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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Hiawatha Avenue Drops to One Lane Each Way as Months of Pedestrian-Safety Construction Begin
MnDOT is adding pedestrian signals, crosswalks, refuge areas and other safety improvements near East 45th and 46th streets, with additional closures coming through December
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (September 9, 2026). Drivers using Hiawatha Avenue in south Minneapolis are facing months of reduced traffic capacity as a Minnesota Department of Transportation project aimed at improving pedestrian safety gets underway near East 45th and East 46th streets.
Construction began Tuesday on Highway 55, also known as Hiawatha Avenue, and has reduced the roadway to one lane in each direction between Minnehaha Parkway and East 44th Street.
MnDOT expects that restriction to remain in place until the project is completed in December.
The project is designed primarily around pedestrian safety.
Crews will add new pedestrian signals, crosswalks and pedestrian refuge areas near East 45th and East 46th streets. Turn lanes will also be reconstructed to reduce vehicle turning speeds and improve sightlines between motorists and people crossing the roadway.
A median fence will be installed between East 45th and East 46th streets to discourage pedestrians from crossing Hiawatha outside designated crossing locations.
The lane reduction that began Tuesday is only the first major traffic impact motorists will encounter.
Beginning in mid-September and continuing through November, a portion of East 46th Street between Hiawatha Avenue and 36th Avenue South is scheduled to close.
Access to 36th Avenue South and the Metro Transit bus driveway and parking lot will remain available, but motorists will not be able to travel between East 46th Street and Hiawatha Avenue through the closed section.
Another restriction beginning in mid-September will close the northbound Hiawatha Avenue right-turn lane to East 46th Street for approximately one month.
Additional changes are scheduled for October, when access between Hiawatha Avenue and East 45th Street on the east side of Hiawatha is expected to close for about a month.
The combination means drivers who use the corridor should expect traffic patterns to change several times before construction ends.
Transit service will remain available during the work.
The METRO Blue Line will continue serving the 46th Street Station, and Metro Transit and Minnesota Valley Transit Authority buses will continue using stops at the station.
Pedestrian access to the Blue Line and bus stops will also remain available, although MnDOT says pedestrian detours will be posted around construction areas.
Metro Transit is adding travel time to some bus schedules during construction because of anticipated delays.
Hiawatha Avenue is one of the major north-south transportation corridors in Minneapolis, carrying traffic between downtown and neighborhoods in south Minneapolis while running alongside the Blue Line light-rail corridor.
That combination of highway traffic, transit stations, intersections and pedestrian movement has made crossings along the corridor an important safety concern.
The improvements at East 45th and East 46th streets are intended to give pedestrians more clearly defined places to cross while reducing conflicts with turning vehicles.
For motorists, however, those improvements will mean reduced capacity and intermittent access restrictions through much of the fall.
MnDOT says all construction schedules and traffic impacts remain weather dependent and can change as work progresses.
Drivers can obtain real-time statewide road information through Minnesota's 511 system.
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