Join us in advocating for highway land reclamation and the reconstruction of 6th Avenue North.

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Aerial rendering of a restored 6th Avenue North, showing trees and greenspace, land available for community land trust development, bus only lanes, bike lanes, wide sidewalks, and more.

Repairing historic and ongoing highway harms.

Once called the “Beale Street of Minneapolis,” the old Near-Northside was an integrated Black and Jewish community that was destroyed in 1939 for the construction of Olson Memorial Highway, a low-trafficked highway “to nowhere” that has been polluting the neighborhood ever since.

The past, present, and future of Olson Memorial Highway, or the “highway to nowhere.”

group of jazz musicians playing, an old black and white photo from the 30s
Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society

PRESERVING PUBLIC HISTORY

A Public History of Old 6th Avenue

Our Streets collaborated with the Mapping Prejudice Project and the University of Minnesota Heritage Studies and Public History Program to preserve the neighborhood’s history. Today, it is largely absent from the collective memory of the people who now call North Minneapolis home.

COMMUNITY

Share your story

Did your grandparents live on old 6th Avenue North? Have you struggled to cross the highway? Tell us about your experience living or working near Olson Memorial Highway.

Maya Angelou speaking to a packed room in Sumner Library on September 25, 1981.
Maya Angelou speaking to a packed room in Sumner Library on September 25, 1981.

Every day, the design of Olson Memorial Highway puts people at risk. Changes are long overdue, and watered-down improvements are unacceptable.

Tell MnDOT to Implement Immediate Safety Improvements

Successful Historical Boulevard Conversions

To ensure no further displacement occurs, the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County should commit to community development benchmarks for affordable housing, inclusive hiring for project labor, local business incubator programs, anti-displacement policies, and tenant protections like rent control and property tax freezes.

Our Streets Policy Positions

Housing & Community Development Benchmarks

Instead of a highway, we could have improved health, livability, economic benefits, improved mobility, and environmental benefits. Near-North Minneapolis deserves healthier air, safer streets, more parks, less traffic noise, affordable housing, business opportunities, and more.

Environmental Justice Portal

Highways Harm Our Health

The Near-North community is asking for safety and reparative justice.

It’s time to Bring Back 6th Avenue.

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