Mitigation & Enhancements: 1-35W Access Project

"Rebuilding the Phillips community requires connecting it to the broader economy. That is my vision: that is the vision of the Phillips Partnership. Reconnection is why we are working for better access to and from I-35W, an essential artery of the regional economy."
-- Peter McLaughlin, Hennepin County Commissioner

The private-sector members of the Phillips Partnership have invested $730 million in development in the neighborhood, which has resulted in 6,300 new jobs.  These private sector members, including Wells Fargo, Children's Hospital, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Abbott's parent Allina Hospitals and Clinics and it's affiliate the Phillips Eye Institute, together employ 14,000 people in the Phillips neighborhood.

I-35W Access Project
Construction of I-35W in the 1960s meant new opportunities for suburban growth, but the freeway split South Minneapolis in half and did not provide direct access at all locations.  Working with Hennepin County, the Phillips Partnership proposed a plan in 1998 to improve freeway connections to Phillips and adjoining neighborhoods, with Lake Street as the primary focus.

Seven years, 30 designs and 200 public meetings later, a plan was approved. The I-35W Access project is expected to improve traffic flow and provide more attractive freeway transit stations.  This project has been recently updated to include a BRT station in the middle of the freeway, and focus on the Lake Street access ramps with an estimated cost of $250 million.  Hennepin County is currently the design process.