Our Streets Minneapolis collaborated with the Lowry Ave for People workgroup to send a letter to County Commissioner Irene Fernando. This letter shares the concerns for the current Lowry Ave NE and emphasized our recommendations for improvements. Read the letter below and click here to learn more about our work on Lowry Ave NE.
Hennepin Commissioner Irene Fernando
A-2400 Government Center
300 South 6th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55487
Dear Commissioner Fernando,
Thank you for recently participating in the Lowry Ave NE workgroup meeting organized by Our Streets Minneapolis. We are grateful for your support to help create a Lowry Ave NE that works for people.
Today, Lowry Ave NE does not put people first. It has a high rate of traffic crashes, substandard pedestrian and bike accommodations and does not allow people easily or comfortably access the rich community resources along the corridor.
Our Lowry Ave NE workgroup, comprising over 80 local residents and other users of the corridor have been working over the past six months to create a vision for a corridor that addresses these deficiencies. These recommendations are based on a community survey that received over 400 responses, in addition to research and reviews conducted by our group of previous community engagement plans carried out along Lowry Ave NE.
We’d like to request the following:
- The speed limit is lowered to 20 mph on the corridor.
- The street is reconfigured to have only one car lane in each direction.
- Pedestrian improvements are prioritized over wider car lanes, center turn lanes, and above-ground utilities.
- The creation of a shared use path to allow bikers, rollers, and pedestrians to safely and comfortably access the corridor.
- Connection of bike infrastructure to existing bike lanes on Central Avenue NE and elsewhere.
- Intersection improvements to enhance safety for those using the shared use path such as raised crossings and stop or traffic controlled intersections. Marked crosswalks should be placed at every intersection along the project route, whether stop controlled or not. Raised crosswalks are placed at intersections with high numbers of pedestrians.
- A separate demonstration safety project between Johnson Street and Stinson Parkway that will be implemented along with the Lowry Reconstruction (see MnDOT Technical Memorandum 19-04-TR-01, MnDOT Demonstration Project Implementation Guide).
Our workgroup will continue to organize and participate in the community engagement process as this project progresses.
Thank you again for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Ashwat Narayanan
Executive Director
Our Streets Minneapolis
