Bike Culture Runs Through the Wedge

Lowry Hill East, the compact triangle bounded by Hennepin and Lyndale avenues, is sized for short trips on foot or by bike, and for many car-free households the bicycle is the main way to reach Uptown, the lakes and downtown.

That neighborhood gained a major piece of infrastructure in October 2025, when Minneapolis reopened South Hennepin Avenue after an 18-month, roughly $36 million reconstruction. The rebuilt corridor carries a two-way, off-street protected bikeway on the east side of Hennepin — the Wedge's western boundary — along with wider sidewalks, bus lanes and new transit stations for the coming METRO E Line, giving cyclists a protected spine from Lake Street toward downtown.

The same debate is now lined up for Lyndale Avenue, the neighborhood's eastern edge. Hennepin County plans to reconstruct Lyndale between Franklin Avenue and 31st Street starting in 2028, and its refined design adds a separated two-way bikeway and sidewalk on the east side, plus space for a future northbound transit lane between 28th and 31st streets. The design is contested: business owners warn that removing parking for bus and bike lanes and adding center medians will cost them customers, while transit and cycling advocates argue the street must be made safer for people who walk, bike and ride the bus. The county is expected to bring its latest plan to the Minneapolis City Council this month, with bidding next year.

For a neighborhood with many car-free households, the outcome is concrete: a protected lane can be the difference between biking to work and not. With Hennepin built out, the Lyndale decision will determine whether the Wedge's other edge gets the same treatment.