Tensions over displacement and negative health impacts remain as the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT) Highway 252 project continues into its environmental study phase.

The project aims to improve safety and mobility through expanding and changing the existing highway into a four- or six-lane freeway, MnDOT Major Projects Manager Amber Blanchard said. 

Highway 252 extends from I-94 through north Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park. 

There have been at least 14 fatal crashes on the highway since 2003, five of them occurring between 2019 and 2023, according to data from MnDOT.

Blanchard said safety, vehicle mobility, walkability, land-use and property impacts are all considered when choosing the best way to change the existing highway.

“We want to make sure that MnDOT ultimately is there to do and make things safer for everyone,” Blanchard said. “Safety is paramount.”

MnDOT is still in the planning and review process, with construction set to begin in 2029. 

Community involvement

An important part of the project, which has been a years-long process, has been outreach to the Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park and Minneapolis communities which will be directly impacted by the expansion, MnDOT spokesperson Ricardo Lopez said. 

MnDOT has been increasing the amount of engagement and opportunities for feedback from the community, Blanchard said.

“We’re to the point where we’re meeting in the communities, virtually at least once a month,” Blanchard said.

In January, MnDOT began hosting meetings focused on a different topic surrounding the project each month called community table talks, Blanchard said. Last month’s talk was on environmental justice and equity, with the upcoming talk focusing on safety.

Starting this month are coffee chats, which will take place on the fourth Thursday of each month and are an opportunity for people to ask questions or give feedback on the project, Blanchard said.

According to Blanchard, MnDOT has received 736 emails and letters regarding the project.

“I read every one of them as the project manager,” Blanchard said. “Most of them to date have been more in the realm of ‘Hey. This is my opinion. I think you should do this type of thing.’ Some of them are questions, and we respond to those.”

Impacts on property

Last summer, MnDOT met with property owners and tenants who may be displaced or impacted by the project, Blanchard said. 

“Part of my goal since I came on board is to avoid property impacts if I can, first and foremost,” Blanchard said.

The question of displacement has been a point of contention in the project. 

Advocacy groups such as Our Streets have raised concerns over property impacts. Our Streets spokesperson Joe Harrington said a big question moving forward is how many people could be impacted by the project.

“There’s still a pretty wide range of numbers of properties that could be seized,” Harrington said.

Lopez said there are two main considerations for the freeway — one being to make the freeway go above local roads and the other being to put it underground. 

MnDOT determined fewer property impacts if the freeway goes over the local road, Blanchard said.

“There’s no way I can totally eliminate impacts because that is not possible,” Blanchard said. “There will be impacts, but the thing we are doing is we’re trying to minimize and avoid some of them if we even can.”

Health and safety concerns

Harrington said another major concern regarding the project is the negative health effects associated with highways.

“It’s gonna reduce health outcomes by having more traffic and air pollution associated with that,” Harrington said.

Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves has been outspoken about her issues with the project, including the prospect of more air pollution.

“We would literally have to pay for more traffic, more pollution, less access to our businesses and decreases to our already struggling tax base,” Graves said in a September 2024 statement.

In January, Graves said she wanted to make sure that both equity and Brooklyn Center residents are considered in the project.

Brooklyn Center is where there is the most amount of opposition to the project, Harrington said. It is also where Our Streets has done a lot of outreach about the issue with other local grassroots efforts to raise awareness about the project and its potential impacts.

“There’s a general sense in Brooklyn Center in particular, which is one of the, you know, most diverse, both racially and economically, suburbs in the Twin Cities region,” Harrington said. “And there’s a lot of understanding that this project is gonna have significant harms for the community.”

Blanchard said officials from Brooklyn Center are great to work with and have been coming to community engagement events.

“They are at the table, and that’s all we can say,” Blanchard said. “That’s all that we can expect from them is to be there and listen, and just hear what we have to say.

Overall, community engagement has been really important in this project, Blanchard said.

“We have a mission, and that really centers around transportation, and that is what we do,” Blanchard said. “But at the same time, we care about community needs and we care about things that are important to them, so listening to them and trying to come to compromises or if there’s anything we can do for the communities, we try to do that.”

Harrington said engaging with and listening to the community is a crucial part in preventing harm in infrastructure projects.

“We can’t continue to accept the calculus that undercuts communities of color and low-income communities who live near highways and exclude them from processes that will shape their community for generations,” Harrington said. “It’s fundamentally wrong, and it’s just an outdated mindset that needs to be changed.”