South of Hwy 62
Below is an archive of all the previous front page information posted on this website.
I-494 Design Build Project Completion Is In Sight
Summer construction season is well under way in Minnetonka and Eden Prairie, as the I-494 design build project approaches its end. If all goes well, and weather cooperates, drivers on I-494 will see traffic shifted onto new pavement in time for the Labor Day weekend.
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Paving operations have placed miles of new concrete along the freeway mainline, from Hwy 5 in the south to Carlson Parkway in the north, with asphalt shoulder paving and striping crews following along behind. Meanwhile, work on the reconstruction of the interchanges at Hwy 7 and Hwy 62 has also made major progress. Sidewalks on either side of the bridge at Hwy 62 are being installed while slope paving under the bridge and painting were performed the last week in July.
Paving crews are also applying the finishing touches to the many other bridges along the corridor, preparing them for a final surface overlay that will help the bridge decks better withstand the processes of wear and tear.
Between Hwy 7 and I-394 crews are busy filling in the gaps between the sections of mainline paving already in place, while north of I-394 the freeway entrance ramps at Carlson Parkway were closed briefly for reconstruction of the pavement where the ramp enters the mainline. Overhead sign installation has also been performed at several locations along the corridor.
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Soundwall construction is now complete between Valley View Road and I-394, and staining and closing the gaps left in the walls that allowed the painters to get to either side more easily is being wrapped up as well. Meanwhile fence installation continues throughout the corridor. Once the fencing is completed final grading will take place, which includes putting down black dirt so that grass will grow more easily. This will help also reduce erosion and runoff.
So by the end of summer when the I-494 design build project is complete, construction crews will have accomplished:
- Demolition, removal and replacement of about eight miles of pavement, including removal of the old roadbed and its replacement with three feet of sand;
- Construction of about four miles of soundwall;
- Demolition and reconstruction of 14 bridges that either cross over I- 494 or the cross streets;
- Removal and replacement of about 14 miles of fencing;
- Reconstruction of the interchanges at Hwy 62 and Hwy 7;
- Reconstruction of the eastbound I-394 collector distributor road,
And all this in less than two years.
Spring and Road Construction Season Finally Arrive
On I-494, the spring construction season will open with a several closures. The first will be a closure of the Orchard Road bridge over I-494. Last fall paving operations were completed in time to get the bridge open to traffic over the winter. But final paving details such as sidewalks, curbs and gutters and the bridge approach panels had to be postponed until warmer temperatures returned. Beginning April 10th, the Orchard Road bridge will be closed to traffic for these final paving activities and the installation of ornamental railing. Pedestrian traffic across the bridge will still be allowed however, and it should be reopened to vehicle traffic by the end of the month.
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Another closure is coming up over the weekend of April 22nd and 23rd when, weather permitting, I-494 will be closed between Hwy 62 and I-394. This will allow concrete bridge girders to be set at Hwy 7, and some restriping work to be completed on the freeway mainline. As on previous full freeway closures all I-494 traffic will be detoured at I-394 and Hwy 62 to Hwy 169.
Unfortunately, completing the Excelsior Boulevard bridge over I-494 will require more than just a weekend closure. In order to get the bridge deck concrete to cure properly vibrations from passing traffic have to be eliminated. That means Excelsior Boulevard will have to be closed for at least 30 days beginning sometime in early May. This will also allow the two halves of the bridge to be connected and the roadway restriped into its final configuration. As with the closure of the Orchard Road bridge pedestrian traffic will still be allowed.
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As for the closures that have been in place for awhile, the relatively mild winter allowed Granite McCrossan to continue working on the I-494 bridges over Baker Road, the Hennepin County bike trail and the BNSF railroad tracks. The spring thaw, march snowstorm and recent rain have slowed work in those areas, so Baker Road is now expected to reopen around the third week of April, while the bike trail will likely remain closed until sometime in June.
Soundwall installation has begun again now that stockpiles of lumber have been restored. Hurricane Katrina wiped out the gulf coast lumber yards that supplied the southern yellow pine used to construct the soundwalls, and it took several months for supplies to recover. Fortunately, all the lumber needed to complete the walls has already been purchased and is currently being installed north of Excelsior Boulevard. Crews will continue working their way north to complete all the remaining walls by the end of the summer.
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Once the ground has dried out a bit more work will also begin on excavation and paving along the freeway mainline. Demolition of the old pavement still needs to occur in several locations, and as with the west side of I-494, that work will be followed by excavation of the roadbed and its replacement with three feet of sand and a layer of crushed concrete recycled from the old roadway. That recycled concrete is what you can see stockpiled at Hwy 7.
So there will be a few inconveniences left for residents to contend with as I-494 construction heads for completion. But the good news is the project is on schedule to finish as planned in late August.
