“These dollars we just got from the state legislature will help complete our pre-plan development work, and actually gets us to that shovel-ready spot, so all we have left to do is go out and get that construction funding and get those shovels in the ground,” said Blaine Mayor Tim Sanders.
The design work will include the intersections at 99th Avenue, 109th Avenue, and 117th Avenues, as well as all the roads and connections in between. More than likely, a few intersections will become interchanges with overpasses.
“Early on it was recognized that every one of these intersections are so close to each other that they impact… any change at one intersection is going to affect the others. So we can’t look at them independently,” said public works director Jon Haukaas.
As engineers and planners look at the traffic patterns, and the expected growth in the area, they are trying to find design plans that will work for the road for the next twenty-plus years. One big piece of the puzzle is 105th Avenue. Some MnDOT design ideas show 105th having right-in, right-out access only with additional access from a frontage road.
MnDOT has also looked at options like reduced conflict intersections, diverging diamond interchanges, and adding more roundabouts to side streets and frontage roads. Whatever the design ends up being, Haukaas says it will be designed with goals of safety, and moving traffic.
“If we can get an ambulance across [Highway 65], even if it has to take a loop direction, faster,” said Haukaas, “You have to be serious about it, even if it’s different.”
