Star Tribune
Minneapolis gets $20 million grant to improve street safety
Drivers, bicyclists, scooter riders and pedestrians in Minneapolis can expect to see more protected bikeways, center median refuge islands and roads with fewer travel lanes in the coming years as the city forges ahead with efforts to make its streets safer.
The U.S. Department of Transportation this month awarded Minneapolis a $20 million Safe Streets and Roads for All grant to pay for treatments that city leaders say will go on streets that see the highest percentage of serious and fatal crashes but have not yet received safety upgrades.
Without the grants, these critical safety improvements would have taken years to accomplish, said Public Works Director Margaret Anderson Kelliher. “Serious traffic crashes and deaths are unacceptable and preventable. This investment will make our streets safer for everyone and accelerate our Vision Zero work.”
Vision Zero is Minneapolis’ goal of ending automobile crashes that result in death or serious injuries by 2027, and creating a more livable, walkable and safer community for all.
An average of 150 people suffered life-altering injuries or were killed in traffic crashes annually on Minneapolis streets between 2017 and 2021, city data shows.
To bring that number down, the grant money will allow the city to upgrade traffic signals at 526 intersections. The money also will allow the city to improve crosswalk signing and striping, add flashers at pedestrian crossings, and deploy mobile speed wagons to help reinforce speed limits. Roads with two travel lanes in each direction could be placed on a “road diet,” also known as a 4-to-3 conversion where roads are reconfigured with one travel lane in each direction separated by a shared center turn lane.
More bike lanes separated from traffic, concrete islands in center medians to create shorter crossing distances for pedestrians and better street lighting are among improvements that could be in place by 2029.
“When we invest in our streets, we invest in our neighborhoods and the people and businesses that call them home,” Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement. “We know this funding will help us continue to make improvements to the vitality, connectivity, and accessibility of our city streets.”
Free rides for New Year’s Eve
More than 18,000 New Year’s Eve revelers in the Twin Cities left their car in park last year and took free rides on public transportation to and from their celebrations.
The Miller Lite Free Rides program is back this year. Anybody going to a Dec. 31 party or event — or people who don’t want to be driving that night — can ride any Metro Transit bus or train between 6 p.m. and the end of service without having to pay.
The offer is also good on all Minnesota Valley Transit Authority routes.
Vikings fans riding the Northstar train to the 7:20 p.m. game vs. Green Bay at U.S. Bank Stadium will need only to pay for the inbound trip. The return trip will be free through the Miller Lite promotion.
The fledgling Minneapolis “safety-beyond-policing” department, which has been accused of mismanaging contracts with violence interrupters, is again under scrutiny for requesting nearly $1 million for a business owned by the sister of one of its staff members.
Unanswered questions about the Black Business Enterprises Fund and the purpose of the contract have repeatedly delayed a City Council vote on the contract.
Neighborhood Safety Director Luana Nelson-Brown came before the council’s administration oversight committee on Oct. 7 to argue for giving the business a one-year, $992,400 contract for “capacity building and compliance consulting services.” Black Business Enterprises Fund would use the money to employ a team of 17 experts to coach violence interrupters on financial literacy and how to comply with government accounting requirements.
“A good financial system allows organizations to track their spending accurately, ensuring that funds are used properly and enabling them to prepare regular reports that meet government expectations,” Nelson-Brown said. “It also streamlines invoice reimbursements, which allows us to make more timely payments, and it is necessary for audits and evaluation of program success. I also want to note that these are all things that have been identified as weaknesses.”
Nelson-Brown said the need for the contract is underscored by a lawsuit that accused the city of arbitrarily awarding millions of dollars to violence prevention groups without proper accounting, as well as the “Safe and Thriving Communities” report on building a comprehensive model of public safety. The city commissioned the Harvard University report after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
City Council members have also been pushing for greater accountability in the Neighborhood Safety Department, particularly after a whistleblower complaint shared with council members this year questioned the relationships between contract recipients and department staff. One of the whistleblower’s claims had to do with Black Business Enterprises Fund owner Nancy Korsah, and her sister, Neighborhood Safety Department staffer Georgia Korsah.
On Oct. 7, council members asked Nelson-Brown about that relationship, whether the business had experience working with nonprofits — particularly those that provide violence prevention services — and whether it is an organization capable of helping others build theirs.
Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw said she wasn’t aware of what the Black Business Enterprises Fund had done besides “having a gala.” Council Member Jeremiah Ellison said a review of the organization’s website raised a “red flag.”
A motorcyclist set off a three-vehicle crash on a central Minnesota highway and was killed, officials said Monday.
The wreck occurred about 10:40 p.m. Sunday north of Royalton on Hwy. 10, the State Patrol said.
The motorcyclist was heading east on Hwy. 10 and struck a fish house being pulled by a pickup truck driver. The motorcyclist, a 27-year-old man from Sauk Rapids, Minn., was thrown from his bike and struck a median pillar.
A car heading in the same direction hit the motorcycle.
Occupying the pickup were a 46-year-old driver from Rice, Minn., and a 43-year-old passenger, also from Rice. The car’s driver, a 34-year-old woman from Cobalt, was her vehicle’s only occupant.
Identities of all the people involved in the crash have yet to be released, and there is no word yet on whether anyone was injured other than the motorcyclist.
A motorist died Sunday morning after striking a deer on a northwest metro freeway and then getting rear-ended by a second driver, the State Patrol said.
Julie Terwey, 60, of South Haven, Minn., was driving east on Interstate 94 near Brockton Lane in Maple Grove when she struck a deer at about 5:25 a.m. She was stopped in the center lane when she was hit from behind by a second driver, the patrol said.
Terwey, who was wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene, the patrol said.
The driver who collided with Terway’s Ford Escape, Jordan Land, was taken to a hospital with noncritical injuries, the patrol said.
Land, 32, of Becker, Minn., was wearing a seat belt, the patrol said.
Alcohol was not a factor in the predawn crash, the patrol said.
