Washington Avenue is a major thoroughfare in
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, United States. Starting north of Lowry Avenue, North Washington Avenue runs straight south, with
Interstate 94
Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...
running alongside it until just south of West Broadway, when the freeway turns to the west. The street continues running straight until just south of Plymouth Avenue, where it turns in a southeasterly direction heading for Downtown Minneapolis. It forms the main thoroughfare through the
Warehouse District
This is a list of notable warehouse districts.
A warehouse district or warehouse row is an area found in many urban setting known for being the current or former location of numerous warehouses. Logistically, warehouses are often located in indust ...
.
The scenery changes at
Hennepin Avenue
Hennepin Avenue is a major street in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It runs from Lakewood Cemetery (at West 36th Street), north through the Uptown District of Southwest Minneapolis, through the Virginia Triangle, the former "Bottleneck" a ...
, where the designation changes to South Washington Avenue. This area, once known as the
Gateway District, was heavily affected by urban renewal policies of the 1950s and 60s, destroying what had at one point been the heart of the city. Dozens of city blocks were bulldozed and replaced with modern glass structures - or in many cases, surface parking lots. The portion of the street from Hennepin to what is now
Interstate 35W was widened and a median was added.
Further changes occurred to the east of the Interstate. Washington used to turn at the Seven Corners intersection (where Washington meets
Cedar Avenue
Cedar Avenue is a roadway that runs from Minneapolis to Northfield in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The roadway is known as Minnesota State Highway 77 in the busiest portion of the route, from Minneapolis to Apple Valley. The portions north and ...
) and continue across the old
Washington Avenue Bridge into Southeast Minneapolis. However, the old bridge was replaced in the 1960s with a new one which meets Washington east of the Mississippi River but doesn't connect with Washington west of it, instead connecting to
a short freeway stub into downtown. There is a one-block portion of the old alignment between Cedar and 19th Avenues that is branded as Washington Avenue, but to continue east of the river, one must travel down Cedar one block and turn east at 3rd Street and get on an entrance ramp to the bridge.
East of the river, Washington Avenue Southeast acts as a major thoroughfare through the University of Minnesota campus; a portion of this section has been converted to a
transit mall
A transit mall is a street, or set of streets, in a city or town along which automobile traffic is prohibited or greatly restricted and only public transit vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians are permitted.
Transit malls are instituted by communi ...
to facilitate the
METRO
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
Green Line, opened in June 2014, along with METRO bus service which ran on Washington for decades until the reconfiguration. The street continues east for six blocks before ending at SE
University Avenue
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
; the area east of Harvard Street comprises the
Stadium Village
Stadium Village is an area of Minneapolis, Minnesota near the East Bank campus of the University of Minnesota. While not an official neighborhood of Minneapolis, the area is an important commercial district that serves university students with man ...
district.
{{Coord, 44, 59, 26, N, 93, 16, 51, W, display=title
Streets in Minneapolis