Reconstructing Lake Street: Framing the Issue

oday, hard hats rule Lake Street. In May 2005, a $25 million reconstruction project, stretching four miles from Lake Calhoun to the Mississippi River, began along this iconic Minneapolis street. A celebration complete with Latin dancers, theater performers, music, and myriad ethnic foods launched the project, symbolic of the hope and anticipation the project represents for this culturally diverse neighborhood.

Upon completion in 2008, the 125-year-old Lake Street will enter a new era of commerce and vitality. There will be wider sidewalks for pedestrians. Curbside parking will be retained for convenient shopping and traffic buffering. Street amenities, such as trees and shrubs, benches and community banners will accent the street. Every so often there will be "bump-outs," places were the sidewalk will jut out into the parking lane, adding space for café tables, street vendors, and gathering. The street will complement and accentuate the charm and atmosphere of this vibrant community.

Yet it seems just a short while ago—from 2003 to 2004—that Lake Street was on a collision course, trapped between community vision and transportation protocol. A classic battle between walkers and drivers: On one side were those who wanted wider sidewalks for pedestrians, and on the other those who envisioned turn lanes for faster moving traffic. But through months of hard work, diligent questioning and discussion by all participants, a compromise was reached.

The new Lake Street will accommodate pedestrians as well as vehicles. And, most important, it also will preserve and enhance the growing ethnic character of the surrounding neighborhoods. But to understand the harmony, optimism, and anticipation that exist today along Lake Street, we must go back in history.

The first hundred years

Lake Street was originally built in the 1880s as a cross-town city street with a major trolley line. A bustling commercial center with shops, restaurants, and offices grew up along the corridor. But trolley ridership declined as America's love affair with the automobile surged. In the early 1950s, the trolley line was removed and Lake Street was rebuilt to accommodate the change.

Another transformation began in the late 1950s and 1960s. Population, economic development, and commerce drifted to the suburbs and the Lake Street commercial area began a steady decline. It wasn't until the 1990s that the community began to take a new shape, as Minnesota's burgeoning immigrant populations settled in the area. A determined, entrepreneurial spirit began to take root along the street with the opening of new shops and restaurants.

Throughout this time, Lake Street's upkeep was under the direction of the city of Minneapolis. But that changed in 1993 when Lake Street was designated a county road—Hennepin County State-Aid Highway (CSAH 3)—and all responsibility for planning, design, and construction shifted from the city to Hennepin County.

As leader of the Lake Street reconstruction, Hennepin County took its responsibility to the community seriously. One of its first actions was to work with residents, business people, and community organizations along the length of Lake Street—as well as county transportation planners and consultants—to produce a vision for the future of Lake Street and the nearby Midtown Greenway Corridor. In October 1999, the Lake Street Framework Plan was published.

The Framework envisioned revitalized neighborhoods linked to a reconstructed Lake Street. Shops and restaurants along Lake Street could have inviting sidewalks and easy parking; and the combined aesthetic, pedestrian, and economic effect of all these changes could boost economic vitality and local quality of life. Despite looming obstacles, this original core plan was well vetted and insightful.

Immigrant populations spur economic growth

During the planning and visioning process, much attention focused on the first section of Lake Street to be reconstructed: a 1.8 mile, 23-block long section, running from I-35W to Minnehaha Avenue.

Latino, Somali, and other newcomers had settled there and opened new businesses. The number of new immigrant-owned businesses along Lake Street had grown by nearly 300% in the five years preceding the reconstruction. The new businesses aren't highly capitalized national chains. They are, for the most part, fragile new enterprises that rely on local customers—many of them pedestrians.

Key community landmarks along this stretch of Lake Street include the Mercado Central, a thriving member-owned cooperative of Latino businesses, sponsored in part by community development groups. New housing—both market rate and subsidized—is sprouting up just north of Lake Street. At the west end of this stretch of Lake Street, along 35W, sits the national headquarters of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, which brings hundreds of employees a day to the neighborhood. At the east end of this section, the neighborhood welcomed a new light rail station, further igniting the spark of hope, commerce, and economic bustle.

Incorporating mixed-use development

erhaps the most ambitious development along Lake Street is the renovation of the old Sears department store and distribution warehouse. Allina Hospitals and Clinics announced plans to move its headquarters to the site, concentrating 1,000 employees in one location. With an anchor tenant in place, plans progressed for a complete site renovation. The $190 million mixed-used development, called Midtown Exchange, will also include affordable and market-rate housing, a Hennepin County service center, a new Sheraton hotel to serve hospital patients and their families, and the Midtown Global Market. The Global Market will be the city's largest public market, modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market.

From the late 1990s through today, this stretch of Lake Street has undergone an extreme makeover. But through all this change, it was the new immigrant businesses that most significantly defined the neighborhood—and they were an explicit part of the Framework Plan. Many believed that the thoughtful and visionary Framework could serve as the definitive blueprint for Lake Street's reconstruction. Unfortunately, the Framework alone could not guide the transformation.

