On Wednesday, August 20, 2025, a motorist traveling along Park Avenue near 33rd Street in Minneapolis smashed through a front porch — again. Though no one appears to have been injured, it happened directly across from the home of Mark Schoening, whose porch was destroyed in a similar crash in August 2024.
“I heard a single speeding car and then a huge crash,” said Jenny Rowe, who lives on the block. She stated that the car plowed through the boulevard tree, the yard, and the front porch; the impact shook her house. Rowe reported that the vehicle actually pushed the 110-year-old stone foundation out from underneath the porch that it hit.
Now neighbors are asking a big question: What will change on Park Avenue before Hennepin County’s 2027 project is fully carried out?
Prior to this most recent crash, residents were not waiting for someone else to diagnose the problem. For their Crash Analysis Studio this summer, they ran three speed studies on the 3300 block. Out of 604 vehicles, roughly 91% were speeding. The 85th-percentile speed sat around 39-40 mph. Eighty-seven drivers were clocked to be traveling at 40 mph or higher. A neighborhood survey — conducted in winter 2024 through the spring of 2025 — found “decreasing vehicle speeds” to be a top priority among community residents. The speed pattern is consistent across days and times, including afternoon rush hour. This isn’t a one-off driver problem; it’s a street that makes fast driving feel normal.
Design explains the behavior. Northbound Park at 33rd is a one-way avenue with two 12-foot lanes, long and straight sightlines, and a paint-only buffered bike lane. Unused gaps in curbside parking — especially at the block’s north end — make the corridor seem even wider. Signals at the intersections with 31st and 34th Street aren’t visible from the middle of the block, so there’s little cueing drivers to slow between intersections. Paired with Portland Avenue southbound, the couplet functions as a fast conduit through a residential district. If you set up a street like a small highway, you will get highway speeds. “During COVID, as I understand was the case for much of the country, the racing really took off,” said Rowe. She indicated that their particular streets are enticing for racers since they are long, straight, one-way, and wide.
It’s worth underscoring what the data does not show. This is not a “congestion makes people crazy” corridor. MnDOT’s count history at this intersection shows traffic volumes have fallen by about 43% since the early 2000s. Even as the number of vehicles dropped, the operating speed stayed high. Lower demand simply removed friction and made it easier to go fast. When the geometry invites speed, speed is what you get.
There’s also a governance storyline here, since both Park and Portland Avenue are County State Aid Highways (CSAH). Practically speaking, this means Park (CSAH 33) and Portland (CSAH 35) are roads within the city of Minneapolis that fall under county jurisdiction. The county is the road authority and is advancing a safety project slated to begin construction in 2027. Since these are County State Aid routes, design decisions are shaped by State Aid standards; big federal dollars are programmed on regional timelines. None of that is nefarious — it just means that even with local urgency, the capital project moves on a multi-year clock.
Meanwhile, residents have been pushing for change for years. Schoening, Rowe, and other neighbors began asking the county and city to address speeds as early as 2013. They note that they kept reporting the racing, and nothing changed. After Schoening’s porch was destroyed in 2024, they organized across the corridor, canvassed in three languages, and did their best to keep people informed.
Following the crash on August 20, 2025, Schoening is asking why the county cannot act quicker on the changes they’ve already committed to, as those changes will make him feel safer in his own neighborhood. “Since the project will remove parking at Park and 33rd as a lane-narrowing strategy, why not preemptively take out the two spots today?” Mark asks. He noted that no one uses those spots anymore since other crashes in the past year totaled cars that had been parked there. Community members need interim protections now — not just a promise for 2027.
There are near-term, low-cost steps the county and city can take immediately to reduce operating speeds and protect people while the long-term project proceeds. These actions include:
- Breaking up the portion of Park Avenue that’s used as a drag strip at night. Set nearby signals to rest-in-red overnight and other low-volume periods, so drivers don’t get a green runway through the corridor.
- Hardening what’s only painted. Flip the bike lane behind parked cars and build a parking-protected bikeway with posts or modular curbs. Close common passing gaps with continuous separators.
- Shortening crossings and tightening corners. Install quick curb extensions and temporary median refuges (posts or quick-curb) at the 33rd Street crossing and other unsignalized locations. These reduce exposure and force lower turning and approach speeds.
- Restoring visibility and visual cues. Trim any vegetation that obscures signage — especially speed limit signs. Add high-visibility crosswalk markings. Daylight corners so people can see and be seen.
- Pairing design with light-touch enforcement. Portable “Your Speed” feedback signs and brief, well-publicized enforcement waves may support the message while physical design changes do the heavy lifting.
Rowe says county leadership is beginning to lean in — and neighbors are watching closely. “Our commissioner is now using strong language about interim safety through 2027,” she said. “Within the last two months, engineers tried to drop a closed median at 33rd; we’re insisting it be restored — and we may have support for that.”
None of this requires waiting until 2027. All of it is consistent with how self-enforcing roadways work. Narrow lanes, frequent crossing opportunities, physical protection, and clear, close-in vertical cues will make the corridor read like a neighborhood street instead of a minor highway.
The 2027 project is important. But another two years of “wait and see” on this block is unacceptable. Residents have shown what’s happening, what would help, and that they aren’t leaving. “I’ve been asked if I want to move and I most certainly do not,” Rowe said. “This is a wonderful neighborhood, and it’s worth fighting for.”
Now it’s time to put quick, self-enforcing fixes on the ground. If you’re a Minneapolis local, email your Hennepin County representative and request a 90-day quick build that includes some of the recommendations listed in this article. If you’re an out-of-towner, we encourage you to take a walk through your neighborhood, identify where your traffic safety concerns might lie, and strike up a conversation about them with a neighbor or city representative.
We hope the next story we tell you from Park Avenue is about how a neighborhood street finally started behaving like one.
