You’ve probably heard the joke or said it yourself. “There are two seasons in Minnesota, winter and road construction.” To those living on Lowry Avenue, they’ve found themselves in that second season since April 15. Whether they asked for it or not.
“They tore up my fence,” said a resident whose house is on Lowry. The construction company needed to remove the fence so they could redo the sidewalk. According to the resident, the city will pay for it to be replaced, but he will have to get quotes and get people working on it once they give him the go-ahead.
The Flux Arts Building is located at the corner of Lowry Avenue and Howard Street. Barbara Bridges, founder and director of Art to Change the World, is located on the second floor of this building and found herself unable to get in one day. “They had it ripped up so bad, I couldn’t get in my door.”
Bridges has been in the space for one month; she moved in a week before construction started. She also talked about how the city has been responsive when she’s had to reach out.
Layl McDill of Clay Squared, also in the Flux Arts Building, added to that.
“We worked with the city; they contacted us. I built a relationship over email. They asked, ‘What can we do?’” McDill has been in her new gallery space for less than a month, knowing only this construction phase.
“I have a positive attitude. The city really has been really good. People gotta do what they gotta do and this is a hard project.” McDill added, “It’s hard to have it totally closed, but to me it’s like ‘rip off the Band-Aid’.”
Jason Colehour, the owner of Broken Hearts Tattoo Club on Lowry Avenue and Washington Street had a positive attitude, as well.
“I did lose clientele, but people are coming out and walking the streets. There’s a sense of safety. People started walking around more. People feel safer, all the crime shifted. You can breathe the air.”
Dream Creamery, an ice cream shop on Lowry Avenue and Jackson has been hit harder than most. They stated they had 10,000 customers last year for Art-A-Whirl Saturday. This year, it was less than half of that. They believe the construction is the biggest reason for the dropoff.
While the street may look like a scene from Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston cursing the sky nearby, to the businesses and residents, this is their temporary normal, dealing with it as patiently as they can. And it will take a lot of patience to get to November 23rd, which a sign nearby stated was the date the avenue would be open again.
“Road Closed” sign near Lowry Avenue. (Davis Steen)
Seth Stattmiller, of Recovery Bike Shop, talks with Jason Colehour outside of the Broken Hearts Tattoo Club. (Davis Steen)
The full extent of what became of Lowry Ave., taken from Washington St. NE facing east. (Davis Steen)
Chunks of road just outside of Broken Hearts Tattoo Club. (Davis Steen)
One of the houses on Lowry that have had to deal with the contruction in more ways than expected.(Davis Steen)
Lowry Avenue Phase II Planning
Phase I of Lowry Avenue’s reconstruction from Central Avenue to Washington Street has barely begun, and Hennepin County is already planning for Phase II, set to begin construction in 2026.
The second part of Phase I will shut down Lowry from Central to Johnson Street in 2025. Phase II will tackle the stretch from Washington to Marshall Street.
The proposed plan puts a 10-ft.-wide shared use path along the north side of Lowry. Meant for cyclists and pedestrians, it will be separated from the street by an 8.5-ft. boulevard. The south side of Lowry will also have an 8.5-ft. boulevard, but the sidewalk on that side of the street will be just 6 feet wide.
Other major changes include center medians between 1st Street and California Street, 4th and 5th streets, and 6th Street and Washington. Center turn lanes will be marked at Grand Street, 3rd Street and Washington.