Franklin Ave

connects many different destinations and communities throughout the breadth of Minneapolis. Along it are the American Indian Cultural Corridor and Somali, Ethiopian and Oromo Communities. Franklin Avenue also has the second most crashes where people driving hit people walking or biking. The crash rate on the corridor is two and half times higher than what engineers call a "critical" crash rate.

Goals for
Franklin Ave

We are working with our community partners and you to set our goals for Lake Street. Interested in learning more about this work and how you can help shape this effort? Contact Cindy.

Contact Your County Commissioner

Your County Commissioner works with the other elected County Commissioners to make the decisions about how transportation projects are prioritized on County Streets in Minneapolis. Make sure you let them know why it's important that Hennepin County prioritizes Lake Street, Lyndale Ave South, Franklin Ave and West Broadway Ave in Minneapolis.

o Find your Commissioner (lookup tool by address)

o Tips for Writing to Your Commisioner

o Tips for Calling Your Commissioner

o Tips for Engaging Your Commissioner on Social Media

Commissioner Angela Conley, District 4

[email protected]
612-348-7884
A-2400 Government Center
300 South 6th Street Minneapolis, MN 55487

Cacje Henderson, Policy Director
[email protected]
612-348-5204

Shanese Reed, District Outreach and Scheduler
[email protected]
612-348-3204

Word on the Street

Answered: Your Questions from the County Streets for People Kick-off

In September we hosted a kick-off event for our newest advocacy campaign: County Streets for People! We’re so grateful to everyone who attended the kick-off event, including our speakers Anthony Taylor Theba, Felicia Perry, Maria Cristina Tavera, Robert Lilligren, Xavier Tavera, and Will Lumpkins.

Through County Streets for People we are organizing local communities to co-create a vision for better County-owned streets in Minneapolis. We’re focusing on streets owned & operated by Hennepin County because these are some of the worst streets in our city.

Downtown Bikeways Work Group January 2020 Update

The Downtown Bikeways Work Group came together in January for their first meeting of the year and had a packed agenda. We kicked off the meeting by talking about fun things we did over the holidays. Group members are energized after the break and excited to get back into advocacy.

There’s a lot happening in the City that we’re engaging in. Folks talked about advocacy efforts including influencing Hennepin County transportation decision-making at the Franklin Avenue Open House, and the Lyndale Avenue S Community Forum organized by Commissioner Marion Greene.

2019 Year in Review & Update on our Financial Situation

From welcoming a new Executive Director to celebrating our 10th anniversary, 2019 has been a huge year for us. At Our Streets Minneapolis we are grateful for your continued support as we work for a city where biking, walking, and rolling are easy and comfortable for everyone. With only six staff this year, we depended on our local community to make this all happen. Thank you for working toward our shared vision of a city that puts people first!

Join us as we look back on all we accomplished together this year and look ahead to what we have planned for 2020. Plus, be sure to read to the end of this post for an update on our financial situation.

Franklin Avenue Can’t be Everything for Everybody

This post was written by Will Delaney, Associate Director at Hope Community, Inc. Our Streets Minneapolis and Hope Community have been working together to make Franklin Avenue a safer street since 2008.

This June, the rebuilt Franklin Avenue bridge over I-35W re-opened after being closed for more than nine months. Neighbors from Ventura Village/Phillips can finally head back to the Electric Fetus and Mia, and folks in Whittier and Stevens Square can more easily get back to the American Indian Cultural Corridor and Peavey Park.

Dangerous Intersection: Franklin Ave E & Chicago Ave S

UPDATE: Hennepin County will be updating the curb ramps at Franklin and Chicago as part of their ADA curb ramp project in 2021. The sidewalk bordering Peavey Park will be made ADA compliant as part of a Park board project.

In 2017, the City of Minneapolis released its first pedestrian crash study, this study includes a list of the most dangerous intersections for pedestrians. Living close to the intersection of Chicago and Franklin, I expected to see it on this list. Despite living close, I avoid Chicago and Franklin as much as I can but occasionally I will find myself crossing this intersection.

The intersection of Franklin and Chicago, from the North side of Chicago.

250,000 Bike Trips on the Franklin Avenue bridge at one-year anniversary

This Wednesday, October 11th marked the one-year anniversary of the reopening of the Franklin Avenue bridge over the Mississippi River. The bridge’s bicycle counter has logged its 250,000th bicycle trip along the reconstructed bridge.

Lowry Avenue Bridge and Franklin Avenue (between 21st and River) to get bike lanes!

Greetings! My name is Matthew Hendricks, and I’m the chair of the Engineering Committee of the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC). I’m a recent transplant to the Seward neighborhood, and for 7 years prior to moving, my family lived in the Cleveland neighborhood of North Minneapolis. I feel very fortunate to be in Minneapolis, where decades of visionary investment in parks, trails, and bike lanes have created a wonderful place to live and bike. In my spare time I enjoy going to nearby parks with my two kids. I also serve on the boards of the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition and Twin Cities Greenways (www.tcgreenways.org), a group that is promoting a new street-to-park conversion Greenway design that is a hybrid of Milwaukee Avenue and the Midtown Greenway.

Hennepin County engineers discuss bikes/upcoming projects

Yesterday, five representatives from the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition met with three key Hennepin County engineers (Jim Grube, Tom Johnson, and Bob Byers) and several members of the Hennepin County Bicycle Advisory Committee at a meeting hosted by Commissioner Peter McLaughlin and his aide Katie Hatt. Here are a few takeaways…

Upcoming projects. The County is in various stages of planning and discussions on eight future or potential bicycle-related projects in Minneapolis:

our community partners

Our County Streets Partners Logos

We are creating a movement to put people first on Hennepin County owned streets in Minneapolis.