Following community input, the City’s project team has developed preliminary design concepts for both the New Nicollet Avenue street and potential public space on the site.
Your feedback will help shape the final concept, which will be brought to the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor for approval in early 2024.
Act now! Take the City’s survey and support a reconnected Nicollet Avenue dedicated to walking, rolling, biking, and public transit. The survey closes Wednesday, November 15, at 9:00 a.m. and takes about 10 minutes to complete.
Park Configurations
The first section asks for feedback on four configurations of a new linear park that will run through the reimagined K-mart site. The City has proposed four concepts that would locate the new park:
- along the Midtown Greenway
- along Lake Street
- diagonally across the site
- or N/S along the new Nicollet Avenue
All of the park configurations provide unique benefits, so we encourage you to support the options that you like the best.
Supporting Car-Free Nicollet
The second portion of the survey seeks feedback on the street design of the new Nicollet Avenue. For each concept, the survey asks which features you like the most and what you like the least and to rate the concept on a scale from 1 to 5 stars. We encourage you to support street features that put people first and oppose features that use valuable street space for private vehicles.
The City has proposed four street design options. Concepts 1, 2, and 3 would allow cars to drive through the K-mart site. Concept #4 would rebuild Nicollet as a car-free street, with only people walking, rolling, biking, and buses and emergency vehicles permitted.
We urge you to share your support for a car-free Nicollet (Street Concept #4).
This is critically important for the future of Nicollet Avenue to the north and south of the K-Mart site. Nicollet’s design in these sections dedicates nearly all street space to automobiles, creating unsafe conditions and high crash rates. As a result, these sections of Nicollet are included in the City’s high-injury street network. If car traffic is permitted to cut through the K-mart site, it will almost certainly exacerbate safety issues on the rest of Nicollet and ruin the character of a vibrant business district.
Additionally, we are calling on the City to add features to concept #4 to maximize its effectiveness. This includes:
- Adding automatic gates or bollards at both ends of the street to ensure that only buses and emergency vehicles can enter
- Use unique paving materials & asphalt art on the roadway to beautify the street and reduce urban heat
