Winter's Not Over Yet, But Road Construction Season Is Underway
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – They say Minnesota has two seasons: winter and road construction. With unseasonably cold temperatures, a snowstorm in the first week of April and a fresh batch of construction-related closures, it would seem our two seasons are blending together.
The closures are mostly related to the construction on Interstate 94 from Minneapolis to Brooklyn Center.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation said Friday three ramps will close as the project continues. On April 16, the ramp from Interstate 394 east to I-94 west will close for 50 days. The ramp from Lyndale Avenue South to 94 west will also close at that time.
In early May, the ramp from 94 west to Highway 55 will close for 30 days. MnDOT hopes this phase of construction will be finished by June 8.
Also on April 16, the ramp from 94 west to 11th Street will close for two months.
To alleviate congestion related to that work, MnDOT will close Interstate 394 west for a weekend to restripe it and add an additional lane from downtown Minneapolis to Highway 100.
In June, Park and Portland avenues will be restriped to create a buses-only lane. Each street will be closed from 14th to 31st street on separate weekends in late April. The bus lanes will be used to relieve congestion from lane reductions on 35W in June.
Finally -- for now anyway -- a stretch of University Avenue from Lowry Avenue in northeast Minneapolis to 44th Avenue in Columbia Heights will be closed for about two months beginning April 23 while it is resurfaced. The detour is Central Avenue.