Realities dampen community vision

The hard reality of street reconstruction came to light in 2003 when Hennepin County announced its Lake Street reconstruction plan.

Hennepin County's plans did not resemble the Framework. Instead the Lake Street plan had become traffic-centric, rather than community focused. Turn lanes for cars supplanted wider sidewalks for people. Roomy driving lanes rolled over space for sidewalk cafes and street benches. The new plan would move vehicles effectively down the street, but not necessarily welcome people into the neighborhoods.

Lake Street reconstruction had fallen victim to a traditional, bureaucratic process where decisions are often made according to standard operating procedures. That was about to change, but not without frustration, concern, and skepticism.

A second draft

Disappointed by the diluted vision of the Lake Street vision and concerned about the future vitality of the new immigrant businesses and community, The McKnight Foundation and Payne-Lake Community Partners—a community development partnership committed to connecting people and place on this commercial corridor—stepped forward to help others seek answers.

Three experts in transportation and public process were hired as consultants to take a fresh look. They listened and questioned. After several months plans began to change, albeit sometimes incrementally. Still, even a 6-inch change multiplied over several lanes of traffic can produce remarkable outcomes.

Identifying obstacles

During discussions, solutions for many stubborn questions came directly from the participants: Hennepin County, the City of Minneapolis, business owners, and traffic engineers. Some answers were surprisingly simple, but others were the product of consensus-building and negotiations.

To start with, the physical limitations of Lake Street presented major problems. Only 80 feet stand between shop fronts on opposite sides of the street. As a result, any suggested improvement had to steal space from an existing street element. For example, wider sidewalks would mean less space for cars; wider driving lanes would mean less street parking; and so on. Painful decisions had to be made.

Another limiting factor was funding. Road improvements are paid for through public dollars and private assessments. But often these funding mechanisms come with strings. For example, federal and state money raised through gasoline taxes can legally be used only for "highway purposes." Sidewalk amenities, bike paths, and other non-traffic considerations are not typically eligible for funding.

Furthermore, private assessments are regulated for uniformity by the city. For additional assessments to cover streetscape improvements, interested parties would first need to obtain the unanimous support of all affected businesses.

Compromises build powerful solutions

Regardless of these restrictions, through a collaborative process, three major compromises were reached on the Lake Street plan that dramatically improved the outlook for the community. These three particulars were: narrower vehicle lanes, variable sidewalk widths, and the preservation of on-street parking.

First, the metric factor. Thanks to the resourcefulness of Hennepin County staff, measurements were made in meters, rather than feet. This ingenious change met funding specifications and allowed six inches of additional sidewalk on both sides of the road. In addition, switching from a center turn lane to parking lanes added another foot of sidewalk space on either side of the roadway. These changes increased pedestrian space by more than 10%, reducing crowding on sidewalks and enlarging space for sidewalks amenities and planting.

Among the rules on how to properly construct a street, there is an exception for "bump-outs"—or the occasional widening of a sidewalk into a parking or bus lane. Bump-outs allow space for pedestrians to gather before crossing a street, room for greenery, vendor stands, and other pedestrian amenities. In the revised plan, 11 intersections now have bump-outs.

Parallel parking is a welcome amenity to emerging businesses wanting to provide customers with every possible convenience to shop at their stores. However, 65 of the existing parallel parking spaces would have disappeared under the original Lake Street reconstruction plan. That amounted to 30% of the curbside parking spaces along the 1.8 mile section of Lake Street that would have vanished in order to make room for left turn lanes.

The risk of losing the parking spaces was too great for neighborhood businesses. In the renegotiated Lake Street compromise only 16 parallel parking spaces were eliminated.

Personal commitment and persistence achieve goals

Traffic engineers and community advocates both shared a commitment to maximizing pedestrian enhancements along Lake Street. But there were few public dollars available for non-roadway improvements, such as sidewalks and landscaping. On Lake Street, a basic level of "streetscaping," such as tree planting and sidewalk paving, will be paid for by a combination of 75% public funds and 25% mandatory assessment of adjoining property owners.

However, something remarkable happened at two Lake Street intersections. Where Lake meets Chicago and Bloomington Avenues, the adjoining businesses have agreed to assess themselves further to pay for better sidewalks, a more comfortable bus shelter, decorative fences, and marketing to hang from streetlights. These additional private assessments required the unanimous consent of adjacent owners.

Final plans for Lake Street's reconstruction may have emerged with the help of late-stage involvement from The McKnight Foundation and Payne-Lake Community Partners—but it was through the commitment and persistence of all participants that the final plan both encourages general pedestrian traffic and is socially and economically supportive of new immigrant communities, among other accomplishments.

