Star Tribune
MnDOT releases list of 2023 construction projects in Minnesota
With the sudden burst of warmth, it’s suddenly road construction season in Minnesota.
Motorists across the state will feel the pinch for the next six months as the Minnesota Department of Transportation closes lanes and puts drivers on detour — and it’s just the beginning, as the agency plans to use a federal cash infusion to get even more work done in 2024 and beyond.
“Get ready for the orange cones to arrive,” MnDOT spokeswoman Anne Meyer said Wednesday as the agency released its list of projects for 2023. “We know there is inconvenience with construction, but we are making roads better for years to come.”
The season’s first weekend closure will take place Friday through Sunday on Hwy. 169 through Golden Valley and New Hope, as crews demolish the Rockford Road overpass. It’s just the start of an ambitious slate of projects that includes building new bridges, putting down new pavement on some highways and expanding others, installing cable median barriers and adding other safety improvements.
In all, MnDOT will carry out 171 road and bridge projects statewide, and 52 others to improve airports, water ports, railroad crossings and transit infrastructure. And that does not include projects that cities and counties will be working on.
At a cost of $1.3 billion, the size and scope of MnDOT’s planned work this year is comparable to that of recent years. But drivers can prepare for even more headaches beginning next year, as the agency plans to tackle a greater number of projects with an infusion of money from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — an average of $170 million a year for the next five years.
But this year first.
For the second — and last — summer, Hwy. 10 through Anoka will be reduced to a single lane between 7th and Thurston avenues as MnDOT completes the $98 million project to transform the highway into a freeway.
In the East Metro, the busy I-94 corridor from Oakdale to the St. Croix River will have only two lanes open this summer and next while the freeway is resurfaced and a new auxiliary lane is built from the I-94/I-494/I-694 interchange to County Road 19 in Woodbury.
South Metro drivers will feel the squeeze, too, as two projects on I-494 from Edina to Eagan threaten to snarl traffic. Crews will rebuild five bridges between Pilot Knob Road and 24th Avenue by the Mall of America. To the west, work will begin to replace bridges between Cedar Avenue and West Bush Lake Road, all ahead of a major overhaul of the I-35W/494 interchange, the busiest in the state.
Outstate drivers won’t escape motoring misery, either. MnDOT will continue resurfacing, repairing bridges and installing cable median barriers on Hwy. 52 between Rosemount and Cannon Falls. On I-35 near Faribault, traffic will be reduced to one lane and shifted to one side of the freeway for most of the summer.
Other big projects include expanding Hwy. 14 from two lanes to four between New Ulm and Nicollet, rebuilding interchanges at Hwys. 10 and 23 in St. Cloud and at Hwy. 53/I-35 in Duluth, and resurfacing I-94 west of Alexandria.
None of this year’s projects resulted from the harsh winter that left state roads in tough shape — they’ve all been on the drawing board for 6 to 10 years, Meyer said.
“We have transitions from winter and snow plows to summer and road construction,” said Jake Loesch, MnDOT’s communications director. “We know road construction can be a headache and a pain. If there was a magical way to it [without causing disruptions], we’d do it in a heartbeat.”
As work begins, MnDOT officials are reminding motorists that work zones can be dangerous. From 2019 to 2021, there were more than 7,800 work zone crashes in Minnesota, leading to 92 serious injuries and 28 deaths, according to MnDOT records.
Work zones often include lane closures, lane shifts, uneven road surfaces, heavy equipment and slow or stopped traffic. Drivers caught speeding in a work zone face a $300 fine.
“We need motorists’ help to keep everyone safe: Obey speed limits and slow down in work zones, put away cell phones and other distractions,” said Department of Transportation Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger. “Be patient, and plan ahead for detours.”
St. Louis Park will soon require landlords to give renters more notice before they file for evictions over late payments.
The city currently requires landlords to give tenants notice seven days before they file for eviction. Starting in November, landlords will have to give 30 days notice and use a form prepared by the city.
“This is a tough ordinance,” Council Member Lynette Dumalag, the only person to vote against the change, said during a meeting this week. “At least for me, personally, I felt that it pit those that care about affordable housing against one another.”
In public hearings and other forums, city leaders heard from renters who said the current requirements didn’t give them enough time to scrape together payments if they face a sudden hardship, such as losing a job. They also heard from at least one landlord who said he might have to increase deposits because he already struggles to make ends meet when renters fall behind on payments.
The change passed 4 to 1. Council Member Tim Brausen and Mayor Nadia Mohamed were absent.
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — Ryan Leckner has resigned as Mayor of Park Rapids and the city council has officially declared a vacancy.
City Administrator Angel Weasner said councilmembers will hold a workshop on Sept. 24 to determine how to proceed. They can fill the vacancy by appointment or hold a special election, which Leckner said seems unlikely given that the November general election is just around the corner.
Until then, Leckner said “we’re thinking that we’ll just be able to get by with just one less council member.”
He added that Councilmember Liz Stone would likely serve as acting mayor until voters hit the polls.
Former Park Rapids Mayor Pat Mikesh is running uncontested for Leckner’s now-vacant seat.
In 2018, Mikesh stepped down a month before the election and Leckner successfully ran as a write-in candidate.
Leckner first joined the council in 2015 and is ending his third, two-year term as mayor early because his family built a home outside city limits. Construction of the home in Henrietta Township, and the sale of his existing home in Park Rapids, all happened faster than expected, he said.
“My term was up in November anyways,” he said, “so I was kind of planning on just not running.”
In the 27 years since Rhode Island’s first charter school opened its doors, just one has closed. Segue Institute for Learning, a community charter in Central Falls, R.I., is among the state’s successes. It has an extraordinarily low student-to-teacher ratio of 4 to 1, even though it spends less than a typical Rhode Island school.
Part III
How Rhode Island’s charter schools succeeded where Minnesota’s failed
Each spring, Blackstone Valley Prep in Rhode Island hosts a loud, spirited and celebratory “college signing day” ceremony for its high school seniors. One by one, the teenagers step onstage to proudly announce their post-graduation plans. Many are the first in their family to seek a degree.
Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country, but it’s here — and not in Minnesota, the birthplace of the charter school movement — that this daring experiment in public school education is paying big dividends for students and their families.
Left In the 27 years since Rhode Island’s first charter school opened its doors, just one has closed. Segue Institute for Learning, a community charter in Central Falls, R.I., is among the state’s successes. It has an extraordinarily low student-to-teacher ratio of 4 to 1, even though it spends less than a typical Rhode Island school.
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