Despite Winter Weather, Some Work Continues on the I-494 Project
Though the cold and snow has reduced most activities on the I-494 reconstruction project to a bare minimum some work is still occurring, particularly on the bridge over Baker Road.
Demolition of the remaining half of the old bridge began in January after Baker Road was closed. This was quickly followed by excavation work and construction of the new abutments. While excavation has to stop with cold weather due to the frost in the ground, some concrete work can continue despite the cold. Concrete forms were constructed to create the north and south abutments, and by the first week of April concrete bridge beams will be set so that construction of the bridge deck can begin. Once the beams are in place Baker Road can be reopened once again to traffic.
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Interstate 494 Design-Build Project Passes The Halfway Mark
As the I-494 Design-Build project’s first full construction season approaches its end, traffic is shifted once again, this time onto new concrete pavement.
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After a long, hot summer of demolition, excavation, construction and paving, tremendous progress can be seen throughout the I-494 project corridor from Highway 5 in the south to north of Carlson Parkway.
During the month of October all traffic between Highway 7 and Highway 5 was moved from the temporary lanes onto what ultimately will be the southbound side of I-494. In November, all traffic south of Minnetonka Boulevard was shifted onto the new pavement where it will remain until next summer.
With traffic out of the way, demolition and excavation of the old northbound lanes will continue until the ground freezes. As on the new southbound side of the freeway, the old road base is being removed in addition to the old pavement and being replaced by three feet of sand. This allows water under the pavement to drain faster, which helps to reduce the expansion and contraction that occurs during freeze and thaw cycles and causes pavement to wear out more quickly.
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In addition to the new lanes on I-494, new bridges were opened this fall at Oakland Road and Orchard Road. One challenge the construction team had to overcome was that cold temperatures could prevent the paving of the Orchard Road bridge, since beams could not be placed for the bridge deck until traffic had been shifted south of Minnetonka Boulevard. Without the traffic shift there wasn’t enough clearance under the beams for traffic on the temporary lanes. Clearance wasn’t an issue over the new pavement, which was constructed two feet lower. By milling several inches off of the temporary pavement, enough clearance was created to get the beams placed and the deck built and poured in time to reopen Orchard Road to traffic in early December.
Reconstruction of the Highway 7 and Excelsior Boulevard bridges over I-494 is also rapidly progressing. Both directions of traffic have been shifted onto the new structures, which are being constructed one-half at a time. At Highway 7, a new ramp for westbound access to northbound I-494 has been constructed allowing construction crews to close the southeast loop. This will create enough room to store rubble and set up a concrete crushing operation. At Excelsior Boulevard construction will continue throughout the winter on the remaining half of the new bridge, which will then be tied in with the completed side and opened to traffic.
Another major operation this construction season was the reconstruction of the eastbound I-394 Collector-Distributor road between I-494 and Plymouth Road. The CD road allows traffic to merge from I-494 to I-394 east easing congestion, particularly during the evening rush hours and over the holiday shopping season. The widened roadway now allows I-494 traffic heading for the Plymouth Road exit to stay in its own lane without having to merge into and out of the I-394 mainline. The improvement gives drivers more time to merge safely with the traffic flow and keeps traffic moving on the north to east exit ramp and along the mainline.
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Soundwalls were completed along the west side of the freeway this summer and post installation began along the east side as well. However, our plans to complete all the walls this winter ran into a problem: Hurricane Katrina. The boards used to build the walls are logged from the Gulf Coast region and the damage done by the storm put the sawmills out of business. Once they are back in business work on the east side soundwalls will begin again, but not before the spring.
Our mail-in survey conducted over the summer provided us with some useful information. It was not a scientific survey in that respondents were not chosen randomly but decided for themselves whether to participate or not, but it still provided value through the comments people wrote and by expanding our e-mailing list for disseminating project information.
Marketers usually expect a response rate of around 5% on mail-in surveys and that is exactly what we received. More than seven people out of ten who responded were generally satisfied with the way the project is being performed. Perhaps understandably traffic flow was the area of greatest concern listed by respondents, along with the desire for more project information.
Summer Construction Season Will See Big Changes On I-494 (Spring 2005)
Along with increasing temperatures comes an increase in the work underway on the I-494 freeway reconstruction project in Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. This construction season will be the busiest yet for the $135 million design-build project.
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A great deal of progress has already been achieved. The eight-mile long effort to widen the freeway between Highway 5 and Carlson Parkway began in late summer 2004, and thanks to a relatively mild winter crews were able to work through the winter months. In December 2004 all traffic was shifted between Highway 5 and Minnetonka Boulevard, putting both directions of travel on the same side of the freeway, and allowing construction crews full access to the southbound lanes, which were then demolished.
Excavation crews have been busy removing and replacing the old road base between Minnetonka Boulevard and Baker Road, while similar work is being completed between Highway 62 and Valley View Road. Once the new roadway base has been replaced concrete-paving operations can begin, and plans are to have the new southbound pavement completed and all traffic shifted on to it by late September. That’s when work will begin on creating the new northbound lanes.
