The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) recently awarded a $120-million contract to Lunda Construction Company of Black River Falls, WI, to remove and replace the I-494 bridge crossing of the Mississippi River just south of St. Paul.

Included in this contract is the complete reconstruction of a 3.5-mi. (5.6 km) segment of the I-494 freeway from South St. Paul on the west side of the river crossing to the fast growing St. Paul suburb of Woodbury on the east side of the river.

The I-494 contract is the largest out of nine contracts total that make up the “Wakota” project. The Wakota project will reconstruct the huge and busy highway/freeway interchange of I-494 and TH 61 located in the southeastern quadrant of the I-494 and I-694 loop around the St. Paul/Minneapolis metro area. Total estimated cost of this mammoth project is $250 million. Funding will primarily come from federal and state highway funds along with some city and county funds.

According to Adam Josephson, MnDOT project manager, the existing bridge carries two lanes of through traffic in each direction. The bridge, built in 1959, now carries more than 82,000 vehicles per day (VPD), resulting in frustrating traffic back ups that stretch to two mi. long for the commuters crossing the bridge during rush hour peak periods.

“For a long time now, this area of the road has been a bottleneck and this project will eliminate the bottleneck there,” Josephson said.

Two river bridges will be constructed to carry five lanes consisting of three through and two auxiliary lanes of traffic in each direction. The westbound bridge also will feature a pedestrian/bicycle trail, an amenity that is not part of the existing bridge.

The replacement of the bridge and accompanying road work will be done under traffic conditions. Construction on the bridge is scheduled to begin this spring. The new westbound I-494 bridge and westbound approach roadway will open in the fall of 2005. The new eastbound bridge and eastbound approach roadway will open in the fall of 2007.

Along with the 3.5 mi. (5.6 km) of I-494 to be reconstructed, a 4.3-mi. (7 km) segment of TH 61, the north/south intersecting highway of this interchange, will also be reconstructed to freeway standards. Several other contracts to rebuild intersecting local roads make up the remainder of the mammoth project.

The project, which began last year, will be completed in various segments with work ending in the fall of 2007, according to Josephson.