“This is kind of business as usual for MnDOT,” said MnDOT’s Kent Barnard. “We do try to get started with construction about mid-March, so we’re right on schedule at this point.” Year two of the US 10 project begins this week in Anoka.
“Starting this weekend, 9 pm on Friday night, we’re going to be down to single lanes on Highway 10,” Barnard said. “10 pm we’re closing it, St. Patrick’s Day evening. It will be closed until 5 am Monday morning to tear down the Highway 47/169/Ferry Street bridge.”
March madness
The typical Highway 10 commute is going to get longer as MnDOT continues to upgrade this major east-west route. There could be gridlock at times which will cause another kind of March madness for drivers.
“Please prepare for delays out here,” Barnard said. “Follow the sign detours. Know before you go. Check out our website. Sign up for our email updates and know what’s happening before it happens out here and you can be prepared.”
This ginormous $98 million project is being broken down into two phases.
“The first project is replacement of the eastbound and westbound Highway 10 bridges over the Rum River along with the 4th Avenue bridge and the railroad bridge that were combined when we rebuilt the 4th Avenue bridge,” Barnard said. “We’ve got work at 7th Avenue which is just east. Then we have work on Highway 47/169 Ferry Street bridge. That is going to be completely replaced this year and the ramps, one by one, will be rebuilt this year.
“The second part of the project is to the west and that is Fair Oak Avenue, replacing both bridges and then taking out any access to Fair Oak from Highway 10, or from Fair Oak to Highway 10.”
Avoid neighborhoods
Barnard is hoping that people don’t use nearby neighborhoods to try and circumvent traffic delays.
“Please stay out of neighborhoods,” Barnard said. “Follow the sign detours. Respect the people that live in the area, by not increasing traffic speed and noise in their residential area.”
If you do drive through residential areas – it could be costly.
Said Barnard: “We did see increases on the residential streets out here and we did have cases where the Anoka Police actually pull people over for speeding in the area.”
Drivers also need to be aware of road construction workers when they go through a cone zone.
“We’ve got trucks moving in and out of the work zone,” Barnard said. “We’ve got workers out here working close to live traffic, so please slow down and give them a brake.”
There has already been significant progress on the project. MnDOT has taken out all the signals on US 10 in Anoka.
Another phase of construction is coming to the city of Ramsay. MnDOT starts preliminary work later this summer for a project that will last through 2024 and 2025. MnDOT is going to build interchanges at Sunfish Lake Boulevard and Ramsay Boulevard.
