After 18 months and $36 million, a remade South Hennepin Avenue opens tomorrow.

Why it matters: For an Uptown neighborhood already facing plenty of struggles, the reconstruction of its main artery has been tough on businesses and residents.

The big picture: The project is the latest example of how the city is remaking streets with less emphasis on cars and more on transit, bicyclists and pedestrians.

Zoom in: Hennepin was previously four lanes of vehicle traffic, with on-street parking.

• There's a dedicated bus lane during rush hour, which can be used for parking the rest of the time.
• A new two-way protected bikeway runs on the east side.

How it works: Starting Dec. 6, Metro Transit will replace the busy 6 route with the E Line, its latest bus rapid transit service.

• The E Line will come every 10 minutes (compared to 12-15 for the 6 route) and will improve speeds by about 20%, according to Metro Transit.

Yes, but: The redesign has some businesses worried about a loss of parking and more congestion.

• "I don't know if I should be happy or what," Osman Cleaners owner Mumtaz Osman told the Star Tribune. "With what they have done, they will make lots of people unhappy. With parking gone and one lane both ways, I fear it's not so good. Time will tell."

What's ahead: About 17 months of peace before Hennepin County is scheduled to begin the reconstruction of Lyndale Avenue a few blocks east.

The traffic jams caused by Hennepin Avenue's reconstruction added to a steady rise in congestion across the metro.

State of the roads: The average Twin Cities car commuter now spends a record 73 hours a year stuck in traffic, a new report finds.

• You could drive from Minneapolis to Los Angeles and back in that amount of time — with almost a day to spare.

The big picture: Congestion is ramping up in many cities after a pandemic-era dip, per the Texas A&M Transportation Institute's 2025 Urban Mobility Report.

What's happening: Traditional rush hours are returning. But there's also been a "noticeable rise in midday congestion," the report finds, possibly tied to remote and hybrid work changing schedules and travel behaviors.

The bottom line: The findings put some hard data behind a common feeling among many drivers:

• Traffic is getting worse — or at least different — since the pandemic.

How we compare

🔎 Gov. Tim Walz announced yesterday that the Department of Human Services will pause payments for over a dozen Medicaid-funded programs while an outside firm conducts audits aimed at catching fraudulent claims. (WCCO)

• Some legislative Republicans applauded the move, while others criticized it as too little, too late.

⚾️ The Twins hired former bench coach Derek Shelton as their next manager. He was most recently manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. (Star Tribune)

🎓 The University of Minnesota will no longer host high school graduation ceremonies. (KARE 11)

💼 Cargill says it's laying off 80 workers in Minnesota — and an undisclosed number worldwide — amid a farm sector slump. (Reuters)

🙏 Several local groups are collecting donations and organizing other relief efforts to support Jamaicans following Hurricane Melissa. (MPR News)

⛔️ Remodeling company Minnesota Rusco appears to have abruptly closed, leaving several customers with unfinished jobs. (Fox9)

🤐 Local officials across Minnesota have signed non-disclosure agreements preventing them from publicly discussing proposals to bring massive AI data centers to their communities. (Minnesota Reformer)

• Defenders say such agreements protect proprietary information and allow cities to negotiate competitive deals privately, but ethics experts say they're problematic.

Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh has an idea for filling empty storefronts: When they're vacant, tax the landlord.

Why it matters: Downtown Minneapolis' retail vacancy rate is nearly 29%. That's twice the pre-pandemic level and a drag on efforts to restore the area's vibrancy.

The big picture: Fateh's proposed solution — a commercial vacancy tax — is emblematic of where he breaks with his fellow challengers to Mayor Jacob Frey.

• Fateh has been more eager than his allies to embrace big-government interventions like rent control or a city income tax.

What they're saying: "We must think creatively about big ideas" to address the "slow erosion of our city's commercial corridors," Fateh told Axios.

How it works: Fateh hasn't detailed his proposal, but San Francisco taxes landlords when their ground-floor storefront sits vacant for more than six months.

• The idea is to discourage landlords from holding out for rents to rise or for a higher-paying tenant.

Yes, but: Center for Community Progress senior fellow Alan Mallach suspects more shops are empty because of weak demand for retail space post-COVID.

The other side: Minneapolis Downtown Council president Adam Duininck told Axios a tax could penalize owners already "struggling to make the math work on these buildings."

Plus: A poorly structured tax could backfire on local small businesses if landlords see less risk in renting to a national chain (i.e. Starbucks).

A closer look at SF

With return-to-office in full swing, how early is too early for an in-person meeting?

• That question hit our timelines recently, thanks to a New York Times' "Work Friend" column about an employee at a "Fortune 100 company in the Midwest" who schleps to the office for a 7am meeting twice a week.

What they said: The column's advice-giver suggested that the worker ask their boss if they can shift their in-office hours to account for the early meetups.

📣 But we want to hear your take on your personal start time for IRL meetings.

• Weigh in via our survey.