Hennepin Avenue is now a construction zone again.

“Challenging,” declares Dennis Johnson, who lives in Corcoran but works in Uptown. “Lots of detours. For those that don’t know the side streets, it’s probably frustrating. Much more frustrating.”   

Phase two of the Hennepin South Reconstruction project began Monday.

It’s part of a $36 million dollar makeover, from Lake Street to Douglas Avenue.

The second phase runs from Douglas Avenue to West 26th Street.

“So, a complete rebuild of Hennepin Avenue,” explains Adam Hayow, the project manager with the City of Minneapolis. “Hennepin Avenue was last reconstructed over sixty-five years ago, so the corridor infrastructure was deteriorated significantly.”   

The project will include:

• Replacing the entire street building face to building face
• Installing new storm and sanitary sewers
• Upgrading all private utility lines, including electrical for Xcel Energy and gas lines for CenterPoint Energy
• Replacing traffic lights
• Improving features at crossing points for people with disabilities

The key design elements include wider, more consistent sidewalks for pedestrians, a two-way off-street protected bikeway on the east side of Hennepin Avenue, bus lanes, and new bus stations.

“Providing mobile access in terms of people walking, biking, taking transit along the corridor,” Hayow says. “Improving all the ADA improvements at the intersections for people with disabilities to be able to safely cross. Hennepin’s a very busy corridor.”

The goal is to finish the project by late November.

In the meantime, there’s only one-way traffic heading south.

“You know, it’s obviously broken, and it adds some time to the commute,” notes Cameron Schaefer, who lives in Uptown. “But nothing end of the world, you can go through the back roads.”

However, some businesses worry about customer access when the work is done.

Osman Cleaners has been in business at the corner of Hennepin Avenue and 26th Street for 30 years.

Owner Muntaz Osman worries about what will happen when the street transitions from four lanes to two — along with a bus lane.

She notes there will be no street parking when buses are running at peak hours.  

“For us, it’s going to be worse because we are a small business right on the corner,” Osman says. “We have no parking, so we rely on the street parking.”

The city says that once the project is completed, curbside parking will be available outside the peak hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Until construction ends, businesses will have to make do with side street parking, use their own lots, or have customers use private lots.

Hayow says a parking task force has found there should be enough parking for everyone once the project is completed.

“A combination of side street parking and off-line parking during off-peak hours will be available on Hennepin Avenue,” he explains.

Schaefer says he hopes the completed project will bring people back to Uptown.  

“Temporary pain right now, it is rough,” he notes. “But there’s workarounds and it’s not too bad. In the long run, I think it’s going to be great.”