Vernon Avenue & Highway 100 Interchange Project

Come learn about the upcoming Vernon Avenue & Highway 100 Interchange Project. City Engineer Chad Millner will host a virtual public meeting. All are welcome to join this 30-minute meeting. The first meeting will occur on April 3 at 11 am. This meeting will re-occur every 2-weeks until the project is completed on Thursdays at 11 am. To participate, type either of the following addresses into a web browser.

EdinaMN.gov/Highway100Talks

EdinaMN.gov/highway100talks

A big milestone was completed on Thursday, March 13, construction bids were received. We received two bids for construction of the project. They were from Ames Construction at $22.06 million and C.S. McCrossan at $22.45 million. These were at the engineers estimate. The state is reviewing the required contracting paperwork. If everything meets the requirements, we will ask the City Council to award a contract on April 16. The schedule that was included in the bid documents required Vernon Ave and 50^th Street to be re-opened to traffic by November 15, 2025. We are still discussing schedule with the contractor.

The City Council awarded a tree removal contract last night. Removals are tentatively planned for the last two weeks of March. Due to the delay caused by CPKS Railroad in signing an easement agreement, a separate contract for tree removals is required. The trees need to be removed before March 31. This contract will remove all the necessary trees to make space for the new bridges, highway interchange and noise walls. The highway interchange project is out to bid now with an anticipated award date of April 16. Trees are located along Highway 100 near City Hall, adjacent to the northbound Highway 100 on-ramp, around both the Highway 100 and Vernon Ave bridges and near CPKC Railroad tracks. A copy of the tree removal plans is posted to the documents area of this website. Thanks, Chad Millner, City Engineer

Due to the delay caused by CPKS Railroad in signing an easement agreement, a separate contract for tree removals is required. The trees need to be removed before March 31 to ensure no protected species have nested yet. This contract will remove all the necessary trees to make space for the new bridges, highway interchange and noise walls. The highway interchange project is out to bid now with an anticipated award date of April 16. Trees are located along Highway 100 near City Hall, adjacent to the northbound Highway 100 on-ramp, around both the Highway 100 and Vernon Ave bridges and near CPKC Railroad tracks. Council will consider awarding this contract on March 4. Work will start soon afterwards. Thanks

The bid documents will be posted later this week or early next week soliciting a contractor. The bid opening is scheduled for March 6. The contract award is scheduled for April 16 City Council Meeting. Construction can start as soon as April 21. The selected contractor will provide a detailed construction schedule with major milestones. This schedule will allow us to communicate construction specifics with the public. There is still a possibility the project is completed this year. Thanks, Chad Millner, City Engineer.

The project has received the signed easement agreement from CPKC Railroad. The project can now move forward. The team is developing bidding and construction schedules. Federal money is a large portion of the project funding and it comes with rules on the timing of the project. Private utility companies are starting relocations now. Tree clearing work is also required to be done before the end of March. Thanks for your patience with the unknown schedule. More details will be coming soon.

The recent article has generated lots of questions related to traffic during the project. Staff created a staging narrative memo during the design process. That memo has been uploaded to the document section of this site. Please note this staging narrative is draft and without a contractor yet. Thanks, Chad Millner, City Engineer.

The City is ready to move this project forward. Bidding documents are ready to solicit bids from contractors. Due to the type of funding involved, the City can’t solicit bids until we have an agreement signed by CPKC Railroad. This agreement has been in the works for months and should be done. Private utility companies are starting relocations soon. These will require a few trees to be removed at Vernon Avenue and Gus Young Lane. Thanks for your patience with the unknown schedule.

The plans and specifications are complete and ready to solicit bids from contractors. The federal funding associated with this project requires the CPKC Rail agreement to be signed before advertising for bids. CPKC Rail has been unresponsive recently regarding the agreement. We've been trying to get this completed since spring. This agreement is now affecting the project schedule. Assuming we get this signed in the next week or two, we hope to award a contract late November. This would allow road closures and construction to start January 2025. Staff is concerned with the potential impact this delay may have on project pricing. Thanks

The plans for the interchange project have been signed by all parties - City, County, and MnDOT. Staff is finishing up the specifications and cooperative agreements now. Agreements with CP Rail are taking longer than expected and are required before we can solicit bids. The schedule has the project soliciting for bids in September with a contract award in October.