Highway 169/Rockford Road Interchange Project Begins Next Week
Right on cue, as the weather is supposed to warm up, MNDOT will begin construction at the intersection of U.S. Highway 169 and Rockford Road. People who live and work in the area are ready to make adjustments.
The process begins on Monday, April 10, when crews will shut down the Rockford Road overpass and the ramps onto and off of 169. Next weekend, MNDOT will shut down 169 between Interstates 394 and 694 starting at 10:00 p.m. on Friday, April 14. The recommended detour is I-394 to I-494 to I-94/I-694.
MNDOT will begin reconstruction of the Rockford Road overpass and interchange with Highway 169 on Monday.
“We’re not planning on altering any programs, but just know it may take longer for people to find us,” said Randi Soderstrom, the executive assistant on staff at New Hope Church, which is on the northeast corner of the interchange. “We’ll adjust accordingly.”
Soderstrom said staff has spent time sending out information to worshipers about the changes and even offering suggestions for detours through social media posts.
“We’re hoping to make it as easy as possible for people to still come,” she said.
The interchange will be re-built and re-designed, and new traffic signals on either side will also be installed, along with sidewalks for better pedestrian and bicycle access to safely cross the bridge.
“From where I sit, I have a view of the intersection and often see people walking along the sides there and riding bikes,” said Soderstrom. “It makes us quite nervous.”
MNDOT said it would close the intersections that flank the interchange to the east and west (Nathan Ln. and Gettysburg Ave.) at different points in the process, but that both intersections would not be closed at the same time.
The entire project should wrap up sometime in the fall.
