Are political rallies on overpasses legal?

In recent weeks, people have occasionally gathered on a pedestrian overpass between Nicollet and Portland avenues on Interstate 494 to show support for their preferred presidential candidate.

The supporters have held up signs and banners, and waved and hollered from the bridge deck linking Richfield with Bloomington near a Menards and Taco Bell. In turn, motorists passing below have slowed to glance up, further exacerbating poor traffic flow problems in the vicinity due to road construction.

“It’s a bad place to be having a demonstration,” said Drive reader Dan Blaylock, of Richfield, who has driven through the area when demonstrators have been present. “Watch your back end. I have seen several near misses and one rear-end [crash]. Drivers are distracted as they look up, and when somebody looks up and stops, there isn’t time to react.”

A similar scene unfolded last month when hundreds of demonstrators in support of Palestine made their way across a pedestrian bridge connecting Loring Park with the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden near the Walker Art Center.

Traffic on Hennepin Avenue and Interstate 94 below was at a crawl, and some drivers peered up and honked in approval. Minneapolis police at the time were responding to a fender bender in the area, but it was unknown if the mishap was related to the march.

Blaylock surmised demonstrations like those are another form of distracted driving and wondered if there are any laws prohibiting that kind of behavior.

The Drive took Blaylock’s question to Lt. Michael Lee of the State Patrol, who said his agency does get calls from concerned motorists who witness such actions.

Standing, gathering, yelling and holding signs while on highway or freeway overpasses is not illegal. But Lee acknowledges that activity could be distracting to motorists and he discourages demonstrators from congregating on overpasses.

“Don’t do it, because it can be a distraction,” Lee said. And his message for motorists: “pay attention to driving.”

Demonstrators like those at the supporting Palestine event do cross the line when they affix signs, banners, flags and anything else to poles, fences, bridge decks or other property owned and managed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

“This is illegal and can pose a safety risk to drivers,” Lee said.

Lee said motorists who encounter signs on infrastructure should call 911 when it is safe to do so, and report them.

New bus-only lanes in Minneapolis

Metro Transit plans to put the finishing touches on new bus-only lanes on Hennepin and Lyndale avenues near the Walker Art Center this week by posting signs reminding drivers to stay out. The signs will be in addition to red paint that designates the special lanes, which will be in effect for 24 hours.

The bus lanes are “kind of a continuation” of those installed along portions of Hennepin between Franklin Avenue and Lake Street before construction began this spring, said Metro Transit spokesman Drew Kerr. And those lanes will return when the rebuilt Hennepin is complete in 2025, Kerr said.

New southbound transit-only lanes that appeared last week run from Dunwoody Boulevard to Douglas Avenue. Northbound transit lanes run roughly from where Hennepin and Lyndale join together just south of Groveland Avenue up to where Hennepin Avenue splits off and heads into downtown while Lyndale continues north parallel to I-94.