*Active construction on East Lake Street.*

East Lake businesses,

It's summer in Minnesota, which means it's construction season once again. You have already seen a significant amount of construction on Lake Street in the past few weeks already, and it’s going to continue for the next few months. We wanted to give you some info to help you track what's going on and know who to contact with questions and concerns.

May: CenterPoint Work

The construction in May that took many businesses by surprise was a project led by CenterPoint Energy to modernize the gas meters throughout the district. The work should be done by now, but if you have any remaining issues from that project, contact CenterPoint at 612-321-5369 or csv.constructionservices@centerpointenergy.com

June - August: B Line and Lake Street Repaving

Project Overview

The major project in East Lake this summer is one led by Metro Transit to install new stations for the B Line, a Bus Rapid Transit line coming to Lake Street that will feature better stations and faster, more frequent rides. Although the B Line won’t begin operations until late 2024, the stations on Lake Street from Hiawatha to the river will be constructed this year, as will the stations in the St. Paul portion of the route.

In conjunction with the B Line project, Lake Street will also be repaved this year, and receive several improvements to address traffic safety issues in the corridor, including ADA-accessible curb ramp upgrades and a new striping layout intended to reduce crashes.

Although the project has multiple agencies involved, it is led by Metro Transit and their hired contractor, Thomas and Sons.

Project Contact and Links

Info about the project is available on the B Line website.

The best way to keep up to date on what's happening with the B Line construction is to sign up for Metro Transit's weekly B Line construction newsletter.

If you have any direct questions, you can call the Construction Hotline at 651-356-6995, or contact Cody Olson, the Project Contact, at 612-248-0642 or BLine@metrotransit.org

Beginning June 15, Cody will also host regular Office Hours every Thursday afternoon from 2:15 - 3:45 pm at Dogwood Coffee (4021 E Lake St).

Locations and Layout

You can see more detailed information about what will be happening at each intersection on these maps: Hiawatha Ave to 36th Ave and 36th Ave to Mississippi River Boulevard

Here's the full list of intersections that will have direct construction, listed from west to east:

Minnehaha Ave - Transit station construction & ADA curb ramps
27th Ave - ADA curb ramps
28th Ave - ADA curb ramps
31st Ave - Transit station construction & ADA curb ramps
33rd Ave - ADA curb ramps
36th Ave - Transit station construction & ADA curb ramps
39th Ave - ADA curb ramps and additional utility work on the north side
42nd Ave - ADA curb ramps
43rd Ave - ADA curb ramps
44th Ave - Transit station construction & ADA curb ramps
45th Ave - ADA curb ramps
47th Ave - ADA curb ramps
West River Parkway - ADA curb ramps

The repaving work will impact the entire stretch of the corridor, so even businesses without intersection-related construction near them will have construction happening outside of their business.

Timing

The project will happen in two phases, which are expected to take place over approximately the following timeline:

North side of the street (even address numbers): Early June to Late July
South side of the street (odd address numbers): Early August to Late September

Barring no unforeseen challenges, transit station construction projects will likely take 3-5 weeks, while ADA curb ramp projects should only take 1-2 weeks of work.

The repaving and restriping will occur in October once major concrete construction is done on both sides of the road. The south side of the street will be repaved first, and followed by the north side. The repaving will take approximately 1 - 2 weeks.

Traffic, Access, and Parking Impacts

Sidewalk access to your business should be kept open throughout the entirety of the project.

During construction, Lake Street will be reduced to one lane of traffic in each direction at various times throughout the summer. Two-way traffic should be maintained throughout the entirety of the project; it is not expected that traffic will ever fully close in either direction.

During construction of stations and curb ramps on the north side, traffic controls will be placed along the north lane, closing at least one lane of traffic. This will also result in temporary parking reductions on that side, which could last 2-5 weeks. Metro Transit intends to remove traffic controls and re-open parking as soon as they are able to, starting at the river and moving west.

A similar pattern will be followed on the south side of the street starting in mid-July, with traffic controls and parking reductions taking place for 2-5 weeks. Metro Transit will remove these restrictions gradually as they work from the west to the east.

The project itself will have limited long-term impacts on parking. There will be reductions of 2-4 spots directly at the location of new B Line stations, where the curb will be bumped out to make room for the station. Aside from those spaces, all other curb-inset parking will remain.

Marketing and Mitigation

If you have a business in the corridor and want to know when things will impact you, we recommend you sign up for the weekly B Line construction newsletter.

We have confirmed that there will be electronic Open for Business signage along the route throughout construction - one at each end, and one at each of the four transit station construction areas.

Lake Street Council plans to highlight as many of your businesses as we can in our social media and communications, especially those that will have construction right outside your doors. Don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have ideas or requests about promotion during construction!

If your customers regularly use the street parking in front of your business, we would recommend that you notify them of the temporary loss of street parking during construction, and encourage them to park in nearby alternative locations, such as the closest north-south avenue.

More Information on Repaving and Restriping

Beyond the new transit line, this project will result in an overall change of layout to how traffic moves on Lake Street.

This portion of Lake Street was reconstructed in the mid-2000s, which means it is due for repaving. Repaving is much less invasive and time-intensive than reconstruction - it involves simply replacing the top layer of asphalt to provide a smoother surface. Usually, it can be done relatively quickly, and should never require closing the street to two-way traffic.

Once it is repaved, the street will also be restriped with a new layout that will feel like a big change in the corridor. The new striping design will reduce general traffic to one lane in each direction and turn the other two lanes into a center-turning lane and a one-way bus lane. You can see visualizations of the design in those same maps that show B Line station construction: Hiawatha Ave to 36th Ave and 36th Ave to Mississippi River Boulevard

*An example, courtesy of Metro Transit, of a section of the new road layout, featuring a transit priority lane, two general traffic lanes, and a center turning lane.*

It's easy to think of this new design as primarily catering to transit, especially since the bright red bus lane will be the most visually prominent part of the design. However, an equally or more prominent driver for the changes is Lake Street’s major traffic safety problems.

Lake Street has one of the highest crash rates in the metro area, resulting in dozens of deaths, life-altering injuries, and incidents of major property damage each year. According to the Minneapolis Crash Study report, Lake Street is one of a handful of streets in Minneapolis that carry 18% of the city's traffic but account for a whopping 63% of its fatal and severe crashes.

This new type of design, commonly referred to as a "4-to-3 conversion," is considered by planners to be a best practice for reducing the chaotic driving behaviors that lead to crashes. The center turn lane allows for more controlled turns and fewer cars swerving between lanes to get around turning cars. Several major roads in the Twin Cities have made this change in the past decade; Lyndale Ave and portions of Cedar Ave are two nearby examples.

We expect that there will be many changes in Lake Street traffic during and after construction. People will need time to adjust to the shifting designs, and there will likely be frustration all around for a while. We plan to communicate with residents and visitors about these changes and encourage them to visit your businesses throughout the year.

B Line - East Lake Construction 2023