MINNEAPOLIS — Cars will hit the pavement once again on Hennepin Avenue South now that Phase 1 of a major construction project has been completed.
But for Pablo Forero the work is just starting.
Forero is the general manager at Uptown Diner on 26th Street and Hennepin Avenue. He’s worked there for 12 years, and managed it for six. The restaurant is located in the middle of the entire construction project.
“The reality is it’s definitely hurt, not only us, but a lot of the local businesses around here as well,” Forero said. “I have a lot of customers who just don’t show up anymore, just whether it be from road construction or from public transportation that they’re not able to get out here. It’s just different factors that are keeping them from coming here right now.”
Phase 1 of the two-year project stretched from West Lake Street to 26th Street. The new multimodal layout is designed to improve safety, traffic flow, and accessibility for people walking, driving, and cycling in the area. Construction shut down Hennepin Ave. from W. Lake Street to 28th Street.
“This has been a road in Hennepin that had not gotten redone in over 50 years,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. “This was necessary not just for purpose of the surface of the street that everybody sees but everything that happens underneath the guts of the street, the sewer, the mainline, the electrical.”
The city replaced 14 lead water lines and over 2,000 feet of sewer lines. They also expanded the sidewalks, installed new signal and lighting systems, and electrical infrastructure. They also saved 54 trees and planted over 40 news ones in the process.
“The hope is that it’ll be better. We really won’t know until it’s open and running for a number of months but having access to begin with is definitely better, having the street open, having the additional bus lanes bringing more traffic to Uptown should help substantially,” said Jeff Veigel, owner of Isles Bun & Coffee.
Veigel said it’s been hard for businesses in Uptown for the past three-and-a-half years.
“What was unfortunate is it’s coming right after COVID and everything else, so it just sort of extended the recovery period and that’s been difficult for all the businesses along here,” Veigel said.
He said they’ve been at 28th and Hennepin for over 30 years, and he said he has seen the area change a lot, but some things are constant.
“Construction season seems to be every year, but yes, we’re always happy to see it go away,” he said.
Veigel said he feels fortunate his customers could still find street parking.
“It could be worse. It was worse for a lot of businesses, you know, we were fortunate we had off-street parking the entire construction period, some businesses didn’t,” he said.
He said the whole construction process hurts business, but he understands why it was necessary.
Forero is also hopeful that restored bus routes and new street design will bring people back to Uptown, but he knows things won’t be the same.
“I actually am very looking forward to what’s going to be happening in the next year and a half once construction is done. I think it’s going to be good. It’s just going to take some time to kind of build business up. It’s going to be a different Uptown. It’s going to be not only the way it looks in the street but there’s going to be some businesses that were here before that aren’t going to be here,” he said.
The city plans to restore five Metro Transit buses on Wednesday to Hennepin Avenue. There will be dedicated bus lanes – only buses can be used during the morning and afternoon rush hour. Street parking will still be available, but there won’t be as many spots as there were before construction.
In December, the Metro E Line will bring faster and more reliable service to the Route 6 corridor, along with improved stations, including real-time signs, ticket machines, light, and heat.
Even though Phase 1 is complete, orange traffic cones will still frequent parts of Hennepin Ave. The city will continue utility work during the winter, so Phase 2 of the project can start on time in the spring. That portion of the project will extend from 26th Street north to Douglas Ave.
City leaders acknowledged this project has been hard on businesses, and council member Katie Cashman hopes the council will provide some relief.
“We have some really critical investments in Uptown for the 2024 city budget, if that passes on Dec. 10, we will be able to have business districts support grant, and business technical assistance programs to serve the Uptown small businesses,” she said.