Last week, transportation safety experts from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO) toured the Olson Memorial Highway corridor to document safety failures and recommend interventions. WRI and NUMO are supporting the efforts to improve the safety and accessibility of Olson Memorial Highway as part of the Smart Growth America Community Connectors program. As part of the safety inspection, the NUMO and WRI team walked the Olson Memorial Highway corridor with Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) staff and community members present to identify areas of concern.
In 2023, MnDOT installed flex posts and reduced the number of lanes. However, these changes fell short of community demands. The roadway safety inspection will evaluate the effectiveness of the changes and document unaddressed issues.
The safety inspection results will be documented in a report released during the Imagine 6th Ave North event in Harrison Park on Saturday, August 10.
Initial Identified Safety Inspection Issues:
- Broken pedestrian buttons that forced people to cross over six lanes of traffic in 15 seconds
- Mid-block crossings with no signage or markings to encourage drivers to yield
- Crossings made inaccessible by bollards and poorly maintained curb ramps
- Unsafe speed limits that make severe crashes more likely
- Overall lack of maintenance and care for pedestrians along Olson Memorial Highway, especially when compared to how streets are designed in more affluent neighborhoods in Minneapolis
Since its construction, Olson Memorial Highway has been hazardous for the people who live nearby. Near North community members have sought improvements for decades to make Olson Memorial Highway safer. Despite hundreds of severe crashes and dozens of fatalities, the corridor has been largely ignored by MnDOT and the City of Minneapolis. Earlier this month, Near North organizations banded together in an open letter to ask for support from United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, United States Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and United States House Representative Ilhan Omar.
The open letter outlines the harmful history of the highway and the original routing of the METRO Blue Line Light Rail Extension, which was originally routed on Olson Memorial Highway. It also raises concerns about negligence from MnDOT and local government partners regarding Olson Memorial Highway safety issues, requesting federal transportation leaders to support immediate safety improvements and reparative policies.
Earlier this year, Our Streets received a $1.6 million federal grant for the Bring Back 6th campaign on Olson Memorial Highway. MnDOT also received a $3.6 million planning grant for a larger portion of the transportation corridor. Pending MnDOT’s willingness to prioritize community needs, these projects could be complementary, not competing.
Send an email to ask MnDOT to support safety improvements on Olson. You can also contact MnDOT’s Metro District Engineer Khani Sahebjam (Khani.Sahebjam@state.mn.us) to ask for safety improvements on Olson.
Learn more about Bring Back 6th.
Once called the “Beale Street of Minneapolis,” the old Near-Northside was an integrated Black and Jewish community that was destroyed in 1939 for the construction of Olson Memorial Highway, a low-trafficked highway “to nowhere” that has been polluting the neighborhood ever since.