Hennepin County to Begin 46th Street Repaving in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Starting Thursday, Sept. 29, Hennepin County will begin repaving 46th street (County Road 46) between Lyndale and Cedar avenues.

Crews have been active in the area prior to this date doing prep work

The milling operations, or pavement removal, will be the first major activity. It will start on the west end of the project area and move east.

In total, work is expected to last two weeks, but the schedule is weather dependent and subject to change, according to a news release.

Traffic will be maintained in both directions during this work, but will be diverted to either side of the roadway depending on where the construction activity is occurring. For your safety and the safety of our crews, please slow down as you travel through this area.

Creating Safer Lane Configurations: Crews will begin by removing the top layer of pavement from one side of the roadway at a time. Next, they will lay fresh pavement, let it cure and then apply fresh paint markings.
When the new paint is applied, it will create a newly configured roadway to improve the safety and experience for all road users.

East of Nicollet Avenue: 46th Street will be changed to a three lane configuration with one traffic lane in each direction and a shared center turn lane. Bike lanes will be added on both sides and on-street parking will be removed.

West of Nicollet Avenue: 46th Street will retain two lanes with one lane in each direction. Bike lanes will be added in both directions and parking on the south side of the road will be removed.
Benefits of the new configuration include:

• Narrowed lanes for vehicles to encourage safer speeds
• Dedicated lanes for bicyclists
• Pedestrian buffer space from motorized traffic provided by the bike lanes
• Improved striping to help travelers navigate the roadway safely
• Improved traffic flow from the center lane moving turning vehicles out of the way
• Greatly reduced number of conflicts from vehicles maneuvering around turning traffic

Planners and engineers expect the new design will decrease conflicts and potential crashes by half.

Learn more about the project here.

Image via Shutterstock