Dakota County interchange plan draws fans, foes

Four cities disagree on the impact of an Interstate 494 interchange at Argenta Trail, which is aimed at addressing traffic needs in the next 20 to 30 years.

By JOY POWELL and KATIE HUMPHREY, Star Tribune staff writers

Last update: November 10, 2009 - 11:12 PM

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A controversial new interchange at Interstate 494 and Argenta Trail is proposed as part of a much bigger plan to accommodate increasing traffic in north and central Dakota County in the next two or three decades.

While the projects seem a long way off, the four cities that would be involved are already disagreeing, with some officials welcoming the changes and others hopping mad.

Inver Grove Heights and Eagan -- expecting commercial and residential development and added traffic -- want the new interchange. But officials from Sunfish Lake and Mendota Heights say they worry about its effect on neighborhoods.

Mendota Heights Council Member Ultan Duggan spent the weekend in neighborhoods around Delaware Avenue, which is the name for Argenta Trail in Mendota Heights and Sunfish Lake, distributing fliers and talking to residents. His city's reaction to the plans for an interchange have been "totally and unanimously negative," he said.

"It's peaceful. It's quiet. It's pleasant. It's bucolic," Duggan said of the area, which includes wetlands. "Why wreck all this stuff when there are other areas for these things to be done?"

He was among those at an open house on the "Regional Roadway System Visioning Study" in Inver Grove Heights Tuesday evening. It was led by Dakota County, which is working with local, state and federal officials.

Although Eagan officials join Inver Grove Heights in supporting the new interchange, they're concerned about a federal proposal to restrict traffic at the interchange of 494 and Dodd Road (Hwy. 149) in Eagan.

"It's going to be very important that we retain that," said Eagan City Administrator Tom Hedges.

The proposed interchange at Argenta Trail is situated where the boundaries of the four communities meet. Argenta Trail curves through eastern Eagan to Inver Grove Heights.

The plans are part of future transportation and transit improvements that also could include an interchange at Hwy. 55 and Argenta Trail, realignment of Argenta Trail and improvements to Robert Trail and 70th Street.

"We're looking at alternatives for how we handle that traffic, what kind of improvements we make to the road system, to handle the traffic over the next 20 to 30 years," said Tom Link, community development director for Inver Grove Heights.

In Eagan, Hedges said the city supports the new interchange at Argenta Trail because of projected development. But keeping the 494-Dodd Road interchange unrestricted is "crucial" to Eagan's businesses there, he said.

"They're proposing limiting westbound traffic," Hedges said of the 494-Dodd interchange. "You could exit off 494 and you could get on 149 and go eastbound. But you would not be able to get onto 494 from Highway 149. That's the part we feel is not fair."

Dodd Road is a fast-growing corporate area, and Eagan businesses need I-494 access for workers traveling to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, he said.

Roger Conant, a city council member from Sunfish Lake, said the Argenta interchange plans are "sudden and unwelcome."

It would bring "a substantial increase in the traffic pattern," he said, and that would pose a risk along a street in a neighborhood where a lot of children live.

Joy Powell • 952-882-9017 Katie Humphrey • 952-882-9056