Though the process was long, the investment of time and energy was well worth it. The community now waits with anticipation for Lake Street to be reborn.

Lessons learned

iven Lake Street's historical presence as a major commercial destination and its current role as a nurturing center of emerging immigrant populations, its reconstruction took on a greater meaning.

Much was at stake and much was learned. The consultants involved in the renegotiation of the Lake Street plan carefully analyzed the experience and summarized their observations into four lessons that apply to future street reconstruction projects.

1. Understand the role and character of the street in the context of the broader community.

Streets usually serve one of two purposes: 1) to move people quickly through an area without stopping; or 2) to provide local access to establishments along it. Development in the context of the first scenario is often easier to design and fund, because most public dollars favor the movement of vehicular traffic.

The second scenario calls for greater effort. Nearly all street reconstruction projects seek public involvement. The challenge is that all too often public involvement is no more than a perfunctory exercise. The traffic engineers present their case and the community presents theirs; little is done to unite the two sides.

So it seemed with Lake Street. From the beginning of the Lake Street reconstruction, Hennepin County had convened a Public Advisory Committee that met regularly with county staff and consultants to discuss ideas and offer suggestions. The process was open—but most advisory committee members were lay people who depended on county staff and consultants for information. The committee's vision of a new Lake Street was often dampened by the rules, regulations, and restrictions presented by engineers and other construction and planning experts.

To reconstruct a street that best serves short trips in a neighborhood, traffic engineers and community leaders must search together for nontraditional solutions and methods to achieve them.

2. Challenge your assumptions.

Many of the early decisions on Lake Street were based on meeting the mandates for "levels of service" for traffic flow. This is the traditional method to forecast traffic volume, congestion, and delay at every intersection—and then design a road to allow for the projected flow. For some projects, however, there may be hidden flexibility within these guidelines. Instead of working under the assumption that traffic flow at every intersection and at all hours must meet projected volumes, engineers viewed their options with more flexibility. As a result, they were not held to rigid requirements for wider lanes, turn lanes, and other provisions for swifter traffic.

In addition, there was an initial assumption that traffic flow needed to be concentrated on Lake Street, to avoid flowing onto other streets in the neighborhood. This is a suburban philosophy that has become widely accepted in transportation circles, but that warrants challenging in urban, mixed-used neighborhoods such as Lake Street.

3. Guard against street reconstruction that works at cross-purposes with neighborhood revitalization.

Many public dollars for street improvements are restricted from uses that enhance pedestrian experiences. Although there may be exceptions to these rules, they are limited. A realistic assessment of the community's vision and the availability of funds should be made early in the process. This will allow for thorough examination of public dollar opportunities, as well as a feasibility test on private or alternative funding sources. Many times, private dollars to be paid by emerging or struggling businesses may have limits. In most cases, the challenge is to identify early in the process which features are to be publicly financed, and then determine how much can be achieved through other fundraising.

4. Ground the design process in your community's goals, and ensure that these goals are represented by a strong community voice.

In the best-case scenario, independent, expert advisers should represent the community. Ideally, planning consultants who specialize in both community development and roadway design should be retained to help community leaders evaluate their options. It is also important that community development organizations with staff and other resources—not just individuals—be involved as active participants in discussions.

What You Can Do

The following list can help guide citizens who want to make a difference in street reconstruction projects in their own communities.

As a local citizen you can and should:

• Make sure your voice is heard. Show up at meetings. Be willing to get involved early, and don't leave it up to someone else. Don't assume that someone else cares or is representing you.
• Don't quit. Sustained involvement is needed. Volunteers on the Lake Street Reconstruction Public Advisory Committee spent many hours each month for years representing their community by attending meetings. Remain committed to the community vision. Traditional practice and conventional wisdom for streets, roads, traffic, and vehicles may not be ideal for your community.
• Question everything. Ask about benefits to people, cars, business, and public transportation. When solutions are offered, ask how they can be achieved. Regardless of others' technical expertise, don't accept that something "can't be done" without an explanation. For nearly every rule, guideline, and stipulation, there is an exception, a variance, a waiver.
• Apply the necessary pressure to obtain variances when needed. Seek waivers. The extra work may seem onerous, but don't let that stop you or the tech experts. It will be well worth the time.
• Talk up the issue locally. Initiate conversations in your neighborhood about proposed changes. Ask others for their opinion. Be the champion. If you can't do it personally, then identify and publicize a trustworthy champion—which may be your neighborhood organization or a citywide organization, and become the champion's champion. We all need a team of boosters backing us up.
• Broaden the discussion beyond your street or road whenever possible. The proposition that transportation should serve people, not vehicles, needs to be elevated beyond your individual project. It needs to permeate the city, the county, and eventually the state. That is the only way holes will be punched in the two separate silos of "community" and "transportation" to create new solutions.