Maple Grove Looks to Extend Highway 610 Farther West
It’s considered as one of Maple Grove’s highest priorities, but a proposal to extend Highway 610 farther west still has a ways to go before becoming a reality.
Two years ago, MnDOT completed a project that allows drivers to get onto westbound Interstate 94 from Highway 610. But Maple Grove city officials don’t want to stop there.
The city wants to extend Highway 610 so that it connects with County Road 30 on Maple Grove’s western border.
City Receives Federal Grant Money
The Metropolitan Council awarded the city with a $7 million federal grant to fund the extension, but that still leaves a shortfall of about $18 million.
Maple Grove city officials say they hope to make up the deficit through a future state bonding bill.
“It’s important to the region in that the County Road 30 connection into the metro area serves a very large area that is absent of a trunk highway system,” said Ken Ashfeld, Maple Grove’s public works director. “It is also a highly developing corridor. And that brings traffic into and through northwest Hennepin County and into Maple Grove. That traffic is seeking another connection.”
If all of the funding sources come together, Ashfeld says he doesn’t expect construction to begin until 2022 or 2023.
