A two-year reconstruction of Bryant Avenue in south Minneapolis wrapped up this week, concluding a saga that featured a botched plan by the city and spawned a recent, misleading political ad.
At the heart of the $27.6 million project was the transformation of a 2-mile stretch of Bryant Avenue S. between Lake and 50th streets from a cramped, traditional city street into a vision of multimodal modernity, with space for bicycles, pedestrians and vehicles.
Even before construction began last year, controversy emerged over a well-trodden theme: balancing the desires of some residents and businesses who rely on vehicles with those who advocate for more bike-friendly design.
By the city's own admission, the selected plan failed, its flaws clearly evident after the first phase of the work was completed between 42nd and 50th streets last fall.
Even before the first snow fell, it was clear vehicles didn't have enough space. Parking spaces on the left side of a one-way stretch, bump-out curbs outside driveways and a host of other street elements envisioned as innovations were instead causing trouble for large vehicles, especially firetrucks.
When snow piled up, it became untenable. The only plows that could squeeze through were pickups. At one point, a fire engine on a nonemergency call was forced to back up to get out of the street.
The city's fix involved ripping up some of what contractors had just done and redrawing plans for the second phase of work. The bulk of all that work was completed this week.
The extra costs for the fixes: nearly $1.5 million. City Public Works Director Margaret Anderson Kelliher noted that's within the contingency estimates of the project's total budget.
