Star Tribune
Project to transform Olson Memorial Highway in north Minneapolis gains federal backing
The construction of Olson Memorial Highway through a stretch of the North Side of Minneapolis eradicated what was once a bustling commercial district for Black and Jewish residents.
Now, nearly a century later, a project aiming to convert a mile of the highway into a restored, more community-minded 6th Avenue N. is gaining momentum thanks to new federal funding.
The U.S. Department of Transportation recently granted $1.6 million to Our Streets Minneapolis, a nonprofit advocacy group spearheading the Bring Back 6th campaign in partnership with the Harrison Neighborhood Association. This funding is part of a $7 million grant allocated to locally led projects in Minnesota through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot program, a component of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America Agenda.
“[The money] will allow us to work on this project for a couple of years continuously,” said José Cabán, executive director of Our Streets Minneapolis.
Launched in 2021, the Bring Back 6th project seeks to transform the one-mile stretch of Olson Memorial Highway into a community corridor that reconnects the Near North neighborhood that was divided by the construction of the corridor. The goal, advocates said, is to create a healthier environment and opportunities for residents to access affordable housing, health care, employment, parks and other amenities.
Some residents of the area have concerns. Among them: gentrification, displacement and traffic delays. Cabán said traffic on Olson Memorial Highway has declined significantly in recent years as many drivers now use Interstates 394 and 94.
Cabán said his group would also like to see immediate near-term safety improvements in the area and a return of the land along the restored 6th Avenue N. corridor to the community.
Once known as the “Beale Street of Minneapolis,” the Near North Side was a bustling commercial district predominantly occupied by the city’s Black and Jewish communities.
In an effort to revitalize what was perceived as a “blighted” neighborhood, planners in the 1930s routed Olson Memorial Highway, a dedicated portion of Highway 55, through 6th Avenue N., “demolishing hundreds of homes, businesses and community institutions,” according to advocates.
As part of the campaign, organizers worked with students from the University of Minnesota to research the neighborhood’s lost history. They created a mobile history museum that has been showcased in various parts of Minneapolis, including Sumner Library, the only surviving building on 6th Avenue North.
North Side residents have long voiced safety concerns in their community, including issues with speeding and pollution.
From 2017 to 2021, traffic crashes killed or severely injured about 150 people each year in Minneapolis, according to city data.
As part of the city’s goal to end traffic deaths and severe injuries, officials from Minneapolis’ Vision Zero program interviewed North Side residents in the past, Cabán said, “but none of their concerns have been addressed.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) made safety improvements in 2022 and 2023 to reduce the number and severity of crashes. The agency installed flexible posts, signage and marked pavement on Olson Memorial Highway designed to narrow the roadway, create shorter crossings for pedestrians and cyclists, and improve visibility for them and drivers.
Pollution is also an issue. North Minneapolis’ 55411 ZIP code, which borders Olson Memorial Highway, is one of the poorest in Minneapolis and has the highest asthma hospitalization rate in the seven-county metro area, according to the city.
“MnDOT did install some improvements, but just not all of them,” Cabán said. “This is a community that’s been devastated, and their standard of living is low. Near-term improvements between now and the full reconstruction would allow people to engage with what’s possible.”
In 2023, the city passed a resolution in support of removing the North Side highway and restoring the area to a walkable neighborhood commercial street. Minneapolis officials also proposed new development along the corridor, including affordable and public housing, affordable commercial space, new parks and community gardens.
In early March, MnDOT unveiled four design alternatives for an improved roadway, including one that aligns with the vision of the Bring Back 6th campaign. The agency, which received the same federal funding for a larger study of Olson Memorial Highway, is conducting a corridor analysis to better understand the community’s long-term needs and other safety and pedestrian improvements.
MnDOT officials said they will continue to engage the public in the planning and design process over the coming years; construction is expected to begin as early as 2028.
Our Streets Minneapolis members said they will generate their own report with the help of engineers and consultants, outlining alternative options for the highway, other than what MnDOT has presented.
Community members can share their feedback of MnDOT’s design alternatives through an online survey or by attending its next community workshop from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Summit Academy OIC.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and her daughter were among the throngs Friday as President Joe Biden delivered the apology that many Indigenous Americans thought would never come.
