Portions of Lowry Avenue in Mpls. re-open today

A portion of Lowry Avenue will re-open today, as construction in the north Minneapolis neighborhood was completed two months ahead of schedule, Hennepin county officials said.

Lowry Avenue between Queen Avenue and Theodore Wirth Parkway will re-open by 5 p.m. Friday. The improvements include new on-street bicycle lanes, wider sidewalks and intersection upgrades. Metro Transit buses will resume their normal routes on Monday.

"Rebuilding Lowry Avenue was a community effort, and I hope the community is pleased with the results," said county Commissioner Mark Stenglein. "There were many meetings and much planning. The community had a lot of ideas about how they wanted Lowry Avenue to look, from removing blighted buildings to landscaped boulevards. Thanks to everyone for their help and patience. We are very excited to have the road open."

Tree plantings and other improvements are scheduled to be done by the Park Board either this fall or next spring.

Lowry Avenue reconstruction was funded through several sources. Hennepin County contributed $25 million, the State of Minnesota contributed $5 million, the U.S. Government contributed slightly more than $1.8 million, and the Mississippi Management Watershed Organization contributed $75,000.