Construction Begins on 101st Avenue and Highway 169
The city of Brooklyn Park and the Minnesota Department of Transportation are constructing a new interchange at Highway 169 and 101st Avenue. This new interchange is supposed to be safer and improve access to a growing part of the city.
Construction has begun on a new interchange on Hwy 169/101st. Avenue.
MnDOT crews have begun work on the 101st Avenue interchange which will improve access to the area.
“We’ve worked with Brooklyn Park and Hennepin County for many years to get this planned and now we’re under way with this project,” said MnDOT’s Kent Barnard. “The city of Brooklyn Park and of course Hennepin County are both looking at the future of expansion up here in the northeast corner of Maple Grove, the southeast corner of Champlin and the northwest corner of Brooklyn Park.”
Currently 101st Avenue is closed between Jefferson Highway and Winnetka Avenue. The $30 million project is expected to be finished in December and will accelerate traffic flow in the area.
“It will pull some traffic of Highway 610,” Barnard said. “It will pull some traffic off of 109th to the north of us. It will actually focus it into the areas it wants to go.”
Despite the COVID 19 pandemic, MnDOT is going full speed ahead with the project.
“We are actually not stopping any of our road construction so far this year, “Barnard said. “We’re moving forward with all the projects. In fact with the COVID 19 decrease in traffic – the significant decrease in traffic we’ve seen around the Twin Cities area – we’ve actually allowed crews to work longer shifts.”
Improve curb appeal
The interchange upgrade will improve curb appeal. Workers have been removing trees, stripping topsoil and will add three storm water ponds to handle run off and water flow.
To complete the project, some existing houses had to be demolished in the northwest quadrant of the two roads.
“We did have to have some real estate that was purchased out here,” Barnard said. “Because the interchange in the future will be to the north side of 101st in both the northeast and northwest corners of this intersection right now.”
Grace Fellowship Church – which is located in the southeast quadrant – is getting a new entrance from the east side. Meanwhile, Crossroads Church in the northwest quadrant, will be easier to access when the construction is complete.
You can review the plans here.
