Can placemaking, temporary art, community or cultural events support quality of life and help offset the negative impacts of road construction?

MnDOT, with the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs, is conducting a research implementation project that will help answer that question while potentially offsetting the impacts of highway construction on downtown Lanesboro when Highway 250 is rebuilt.

Project goals

Primary goal: To test, document, and evaluate the premise that arts and culture can help overcome the disruption of highway construction and mitigate negative impacts on businesses, residents, and visitors.

Secondary goal: To identify and test potential partnerships and funding strategies to support place-making, temporary art, community, or cultural events to complement traditional mitigation strategies and tactics used to help offset the negative impacts of highway construction.

This project will not only help address construction impacts in Lanesboro, but also will inform improvements in the larger process of engaging community members impacted by highway construction and ensuring that the strategies conducted are relevant for the community.

Project tasks

• Identifying and documenting economic strengths in the community
• Identifying and documenting impacted stakeholders
• Developing and implementing a plan for mitigating economic and community construction impacts
• Documenting successful practices and identifying tools to assess the impacts after construction
• Sharing findings with local governments, transportation agencies and arts/cultural groups

“This research is looking into leveraging community assets as a new and innovative way to help mitigate the negative impacts of roadway construction. It will also inform improvements in the process of engaging community members and complement the existing mitigation guidance and tools currently available to MnDOT project managers,” said Jeanne Aamodt, technical liaison.

Project Details

• Estimated Start Date: 06/29/2023
• Estimated Completion Date: 06/30/2027
• Funding: MnDOT
• Principal Investigator: Frank Douma
• Co-Principal Investigators: Camila Fonseca-Sarmiento
• Technical Liaison: Jeanne Aamodt

Details of the research study work plan and timeline are subject to change.

To receive email updates about this project, visit MnDOT’s Office of Research & Innovation to subscribe.