Lyndale Avenue Redesign Nears a County Vote as Businesses and Cyclists Clash

Hennepin County plans to reconstruct Lyndale Avenue South, County Road 22, between Franklin Avenue and West 31st Street, the eastern spine of Lowry Hill East, the neighborhood known as the Wedge. The work would replace aging underground utilities and rebuild the street from sidewalk to sidewalk. Planning continues through 2026, contractor bidding begins in 2027 and construction is not expected to start until 2028, with the build projected to take about three years.

The updated design calls for a separated bikeway on the east side of Lyndale, new street lighting, concrete medians and expanded green space. Between West 31st and West 28th streets, the plan preserves room for a future northbound transit lane, the change county planners say would do the most to speed buses along the corridor.

Those gains come paired with the loss of roughly a quarter of the curbside parking, which has become the center of the debate. At a packed June 1 meeting, business owners and bike advocates argued over whether the trade is worth it. Andrea Corbin, who runs a flower shop on the corridor, questioned how much cyclist traffic her business actually draws: "When I say a very few, I'm talking one or two out of the year that come to me in a bike and want to buy flowers".

Cyclists pushed back on how the choice has been framed. "I just don't like how this has all been framed around making small businesses vs. bikers, because most of us live near here," resident Will Maddrey said at the meeting. A group of business owners organizing as Vibrant Lyndale is lobbying the county against removing parking and has urged the city to set up a fund to help businesses weather another multi-year construction zone, coming on the heels of the Hennepin Avenue rebuild.

Mayor Jacob Frey, who attended, argued the corridor's commercial mix has already changed. "The Kitchen Window, the Urban Outfitters — that's a dead era, and it's not coming back, and I think we just need to acknowledge it," Frey said. The county is expected to submit a final plan to the City Council this month; the council will vote it up or down, and the mayor would have the option of a veto.