News

Open Streets Minneapolis™, the highly anticipated event series that closes city streets to motor vehicle traffic, will return to Cedar-Riverside this Sunday, September 13, 2026. The founders of Open Streets MPLS™, Our Streets, are joined by the West Bank Business Association in closing down the intersection of Cedar and Riverside Avenue from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. for Minneapolis residents to enjoy neighborhood businesses and safe biking, walking and rolling. Attendees can get a glimpse of streets as public spaces and the vibrancy of pedestrian-friendly boulevards at the free, family-friendly event.

MnDOT’s response to the dozen of elected officials who’ve asked for a pause on the Rethinking I-94 and Highway 252/I-94 projects acknowledges the harms that communities and advocates have been raising. However, their response is flawed in numerous ways. We don’t need another promise that displacement, health, climate, connectivity, and equity will be considered later. We must pause the Rethinking I-94 and 252/I-94 projects and restore community preferred alternatives, so communities have a real chance to shape the outcomes of these projects.

After three years, MnDOT will begin a pilot project this fall to incorporate Aesthetic Surface Treatments (ASTs) into the public right of way for the very first time. The location for the pilot demonstration project is at the intersection of MN Highway 55/Olson Memorial Drive and Van White Memorial Boulevard.

Last week, we joined other transportation organizations in asking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, and the Chair of the Metropolitan Council Robin Hutcheson to: 1) close the project’s funding gap. We emphasized the need for a strong federal application and to plan ahead to build the extension with anti-displacement protections in place.

Infrastructure does not exist in isolation from community life. It determines where people live, the air we breathe, whether people can safely walk to a park, if families can remain in their neighborhoods, how children get to school, and whether communities have access to economic opportunity. Equivolve hosted the Transformative Infrastructure Retreat that connected five teams across the nation that are working to reconnect communities through transformative transportation projects, like our Bring Back 6th initiative.

The highly anticipated Open Streets Minneapolis™ street festival, which closes city streets to motor vehicle traffic, is returning to Cedar Riverside on Sunday, September 13, 2026. Our Streets is excited to bring back the Open Streets Minneapolis™ Cedarfest event that residents know and love in partnership with the West Bank Business Association.

On Sunday, June 7, residents and neighbors across the Twin Cities gathered on Lyndale Avenue South for Open Streets Lyndale. The twenty-block stretch from 22nd Street to 42nd Street came alive—and not because of car traffic. Attendees engaged with Our Streets’ advocacy efforts and shared what transportation issues affect their communities and envisioned what a transportation system built for everyone would look like.

State elected officials representing communities in the Twin Cities joined together to formally ask the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and Governor Walz to pause the Rethinking I-94 and Trunk Highway 252/I-94 projects in a letter, citing concern around disrupted community engagement due to Operation Metro Surge and “federal directives prohibiting consideration of climate impacts, public health, and equity in transportation decision-making fundamentally conflict with Minnesota law and values.”

Our Streets’ staff attended NACTO’s 2026 conference from May 12-15. Together, they reflect on the conference plenaries, sessions and “walkshops”, the role art plays in transportation spaces, and inspired by what’s possible when cities prioritize communities over convenience.

The Bush Foundation selected Our Streets executive director José Antonio Zayas Cabán for a 2026 Bush Foundation Fellowship. José Antonio Zayas Cabán is one of 30 recipients honoring”leaders who get things done.”