Construction season begins in Minneapolis

Construction on Lake Street
This photo, taken on April 18, 2007, shows the construction on Lake Street that ran right up to the door of the Blue Moon Cafe.
Photo Courtesy of Allen Zumach

Commuters can expect rush hour traffic snarls at some downtown Minneapolis intersections starting today, when construction resumes on Marquette and Second Avenues.

The two streets are being rebuilt to handle bus traffic more smoothly.

Minneapolis Police Department traffic field supervisor Jeff Miller says the city will have extra personnel at the most congested intersections to help motorists avoid gridlock.

"We'll place agents at key intersections that we think are going to be an issue to start off with and then there's always a minimum of one supervisor if not two monitoring the traffic patterns and we'll make assessments on the street and move agents as necessary," Miller said.

Last year's construction at the same location caused big traffic delays, as commuters and others navigated around partially blocked intersections.

The construction adds two bus lanes to ease express bus congestion on the avenues. The project is expected to be completed this year.

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