walking invite more customers to come shop and dine in our area. It’s good for families, for seniors, and for businesses of all ages.
- Streets that are good for people are good for businesses! Vibrant commercial streets are places people want to wander and stay, whether stopping in at the next business over or enjoying a patio.
- Slower streets mean more business. Study after study shows that people who walk, use wheelchairs, and bike visit local businesses more frequently and spend more money while they’re there.
We have a strong and growing biking community in Minneapolis. It’s a source of pride for our city. There’s extensive research showing how bikes are good for business, leading to more frequent trips and more money spent locally:
Update (12/10/2021): The city’s Public Works department has recommended an enhanced Option 1.
In 2024, the City of Minneapolis will reconstruct Hennepin Avenue between Lake Street and Douglas Avenue. We’re a group of neighbors and community members—your customers—coming together to support a pleasant, safe, and vibrant street for our community. We welcome you to join us in supporting Option 1. This design makes Hennepin Avenue easier to access, safer, more enjoyable, and more attractive as both a route and a destination.
Minneapolis is growing and so is Uptown!
Minneapolis’ population is up by 47,000+ people since 2010, and we’re expected to welcome 24,000+ new neighbors by 2040.
More than 15,000 people already live within a 15-20 minute walk (or 6 minute bike ride) of this stretch of Hennepin Avenue.
By 2030, the City of Minneapolis anticipates that 35% of trips will be made walking and biking and 25% will be on transit. In Uptown, with a dozen bus routes, many bike lanes, and commercial + recreational destinations, this number is growing even faster!
Uptown is growing because people want to live where our needs can be met easily without a car, whether it’s food, entertainment, or goods and services. Whether we’re moving in with roommates or a partner for the first time, starting a family, or downsizing in retirement, we value places that allow us to spend more time being social and less time in cars. And as the climate crisis intensifies and the cries for action grow more urgent, more and more of us are doing whatever we can to reduce our transportation emissions. We’re enthusiastic to support the small businesses that enrich our community and quality of life. People of all ages are moving here and spending more of their time (and money!) locally.
Trading cars for bikes and electric buses means more pleasant outdoor dining, more people visiting more businesses each trip, and more interactions with your neighbor’s customers too! Bike paths and transit lanes allow more people to move along a street than cars do, but with far less noise, air pollution, and stress.
- During rush hour, 49% of the people in vehicles on Hennepin are on buses.
- 20% of us walk, use wheelchairs, and bike to get to work, while 15% of us take transit to work.
- And when we don’t have to be at work, 80% of us want to walk + bike + take transit!
