County Road 81 Reopens in Brooklyn Park
After a summer filled with detours and orange cones, drivers can finally rejoice. A stretch of County Road 81 between Brooklyn Boulevard and Highway 169 that had been closed since late March finally reopened on Friday, Nov. 13.
“It’s been a long spring and summer for motorists, but we got it all done and we thank the people for their patience,” said Stanley Lim, a Hennepin County construction engineer. “And I think right now, with the road opened up, everybody can go back to normal, I guess.”
Drivers can go back to normal in the sense that they can travel on County Road 81 in Brooklyn Park without having to make any detours, but construction crews made a number of different improvements to the area.
Those improvements include adding additional lanes, new traffic signal systems and new curb and gutters to help capture and filter storm water. Crews also built a trail that’s wide enough to accommodate walkers and bikers.
A new pedestrian trail along County Road 81 is one of several improvements.
“It’s a relief always when we get a project done,” Lim added. “There’s always a lot of challenges. We can’t predict the weather. We’re lucky that we had great weather this year. Utilities, challenges, reconstruction, it’s always a relief.”
Meanwhile, Hennepin County says there’s still a little work left to be done next year, which includes painting roadway stripes, paving a final layer of asphalt, and constructing trail connections. But the good news is that they anticipate next year’s work to be less disruptive.
