Bryant Avenue in Minneapolis reopens after $1.5 million fix; council candidate corrects ad

A two-year reconstruction of Bryant Avenue in south Minneapolis wrapped up this week, concluding a saga that featured a botched plan by the city and spawned a recent, misleading political ad.

At the heart of the $27.6 million project was the transformation of a 2-mile stretch of Bryant Avenue S. between Lake and 50th streets from a cramped, traditional city street into a vision of multimodal modernity, with space for bicycles, pedestrians and vehicles.

Even before construction began last year, controversy emerged over a well-trodden theme: balancing the desires of some residents and businesses who rely on vehicles with those who advocate for more bike-friendly design.

By the city's own admission, the selected plan failed, its flaws clearly evident after the first phase of the work was completed between 42nd and 50th streets last fall.

Even before the first snow fell, it was clear vehicles didn't have enough space. Parking spaces on the left side of a one-way stretch, bump-out curbs outside driveways and a host of other street elements envisioned as innovations were instead causing trouble for large vehicles, especially firetrucks.

When snow piled up, it became untenable. The only plows that could squeeze through were pickups. At one point, a fire engine on a nonemergency call was forced to back up to get out of the street.

The city's fix involved ripping up some of what contractors had just done and redrawing plans for the second phase of work. The bulk of all that work was completed this week.

The extra costs for the fixes: nearly $1.5 million. City Public Works Director Margaret Anderson Kelliher noted that's within the contingency estimates of the project's total budget.

Kate Mortenson, one of three candidates challenging City Council Vice President Linea Palmisano in southwest Minneapolis' 13th Ward, highlighted the project's controversies in a campaign video posted two weeks ago. Bob "Again" Carney Jr. and Zach Metzger are also in the race.

In the ad, she appeared to state the cost of the fix is $22 million, not $1.5 million. Here's what she said in the 17-second ad, which appeared on social media:

"When they tried to rebuild Bryant Avenue, safety was the top concern. But they forgot to leave enough room for emergency vehicles. So now they have to redo it. It's costing $22 million. If I'm elected to City Council, critical details will not be overlooked."

In an interview Friday, Mortenson said the $22 million figure isn't supposed to refer to the "redo," but rather the total cost of the project.

While the total cost of the project is $27.6 million, the meat of it falls under a $20.4 million contract with Veit & Co. construction, and many city documents and public presentations give the impression that $20.4 million is the total project cost.

So while Mortenson's arithmetic may have been sound, her antecedents were not. She acknowledged that earlier this week she encountered a potential voter who also saw the ad and believed the "it" in "It's costing $22 million" was the "redo."

Mortenson said it was an honest oversight by her and her campaign team. "I shot it with the team, and because we knew what we meant, none of us thought of it that way," she said, adding that she would release a new video with the information clarified.

By early Friday afternoon, she shared with the Star Tribune a draft of a new version where the following words flash on screen: "Total project: $22 million." That video is now live.