|
|
Friday, January 5, 2007
|
|
Road alert Highway 210 construction will be four projects in one Senior Reporter Lakes area motorists may want to consider alternate routes as Highway 210 goes under the knife for minor surgery beginning in April.
James Hallgren, project manager with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said the road work is driven by deteriorating pavement condition.
The project may remind people of extensive Highway 210 West construction during the spring and summer of 2003. But Lisa Paxton, Brainerd Lakes Area Chambers of Commerce chief executive officer, said comparing the two projects is like measuring a Band-Aid against heart surgery. Kevin Kosobud, MnDOT resident engineer, compared it to putting new shingles on a roof.
Highway 210 plans
The Highway 210 project beginning this spring will run in phases - from the Mississippi River Bridge in Brainerd to Ironton.
Work is expected to begin April 23.
Project completion date is Aug. 1, although the work will be completed in stages, meaning work in the city will be completed earlier.
Individual businesses should not be affected by road construction for more than a month.
Project cost is $5.2 million.
Segments of the highway handle about 30,000 cars per day.
|
The work on Highway 210 - also known as Washington Street, which runs through the city of Brainerd - is actually four projects in one:
¥ The Mississippi River Bridge to Fifth Avenue in Brainerd - replace curb and gutter, replace sidewalk, replace concrete median, replace pavement.
¥ Fifth Avenue to the end of the four-lane - replace pavement.
¥ End of the four-lane to Ironton - replace pavement and construct a left-hand turn lane at the airport.
¥ Highway 25 from Highway 210 to the railroad bridge - replace pavement.
The project's start date is April 23. Stage one, from the bridge to Fifth Avenue, should be completed in late May. At the same time, a second crew will be working on the highway between the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport and Ironton. That portion of the project is expected to be similar to the Highway 18 project last summer between Brainerd and Garrison. Drivers should expect 15- to 20-minute delays, with traffic adjusted along highway sections by flaggers.
The second stage, from Fifth Avenue to the airport, is expected to run from July 2-Aug. 1. Through the city, motorists can expect that two lanes of traffic in each direction will be reduced to single-lane travel. Side streets will be closed, except for those at intersections with traffic light - except the intersection at Second Street because it leads to St. Joseph's Medical Center.
Kosobud said the department will work with individual businesses to provide access. Kosobud said there are a dozen or fewer businesses that face particular access problems as they do not have side-street service or an alley.
An additional wrinkle is a massive earth-moving project by the city of Brainerd to replace a pipe beneath the "old fill" area by Franklin Arts Center. The open divide was filled in years ago and serves as a bed for the highway. In 2005, a sink hole opened in the fill area on Highway 210's eastbound lane. Repairs were made, but Brainerd City Engineer Jeff Hulsether said problems persisted and a storm sewer pipe - about 45 feet deep - needs to be replaced.
Traffic will need to be split into eastbound and westbound detours around the fill for about three weeks. Hulsether said he expects the work will be completed by the fishing opener in mid-May.
About 50 people attended a project information session Thursday at the Sawmill Inn in Brainerd.
Questions included if a four-lane expansion is planned all the way to Ironton. It's not in the immediate future and depends on legislative funding.
How about that bridge proposed by the airport? MnDOT says traffic volumes don't support it, and completing a feasibility study is years away.
What about moving the traffic light from Fourth Avenue Northeast to Fifth Avenue by McDonald's? Hulsether said MnDOT is willing, but the city would have to pay to relocate it and doesn't have the money.
Ron Morris' Insty-Prints business is in the construction path.
"I thought it was going to be worse," Morris said, adding that he was glad no business will be affected for a long time and that much of the work in the city would be completed by May. MnDOT expects that the staged construction effort will mean no business is effected for more than a month.
Rachael Holmgren expects to have more talks with MnDOT on how drive-through traffic can get to her business - the Brainerd Dairy Queen. She said a big question remains how people will get in and out. But Holmgren was glad the disruption was coming early in the spring.
"I'm glad they are doing it in sections," she said.
RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
|
|
|
Thinking about a New Job?
These employers want you!
|
|
Schools has an opening fo...
|
|
not a
9-5 person,
how about
11-2, 4-...
|
|
CASH!!
Independent Carrier need...
|
|
position plans sales trai...
|
|
is hiring for the following
...
|
|
|
|
Bids Being Accepted
call...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Today's Best Classifieds:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overcast, 61°
