The nearly three-mile-long Second Street corridor, which extends from the center of downtown Rochester to West Circle Drive, is the economic hub of the city, with nearly half of all the city’s jobs within walking distance, including the prestigious Mayo Health Clinic. Before the completion of a redevelopment project along Second Street in 2015, the economic energy stopped at the U.S. Highway 52 bridge. West of the bridge, Second Street consisted of seven lanes (including two parking lanes and a center turn lane), and 22,000 high-speed vehicles per day traveled it in peak locations. The way the corridor was designed limited pedestrian and bicycle mobility and contributed to underutilized on-street parking (because of the risks associated with parking adjacent to high-speed vehicles).

To reduce the area’s automobile-centric nature and to improve its economic trajectory, the city and area stakeholders completed an inclusive redevelopment project in 2015. That project revitalized about 1.5 miles of Second Street between U.S. Highway 52 and West Circle Drive. Later rebranded as the Uptown District, the area has since assumed a new identity as a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood that is primed for economic growth.