Hennepin County will reconstruct County Road 152 through Victory and Webber Camden next year. County Road 152, better known in the area as 44th Avenue North, Webber Parkway and Lyndale Avenue, is an important thoroughfare for pedestrians, transit riders, and drivers. The construction project is an opportunity to make the corridor safer and more easily navigable for all of its users.
County Road 152’s reconstruction begins on 44th Avenue at Penn and travels east down Webber Parkway, ending at 41st & Lyndale. Hennepin County released a project design earlier this month and is currently soliciting feedback from community members on the design.
The Victory Neighborhood Association has reviewed the proposed design and is requesting that project planners address concerns that some elements of the design will have adverse impacts on safety and business in the vicinity of 44th & Penn. Those requests are:
- The median found between the D Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations on 44th Avenue just east of Penn Avenue is painted. ViNA requests some or all of that median be replaced with a raised median to help prevent illegal passing while buses are stopped at the transit stations.
- The design concept does not include a left turn lane for those travelling west on 44th Avenue and needing to turn onto Penn Avenue heading south. Similar to the median situation described above, ViNA anticipates drivers making dangerous passing or turning maneuvers to travel around buses stopped at the westbound BRT station and feel a left turn lane would help mitigate these actions.
- ViNA also requests the westbound BRT station to be moved back to the originally proposed location one half block east, to the vicinity of 4401 Newton Avenue. We believe the newly proposed location near 2126 44th Avenue will take away important streetscape marketing opportunities for the three businesses located on that block and will result in transit access being further away from the corridors single and multi-family residences. Additionally, with the relocation of the BRT station, it is the hope of the Victory Neighborhood Association that parking can be restored to the north side of 44th Avenue’s Oliver/Penn block. ViNA believes this will help the businesses located on that block to regain some of the customers they lost when parking was removed from the area five years ago.
The Victory Neighborhood Association believes the above concerns need to be addressed to ensure that 44th Avenue at Penn is safe and contributes to the wellbeing of the people travelling there and the businesses operating there. We encourage you to contact decisionmakers to share your feedback about the project and request that ViNA’s concerns be addressed before the design is finalized.
Please contact Jason Staebell, Hennepin County project engineer at 612-596-0371 by Friday, March 1. We also encourage you to contact metro transit and Commissioner Fernando’s office.
Click here for more information on the County Road 152 reconstruction project. Follow this link to read ViNA’s position statement on the proposed design.
i think theViNA recommendations are good. i hope you will use them.
These are excellent positions
Why do cities insist on bumping out curbs taking away space from the street. Removing space is never a good idea. It could be used for parking or as a passing lane and is useful now when we have so much snow narrowing the streets, the street is already wide to accommodate the snow accumulation.