Local businesses along Fourth Street are struggling with construction throughout Dinkytown, bringing increased financial and safety concerns. 

The construction, part of the Dinkytown Pedestrian Improvement Project, aims to repave streets, add protected bike lanes, improve traffic signals, increase access to transit stops and upgrade intersections to adhere to Americans with Disability Act requirements, according to Hennepin County. Similar construction will begin on University Avenue in 2025. 

Until mid-October, Fourth Street will have no on-street parking and only one driving lane between Oak Street and Interstate 35W, according to Hennepin County. Access to local businesses and apartments will be maintained via detours around the work areas. 

Owner of Dinkytown McDonalds Melissa Smith-Kennedy said new roads and better pedestrian walkways will be nice, but the current construction is inconvenient for everyone. 

“Infrastructure is important to keep the roads nice and I think we all benefit from an overall quality of life in Minnesota that we’re used to,” Smith-Kennedy said. “But construction always is a pain in the butt.”

The Book House in Dinkytown manager Matt Hawbaker said he is concerned the road improvements will not be done as expected by mid-October. 

Though the construction is not ideal, Hawbaker said he hopes the changes will improve bike lane safety. He added he expects more demand for legitimate, metered parking spots if Dinkytown bike lanes become protected. 

“I’ve, for a long time, thought someone could get seriously hurt from being forced into traffic by a parked car in the bike lane,” Hawbaker said. “I don’t think that’s happened, luckily. I used to bike full-time for transportation, so I totally get the use of it.”

Hawbaker said he has seen an increase in wrong-way driving and double parking throughout Fourth Street since construction began. Hawbaker added he usually sees confused drivers at this time of year when many are driving in the city for the first time.

Smith-Kennedy said it is concerning to see the lack of safety in Dinkytown before and during construction, especially for drivers trying to navigate blind corners with a constant flow of pedestrians. 

Tony Nicklow, owner of Tony’s Diner, said his restaurant has not suffered much from the construction because of consistent walk-in and game day customers. 

Nicklow said the construction has forced him to shut down a significant portion of outdoor seating while still having to pay the city a $500 license. He said he wishes the city had given business owners a notice about limited sidewalk space. 

“I don’t know why I had to do that when my whole sidewalk is cut up,” Nicklow said. “Who’s going to sit outside now?”

Nicklow said he wishes the city would do a better job supporting business owners during construction as they did during COVID-19 by waiving license fees or giving a notice about construction that could impact storefronts. 

“This is a huge, huge job,” Nicklow said. “This is a long time. This is affecting families and businesses. They could have helped out a little bit or, you know, just for example, a small waive with the outdoor license.”

Construction halting delivery trucks and drive-by shopping

Nicklow said his delivery trucks have had to go back in order to move those shipments to a small van multiple times to navigate the Fourth Street construction more efficiently. 

Business has been slower than usual for Nicklow, except for game day weekends. He added he is thankful most of his customers are walk-ins, but he has not seen his usual drive-in customers for months. 

Like Nicklow, Smith-Kennedy said Dinkytown’s increased congestion has brought on problems receiving food and supply shipments to her business. Smith-Kennedy added she would rather have one-lane traffic than completely closed roads. 

“It’s that Dinkytown being such a condensed area that’s already got some logistical challenges,” Smith-Kennedy said. “Every day it’s something different.”

Hawbaker said The Book House’s sales are down about 15% more than usual at this time of year. Though The Book House does get plenty of walk-in customers, Hawbaker said the lack of store-front parking is discouraging their usual drive-in customers from coming by. 

“We’ve really had to do a lot of extra coordination, helping people get stuff in,” Hawbaker said. “We’ve been able to maintain that to a certain extent, but it’s definitely affected us.”

Smith-Kennedy said she is unsure if construction is deterring people from shopping but knows that, regardless, she is in it for the long run. 

“I’m in a for the long haul, so this one year we have construction,” Smith-Kennedy said. “It stinks, but we’ll be back next year. And we’ll be back next year after that.”