The Northside Greenway is an almost 4-mile route on Irving Ave N and Humboldt Ave N from 44^th Ave N to Van White Memorial Blvd in north Minneapolis. The project will include traffic calming and safety improvements, new green spaces, and other community amenities. In 2025, the project team will share early design ideas and seek community feedback. We anticipate construction will begin in 2027.

• Northside Greenway is a proposed four-mile neighborhood greenway along Humboldt Ave N and Irving Ave N in North Minneapolis.
• Started initially as a community-generated idea with City and community organization engagement happening since 2011 with demonstration projects, surveys, and other activities.
• Identified as a low-stress bikeway on the City’s All Ages & Abilities (AAA) network.
• The Northside Greenway will connect or be near to several public schools, parks and trails, and transit lines.

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Create safe and comfortable places for everyone to travel, regardless of their age or ability.

• Traffic calming: Design the street to promote safe vehicle travel speeds.
• Crashes: Include features to reduce the likelihood of severe crashes.
• Access: Ensure that people can get to the places they need to go, regardless of how they travel.

Provide a safe and connected experience for people walking, rolling and biking.

• Safe routes: Create safe and comfortable places for people to walk, roll, and bike in support of the city’s Transportation Action Plan.
• Safe crossings: Make it safe and easy for people to cross the street, particularly at major intersections like Dowling Avenue, Lowry Avenue, Broadway Avenue, Plymouth Avenue, and Olson Memorial Highway.
• Connections: Create seamless connections to the places people want to go, such as area parks, schools, and businesses.
• Human-scale elements: Include features to support walking and biking, such as places to sit, trash cans, pedestrian level lighting, and places to gather.

Support and foster community identity.

• Green space: Provide space for more green space and plantings throughout the corridor (e.g., street trees, boulevard plantings, and gardens).
• Placemaking: Explore possibilities for features such as public art, wayfinding, and places to gather or play in support of creating vibrant community hubs where all are welcome.
• Sustainability: Create opportunities to improve water quality with green stormwater infrastructure where feasible (i.e., rain gardens, tree trenches, sustainable plantings, etc.) and promote environmental resiliency in accordance with the city’s Climate Equity Plan.
• Local residents: Support local residents by seeking to minimize impacts to private property, and exploring strategies to minimize the potential for displacement and gentrification in accordance with the city’s Racial Equity Framework.
• Local businesses: Celebrate local businesses through intentional connections to the Northside Greenway.

There is a strong community desire to create safe and comfortable places for people to walk, roll, and bike in North Minneapolis. There is also a desire for safe and convenient non-motorized connections to the many parks, schools, and other community destinations along a north-south route, roughly following Humboldt and Irving Avenues from 44^th Street to Van White Memorial Boulevard.

• The streets in the streets in the area currently feel unsafe with high vehicle speeds and a lack of safe opportunities to cross major arterials.
• The area lacks pedestrian support features like places to sit, wayfinding, and trash cans.
• There are opportunities to do more to celebrate the unique culture of North Minneapolis with beautiful and inviting art, gardens, and places to gather.
• Street improvements should reflect the values of the people who live in these communities.

The Northside Greenway will include a variety of street and placemaking improvements. It is notable that public investments can lead to increases in property values, but these impacts are difficult to predict and are uncertain. The project is committed to working with the community to make sure the Northside Greenway represents the values and ideas of the community.

Street designs: The following street design concepts are being considered at specific locations throughout the project are. Check out the interactive map to see the design concept at your location.

Intersection tools: There are a range of tools under consideration for each intersection

Community placemaking: There are several types of community placemaking under consideration, including the following.

Community Input Summary

The project team engaged community members between July to December 2024 to introduce the project, understand how community members use the corridor, and collect input on priorities for improvements. In total, approximately 650 community members participated in these events or gave feedback.

What we heard

Over 1,425 comments and responses from a community priorities activity in the online surveys and at in-person engagement events were analyzed and categorized on the following themes and listed in order by highest to lowest community priority:

More Arts and Culture
When comparing a range of characteristics at in-person events, people assigned the highest value to arts and culture. Public art and other cultural amenities to highlight the identity of the community could include art installations, storytelling features, little libraries, and other elements.

New Community Amenities
Creating places to sit, providing garbage cans, water stations, and play sports was widely suggested.

Better Places to Walk
Wider sidewalks, modern curb ramps at corners, safer places to cross the street, and pedestrian lighting were widely suggested to improve pedestrian safety.

More Green Space
More space for plantings and trees as investments in opportunities for residents to engage in community gardening were suggested.

Better Places to Bike
Separated trails, safer places to cross the street, and wayfinding signage were suggested to improve safety for people biking. Young people, in particular, prioritized safe places to bike and shared that they travel by bike to get to nearby parks and schools.

More Traffic Calming
Traffic diverters, traffic circles, raised crossings, and curb extensions to slow vehicles especially near schools and parks, was suggested to improve safety along the street. High vehicle speeds and poor driving behavior are a concern.

Maintaining On-street parking
While it wasn’t the highest priority, people want to keep on-street parking.

Contact us

Peter Bennett, Transportation Planner - Public Works | 612-673-2460 | peter.bennett@minneapolismn.gov

Allison Bell, PE, Professional Engineer - Public Works | 612-673-2453 | allison.bell@minneapolismn.gov

For reasonable accommodations or alternative formats please contact (Peter Bennett, Public Works, 612-673-2460, peter.bennett@minneapolismn.gov).

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