“I think he really said the things that people have been waiting to hear for generations, acknowledged just the horror and trauma of literally having our children stolen from our communities,” said Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. “It’s a powerful first step towards healing.”
Hundreds of boarding schools operated in the 19th and 20th centuries, separating Indigenous children from their families and forcing them to assimilate to European ways. Many children were abused, and at least 973 died, according to a report from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Other Minnesotans reacted similarly to Flanagan, saying they welcomed the apology but that additional action is needed to help Indigenous people move forward.
Anton Treuer, a professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, wrote in a newsletter that the apology was “a welcome first step on the journey to healing.”
“There is no way to truly right historical injustices for the children buried at Carlisle, Haskell, and other schools, but these words set a new tone for the country and will help heal the anguish so many Natives have carried for so long,” Treuer wrote. “It gives me hope that we can come together to reconcile and heal our troubled nation.”
Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, the first Indigenous woman to serve in the state Senate, called Biden’s apology encouraging.
“This recognition of past wrongdoings is an important step towards healing relationships between the United States and the sovereign nations affected by these past systems,” Kunesh said in a statement. “This dark period of American history must be remembered and taught.”
“I have done everything in my power to remedy this situation, and it continues to get more and more violent by the day,” Moturi wrote. “There have been numerous times when I’ve seen Sawchak outside and contacted law enforcement, and there was no response. I am not confident in the pursuit of Sawchak given that Sawchak attacked me, MPD officers had John detained, and despite an HRO and multiple warrants — they still let him go.”
On Friday, five City Council members sent a letter to Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara expressing their “utter horror at MPD’s failure to protect a Minneapolis resident from a clear, persistent and amply reported threat posed by his neighbor.”
Council Members Andrea Jenkins, Elliott Payne, Aisha Chughtai, Jason Chavez and Robin Wonsley went on to allege that police had failed to submit reports to the County Attorney’s Office despite threats being made with weapons, and at times while Sawchak screamed racial slurs. Sawchak is white and Moturi is Black.
The council members also contend in their letter that the MPD told the County Attorney’s Office that police did not intend to execute the warrant for “reasons of officer safety.”
At a Friday afternoon news conference at MPD’s Fifth Precinct, O’Hara said police had been working to arrest Sawchak since at least April, but “no Minneapolis police officers have had in-person contact with that suspect since the victim in this case has been calling us.” The chief pointed out that Sawchak is mentally ill, has guns and refuses to cooperate “in the dozens of times that police officers have responded to the residence.”
O’Hara put aside the option to carry out “a high-risk warrant based on these factors [and] the likelihood of an armed, violent confrontation where we may have to use deadly force with the suspect.” The preference, he said, was to arrest Sawchak outside his home, but “in this case, this suspect is a recluse and does not come out of the house.”
ROCHESTER – The Federal Transit Administration has green-lighted an $85 million grant supporting the development of the city’s planned Link Bus Rapid Transit system.
The FTA formally announced the grant on Friday during a ceremonial check presentation outside of the Mayo Civic Center, one of the seven stops planned for the bus line. The federal grant will cover about 60% of the project’s estimated $143.4 million price tag, with the remaining funds coming from Destination Medical Center, the largest public-private development project in state history.
Set to go live in 2026, the 2.8-mile Link system will connect downtown Rochester, including Mayo Clinic’s campuses, with a proposed “transit village” that will include parking, hundreds of housing units and a public plaza. The bus line will be the first of its kind outside the Twin Cities — with service running every five minutes during peak hours.
“That means you may not even need to look at a schedule,” said Veronica Vanterpool, deputy administrator for the FTA. “You can just show up at your transit stop and expect the next bus to come in a short time. That is a game changer and a life-transformational experience in transit for those people who are using it and relying on it.”
The planned Second Street corridor is already one of the busiest roads in Rochester, carrying more than 21,800 vehicles a day, and city planners have talked for years about ways to reduce traffic congestion in the city’s downtown. Local officials estimate that the transit line, which will rely on a fleet of all-electric buses, will handle 11,000 riders on its first day of operation and save eight city blocks of parking.
Speaking to a crowd of about 100 people gathered on Friday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said the project shows Rochester is thinking strategically about how it handles growth.
“If you just plan the business expansion, and you don’t have the workforce, you don’t have the child care, the housing or the transit, it’s not going to work very well as a lot of communities across the nation have found,” Klobuchar said.
