The Minneapolis City Climate and Infrastructure Committee voted Oct. 30 to advance a concept layout for 30 Fifth and 30 Sixth streets and to seek a Municipal State Aid variance to enable a separated two-way bikeway on a constrained block.

Chair Katie Cashman, chair of the Climate and Infrastructure Committee, pulled the concept layout (item 4) for questions before moving it to full council for approval. Fontaine Burris, transportation planner with Public Works, told the committee both 30 Fifth and 30 Sixth streets are Municipal State Aid streets and “because they are MSA streets and using MSA funding, we are required to follow the design guidelines of MSA.” Burris said a constrained segment between Blaisdell and Nicollet on 30 Fifth lacks the space to build a two-way bikeway separated from the sidewalk under current MSA lane-width guidelines without reducing lane widths.

“We are seeking a variance to reduce lane width there in order to provide us enough space to separate the bikeway, rather than having a shared use path,” Burris said. She added the MSA variance committee meets quarterly and the project team aims to be on the committee’s December agenda; missing December would delay review until spring and could affect the project’s ability to meet federal authorization that requires design confirmation by June 2026.

Burris said the project is planned for construction in 2027–2028 and that the concept layout currently shows a shared-use path for one block; a granted variance would allow staff to redesign that block as a two-way bikeway. After the presentation, Chair Cashman moved the item for approval to the full City Council. The committee voice-voted the motion in the affirmative and the motion carried.

The committee did not adopt final design changes at the committee level; staff will pursue the MSA variance through the described committee process and return materials to the council as required. The action advances the concept and the variance request for council-level consideration.