Star Tribune
MnDOT needs Albertville’s consent to build third lane on I-94
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has the money in hand to build a third lane on Interstate 94 between Monticello and Albertville and hopes to get started on the project this summer.
But MnDOT needs the city of Albertville to approve before it can start accepting bids for the project that would add an additional eastbound lane from Hwy. 25 to Wright County Road 19 and a third westbound lane from Wright County Road 37 to Hwy. 25.
“We support the additional lanes,” said Albertville City Manager Adam Nafstad. “We are asking for some modifications to be included in the project.”
MnDOT plans to widen the westbound I-94 bridge over County Road 19 to three lanes when the additional travel lane is added. Nafstad said Albertville is hoping that bridge could have a fourth lane to receive traffic merging onto the freeway.
Motorists now accessing westbound I-94 from County Road 37 drive about a half-mile on a collector ramp adjacent to I-94 connecting County 37 with County 19. Motorists then pass through a signalized intersection at County 19 before entering the freeway.
Nafstad said the city is asking MnDOT for a bridge that would connect the collector ramp directly to I-94 and feed into the new widened bridge at County 19, allowing motorists from County 37 to bypass the signalized intersection near a busy outlet mall and eliminate the need to mingle with drivers getting on at County 19.
“That is consistent with the vision for this interchange,” Nafstad said.
The question is whether MnDOT thinks there will be enough traffic to warrant the improvement, something Albertville has eyed for a long time.
“It’s the main reason the two entities are not on the same page,” Nafstad said. “It seems to be the best time and opportunity to implement it. We don’t want to miss this opportunity.”
Albertville also wants MnDOT to build a dedicated right-turn lane from County Road 19 to eastbound I-94 and put in a center-median turnaround so emergency vehicles don’t have to travel seven miles to Monticello to turn around.
MnDOT project manager Darren Nelson said the agency is working with the city to see if it can meet Albertville’s desires. That is tricky, Nelson added, because none of Albertville’s wants and demands is actually on their own road system or property.
“We are actively working through this issue,” Nelson said.
Albertville’s approval is required because the project will increase the highway’s traffic capacity. Currently the two-lane freeway carries about 58,000 to 66,000 vehicles a day, according to MnDOT traffic counts. Congestion is common during peak travel periods, particularly on summer weekends.
The city held a public hearing on Dec. 11, which gave Albertville 90 days to give its approval or not. Nafstad said he is confident the two sides can iron out their differences before the March 11 deadline.
MnDOT would start prep work in July and build the new lanes in 2025 and 2026.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name.
The former president, once a reality TV star known for his showmanship, wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage. Trump has used the remark as a cudgel against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
”How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. ”This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Trump and other Republicans were facing pushback of their own for comments by a comedian at a weekend Trump rally who disparaged Puerto Rico as a ”floating island of garbage.” Trump then seized on a comment Biden made on a late Wednesday call that “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president tried to clarify the comment afterward, saying he had intended to say Trump’s demonization of Latinos was unconscionable. But it was too late.
On Thursday, after arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for an evening rally, Trump climbed into the garbage truck, carrying on a brief discussion with reporters while looking out the window — similar to what he did earlier this month during a photo opportunity he staged at a Pennsylvania McDonalds.
He again tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke had set off the firestorm, but Trump did not denounce it. He also said he did not need to apologize to Puerto Ricans.
”I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. ”I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
