Minneapolis city leaders are celebrating the reopening of Hennepin Avenue in Uptown. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says it hasn’t been an easy journey to get to this point, and he’s grateful for the resiliency of local businesses.

A stretch of Hennepin Avenue in the heart of Uptown Minneapolis reopens to cars Tuesday, ending the first phase of a major reconstruction project that tore up the street for months. Why it matters: The criss-crossing traffic projects that have squeezed businesses for the past year — all in a neighborhood undergoing an identity crisis — are beginning to ease.

The most recent construction season has been particularly hard on local businesses, but elected leaders say that the completion of one major overhaul on Hennepin Avenue should provide some reprieve, for now.

Several blocks of Hennepin Avenue South in Minneapolis will reopen to cars Tuesday, as the first phase of the construction project ends for the season.

The section between West Lake and 26th streets in the Uptown neighborhood is scheduled to reopen on Tuesday. Minneapolis Public Works members say the project is an opportunity to update Hennepin Avenue.