It's hard to change beliefs, even when they're outdated or flat-out wrong. This fact was on full display in the Star Tribune's recent article about the Hennepin Avenue reconstruction ("Businesses fear losing parking on Hennepin," April 5). The article interviews people who insist that businesses will be harmed by the loss of on-street parking.
On the face of it, sure, we're all immersed in American-style car culture and we can logically imagine that losing parking spots might hurt business traffic. Experience shows otherwise, however, with study after study proving that loss of parking actually increases business activity where streets are redesigned to welcome people instead of cars, including customers on foot and using wheelchairs, riding bicycles or using transit.
And while all commercial activity benefits from this multimodalism, restaurants in particular walk away with the customer spending prize when protected bicycle lanes make the scene.
A 2020 Portland State University study of 14 commercial corridors in six cities, including Minneapolis, showed the emphatic benefits of prioritizing customers rather than their cars, so much so that, "Even in cases where a motor vehicle travel lane or parking was removed to make room for a bike lane, food sales and employment tended to go up."
The study revealed that Minneapolis' own Central Avenue saw a 52% increase in food sales after bike lanes were installed.
We need not look far to imagine what is possible when we design commercial corridors for all users and transit modes. The transformation of the University of Minnesota's East Bank over the past decade is a fine example of the business and community benefits resulting from prioritizing broader accessibility.
Those who remember Washington Avenue before the arrival of the Green Line likely do so with limited enthusiasm, aside from perhaps some college nostalgia or memories of the long-lost Arby's. Today, however, the East Bank and Stadium Village host light rail stations, dedicated bus lanes, on- and off-street bike facilities, wide sidewalks and usable, inviting pedestrian medians with seating and flowering plants.
Street parking on this section of Washington was largely abandoned and in response drivers simply found other places to park or better ways to get to their destinations. If we trusted the argument presented by some Hennepin Avenue business owners in the article, a massive decline in business should have followed.