Meanwhile, bridges at Excelsior Boulevard, Baker Road, the Hennepin County bike trail, and Orchard and Oakland Roads have all been demolished and reconstruction has begun on new, wider replacements. Improving the Highway 62 and Highway 7 interchanges is also part of the project, and bridges on those two roadways have been demolished and reconstruction started there as well.
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Concrete has been poured for the new southbound bridge decks over Highway 62 and Baker Road. Excavation and pile driving work preceded construction of bridge abutments at Excelsior Boulevard, and Orchard and Oakland Roads. The southbound bridges over Baker Road, the Hennepin County bike trail, and Highway 62 are scheduled to be completed by the end of summer, while the bridges at Orchard and Oakland Roads and Highway 7 are all scheduled to be completed before next Thanksgiving.
Drivers will also see work beginning on the north end of the project between Minnetonka Boulevard and Carlson Parkway, as another travel lane is added in each direction and a median barrier is constructed. That phase will also include construction of auxiliary lanes at Carlson Parkway, which will allow I-494 and I-394 traffic to merge more safely.
In addition to all this work on the I-494 mainline, construction crews will also begin widening the ramp and collector-distributor road connecting northbound I-494 to eastbound I-394. Ridgedale Drive, the business access frontage road that runs parallel to I-394 will also be reconstructed. This widening will help reduce the congestion that frequently occurs on the collector-distributor road, particularly during evening rush hour.
For a printable copy of the I-494 design-build project Summer newsletter in Adobe Acrobat (2.0 MB PDF) Click Here.
Traffic Shift Signals Major Milestone of I-494 Reconstruction (Winter 2004)
Drivers on I-494 between Highway 5 and Carlson Parkway have seen major changes to the highway as the I-494 design build project moves forward.
Over approximately two years, from the summer of 2004 to the summer of 2006, major reconstruction work will be occurring all along the heavily traveled roadway as MnDOT and its contractor, Granite McCrossan, add two travel lanes, widen the bridges at Highway 62 and Highway 7 and make other major improvements.
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On November 17th, northbound traffic was shifted onto new temporary lanes between Highway 5 and Minnetonka Boulevard. On December 2nd, all southbound traffic between those two roadways was shifted through the median onto what had been the northbound side of the freeway, with the two directions of traffic separated by concrete barrier.
With all southbound traffic out of the way, construction crews will spend the winter rebuilding the southbound lanes of I-494, removing and replacing the old pavement and bridges and adding a new travel lane and barrier wall in the median. Once that work is complete both directions of traffic will be shifted onto the new southbound side and the same improvements made to the northbound lanes.
The demolition and removal of the existing pavement, rather than just adding one more lane to what is already there, is required because this particular segment of I-494 is approximately 40 years old and nearing the end of its usable life. Most freeways have an expected lifespan of about 40 to 50 years before they begin to deteriorate and must be replaced. The segment of I-494 north of Minnetonka Boulevard was reconstructed about 12 years ago so it won’t need to be replaced as part of this project.
In addition to work on I-494, the I-394 collector distributor road and Ridgedale Drive, the business access road that runs parallel to I-394 on the south side of the freeway, will also be reconstructed from I-494 to Plymouth Road.
Soundwall construction is also a large part of the I-494 design build project, and new soundwalls are planned for construction at 10 different locations beginning in the spring of 2005. If constructed end to end the new soundwalls would stretch four miles along the corridor.
Each soundwall will be 20 feet tall and constructed of concrete posts and wooden planks. In constructing a soundwall the material used doesn’t matter, as long as it is solid. Concrete, wood or earthen berms all work just as well in stopping traffic noise. Trees or other landscaping vegetation, while it may look nice and screen neighborhoods from passing traffic, does nothing to stop sound waves.
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Deciding where soundwalls will be constructed is a complex scientific process that measures freeway sound levels and calculates the height a wall would have to be to bring about a significant reduction of that noise at nearby homes. During the pre-construction environmental assessment process Mn/DOT measured background noise levels all along the project area and developed computer noise mitigation models for existing conditions, and even 20 years into the future. They estimated what noise levels would be if nothing were built, and what conditions would be after walls were in place.
If an area exceeded the State Noise Rule (65 dBA recorded during the day, or 55 dBA at night), noise mitigation was considered. To have Mn/DOT construct a soundwall it must meet three criteria. First, the barrier must provide a minimum of a five-dBA reduction in noise level for a home to be eligible. Second, it must meet Mn/DOT's cost guideline of $3,250/dBA of reduction per home. Third, the barrier must be able to be constructed in that location (are there utilities in the way, are the soil conditions appropriate, etc.). If these three criteria are met the soundwall is included in the project.