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It’s the time of year for orange construction cones, “work zone” signs and road closures — Minnesota’s dreadful road construction season.
This year, 180 road and bridge projects are happening across the state. Drivers have already been frustrated with traffic congestion around bigger construction projects, like the bridge repairs on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis and the Interstate 35 bridge work in Hinckley.
We asked our readers to send us questions about construction zones in Minnesota and had Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesperson Anne Meyer answer them.
Here’s what we found.
Why does all the construction seem to start at the same time everywhere?
We’ve got a small window in Minnesota to get all of the work done, not only on what we do at MnDOT, but cities, counties, other areas have that same limited window. So that’s why we see a lot of construction starting that early spring.
We’re trying to take full advantage of the small window that we have. So the minute that the snow stops, we really try and shift our gears towards construction. If the snow is not as bad as we saw this season, it allows us to start maybe a little bit sooner in some areas.
So you’re really just trying to get as much work as you can done in that window, knowing that weather could be another factor throughout the equation. So we do work in some of those days to our projects so that we can accommodate maybe for some days where we won't be able to do some work due to weather.
But the same on the end of a construction season, if the snow starts early that impacts what we're able to do and when. So sometimes projects get cut a little sooner than we wanted. Maybe we can go into November, sometimes depending on the weather.
When will lanes open up on I-94?
Right now we’ve got two lanes going in [both] directions right there in Minneapolis. This is a challenging area, certainly with the river crossing, some different ramps that are happening there. What we’re doing on 94 in that Minneapolis area, we’re repairing five bridges in a 2.5-mile stretch. So to do that and create a safe space, we’ve got to move traffic on one side.
We’re going to try and alleviate some of that limitedness by mid-August. So this isn’t going to take you into November and later into the season. We’re trying to get this work done.
So even by the fair, some of that should be better for travelers out there before you go back to college, right there, near the University of Minnesota.
What goes into the planning of a big project like I-94?
In many cases, we are putting more than a decade’s worth of work into a project before we break ground, so we’re looking in advance so that we can prepare for those costs. So we’ve got a 20-year outlook as to what's needed, a 10-year plan and a four-year plan.
Once we get four years out from a project, we’re really getting more specific. We’re making that outreach, and so we really know what’s happening four years in advance, in many cases, before we even break that ground. Because it really takes all that planning work, some safety work, we need transportation or traffic folks to go through there and understand what’s going to be needed to create a safe environment.
MnDOT is constantly putting plans, and we’re adjusting those plans as different things happen, and we want travelers to do some of that same planning.
What is being done to keep construction workers safe?
Safety is our number one priority at MnDOT. We want folks to be safe in our work areas when they’re working to improve the traveling system. We want drivers to be safe. We want them paying attention in work zones.
We tell people all the time, there’s a lot of things you can do behind the wheel to improve safety, not only for our workers, but for travelers too. In many cases, it’s the driver who might be most at risk when going into a work zone because of different things happening.
We want you to slow down. We want you to give full attention to that work zone, see what’s happening. You might have to slow down quickly. You might have to change a lane. Imagine if your family member, your son, your brother, your sister, were working in that work zone, I think you would take a lot of effort to make sure that they're safe. And that’s what we want drivers to do every day.
What’s with all the bike path closures in the Twin Cities area?
We all cover our own area — certainly from MnDOT, that’s highways, that’s interstates. But cities have their own roadways. Counties have their own roadways. We really try and give some good information out there on our system to let bicyclists know, pedestrians know when there is an impact. We will divert that particular traffic somewhere, but it can be more challenging. There’s not a lot of replacement for those.
So we know that that can be frustrating for our bicyclists, too. What we always encourage is ask questions. Even if it’s not a MnDOT project, you can bring that question to us either by calling us, going online and submitting that question.
If it’s not us, we’ll get you in contact with the right folks to understand more as to what’s happening, how long that impact is going to happen. But you’re right. It’s not just motorists who are impacted during the traveling season. We’ve got to impact bike lanes sometimes.
What can drivers do to get around construction traffic?
The more you know before you get behind the wheel, the more options you may have to make better decisions for your travel so that impact isn’t so frustrating. By the time you’re in congestion and you're in bumper-to-bumper traffic, maybe in a work zone, your options are really limited to get you in and out of that situation. You kind of have to just work with the traffic that’s there.
But the more you know before you go, maybe you can take a different route. Maybe you can plan your travel time a little bit differently to accommodate for some of those busier times, to make it not as stressful, not as impactful.
So we really encourage travelers all the time: There’s a lot of information out there. Use that to your advantage. See where you’re going. Look at those highway cameras on 511mn.org. See maybe how traffic is looking, and maybe you can make different decisions so that it’s not as impactful.
But we know it can be frustrating, and we certainly hear those comments. We hear those complaints a lot, but please bear with us. We’re trying to make the roadway better for everyone to use, so that once we’re done with the work, in theory, you should be able to use it without that interruption for a lot of years to come.
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