The Climate and Infrastructure Committee of Minneapolis City opened a municipal-consent public hearing Sept. 30 on MnDOT’s proposed reconstruction of University Avenue Northeast (Trunk Highway 47) and continued the hearing to Oct. 16 for final action after a clerical error, Chair Katie Cashman said.

The hearing included a staff presentation from Peter Bennett, senior transportation planner with Minneapolis Public Works, who described a concept that would convert the existing four-lane undivided roadway to a three-lane cross section, add medians at nine locations, install curb extensions and build a two-block segment of the city’s all-ages-and-abilities bike network between Central Avenue Southeast and First Avenue. “University Avenue Northeast is currently structured as a 4 lane undivided roadway,” Bennett said. He said the project length is about 2.3 miles and that construction is anticipated to start in 2027 with completion in 2028.

Bennett told the committee the project triggers MnDOT’s municipal-consent process because it would decrease traffic capacity and require some permanent right-of-way acquisition. “This project is proposing the removal of 2 travel lanes” and “permanent right of way and some permanent right of way acquisition,” he said, adding that MnDOT has submitted a letter and a recommended resolution for council consideration and that MnDOT will require a council resolution as part of its approval.

The proposed concept aims to improve safety by providing a consistent travel lane in each direction with a center turn lane to reduce weaving and unsafe turning movements; medians at key crossings are intended to make pedestrian and bicycle crossings safer. Illustrations shown to the committee highlighted a typical section between 14th and 15th avenues with grass boulevards and curb extensions, a median near Seventh Avenue NE to serve nearby market and church crossing activity, and intersection geometry changes at Broadway Street NE and Lowry Avenue NE to preserve buildings and accommodate freight while improving turn geometry.

Christina Perfetti, representing MnDOT, said project teams are coordinating with Hennepin County and city projects that are also scheduled in coming years and that the agencies are developing a phasing plan so construction on north-south and east-west projects does not wholly overlap in the same place. “We are currently working on a plan . . . to phase them appropriately so that no section is really overlapping in terms of a north and south,” Perfetti said. She added that phasing will include detours and construction treatments given concurrent funding schedules.

Committee members pressed staff on timing and coordination with other projects in the area. Bennett said advancing approval of the concept layout to final design is the fastest route to meeting the project’s 2027 construction year and that ongoing coordination with County and MnDOT teams will continue.

No members of the public had signed up to speak at the Sept. 30 hearing. Chair Cashman said the committee would receive testimony and questions during this session but must continue the public hearing to Oct. 16 to take final action. The record will remain open until that date.