Vernon Avenue & Highway 100 Interchange Project

ROAD OPEN: I confirmed it with a drive-thru this morning. The road is open. The signals are operational at Interlachen. The signals at Highway 100 will be operational early next week. We didn't want to turn them on late in the day before a weekend in case something does not work. Thank you to all the businesses, residents, visitors, and commuters for your patience throughout construction. We know the detours, closures and traffic disruptions made it more difficult to navigate the area during the project. Thanks again to our project partners Hennepin County, MnDOT, TKDA, Ames Construction, and the City Council. Also a special thanks to Davanni's for hosting the ribbon cutting yesterday. It was a great event. Thanks, Chad Millner, Public Works Director / City Engineer.

The project will be substantially complete and open to traffic on Friday, June 26. The contractor is finishing up many last-minute items. We look forward to re-opening Vernon Avenue and want to thank everyone involved for their patience.

The contractor will be performing sandblasting operations on the Railroad Bridge planned for early next week, which may create noticeable dust and noise in the area. The contractor will take mitigation measures to help reduce these disturbances during the work. We appreciate your patience and understanding while this activity is completed.

The project is on track to open Vernon Avenue to traffic by late June. Thanks for the patience.

The contractor intends to pour the Vernon Avenue bridge deck on Thursday, April 30. There are lots of things left to do after that. They need the deck to cure for a specified amount of time. When the deck is ready, pour the sidewalk, median, and concrete barriers on the bridge. Finish utility work on the west side of the bridge. Install railings, lights, and pavement markings on the bridge. Install gravel base materials between the bridge and street, place bituminous, traffic signals, pedestrian ramps, sidewalks, lights, and other misc. items. Lots of items left to complete prior to the road opening by the end of June. Thanks for the patience.

Beginning next week, the contractor will close Gus Young Lane near the Grandview Liquor Store. This will provide them enough space to safety work on the west side of the railroad bridge. Gus Young Lane and the alley behind Walgreens will still be open. This traffic control will match the configuration from last fall. The contractor continues to place framing and rebar on the beams and intends to pour the concrete bridge deck late April. Vernon Avenue is still scheduled to open to traffic by the end of June. The ramp closures for the noise wall work along the northbound Highway 100 on-ramp are complete. Thanks for your continued patience.

On April 7, the contractor will close the southbound offramp of Highway 100 at Vernon and 50th Street from 6 am until later afternoon. This will allow delivery of the new bridge beams for placement on the railroad bridge. The detour is the southbound Highway 100 offramp at Benton Avenue and the frontage road. Thanks

Due to the weather forecast, the noise wall along the northbound Highway 100 onramp from 50th Street will continue to have sporadic daily closures between 9 am and 4 pm until April 10. The contractor is scheduled to place beams on the railroad bridge on April 7. This will require westbound 50th Street to be detoured to Eden Avenue except traffic using the northbound Highway 100 onramp. This will be a one day operation. Starting April 20, Gus Young Lane will be closed until late June to create enough space for construction access for underground utility, bridge, and street construction. Other than the Gus Young closure, traffic routing will remain approximately the same. Thanks, Chad Millner.

The contractor has provided anticipated dates to restart major construction operations. There were no updates on installation of the traffic signals are Highway 100.

• Week of April 6: Northbound on-ramp noise wall planking complete. Daily 9 am to 4 pm closures complete.
• Week of April 6: Placing beams on the railroad bridge
• Week of April 20: Close Gus Young Lane
• Week of April 27: Pouring bridge deck
• Weeks of June 22 / 29: Open Gus Young Ln and Vernon Ave to traffic

Thanks

Questions are coming in when the contractor will resume work on the bridge. Recall they stopped working over the winter due to costs. They are monitoring the weather to determine when they can resume operations. Once they submit an updated schedule, we will share that out. Thanks.