Another section of 35W getting MnPass treatment

As work begins this week on a noise wall on the west side of Interstate 35W stretching south from Burnsville Parkway, northbound commuters stuck in the morning logjam can think about what it means for their future.

The wall is the first step of a southward extension of the high occupancy and MnPass toll lane on 35W. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) will be adding a third northbound lane in 2011 between Southcross Drive and Burnsville Parkway.

The new interior lane will be a MnPass lane, functioning just like those that already run from Burnsville Parkway north to Minneapolis.

The northbound lanes will also get a noise wall and "Smart Lane" technology -- the electronic screens above each lane that display advisory speeds or warn of lane closures ahead.

"It's approximately a two-mile stretch that we're adding," said Sheila Kauppi, an engineer and project manager for MnDOT. "It's not huge, but it's approximately where the congestion begins. It definitely will be helpful."

The project will cost $17.6 million.

The market for the extended high occupancy or toll lane is already there. About 27 percent of the MnPass accounts used on I-35W belong to Lakeville residents. That's the largest slice that any city can claim of the 4,057 users.

Bus riders should notice a difference, too.

Metro Transit launched express service from Lakeville in September 2009 and immediately noted the clogged traffic south of the river.

"Shortly after we opened that route last September we approached and got immediate permission from MnDOT to use the shoulder moving up toward the river," Metro Transit spokesman Bob Gibbons said.

When the construction in the Crosstown area ends later this year and the MnPass extension is complete in 2011, the buses will mostly have a clear path north.

MnPass lanes are priced to keep traffic moving at least 50 miles per hour.

But the construction of the noise wall and the road work in 2011 sets up the southbound lanes for MnPass if it's desired in the future.

"If we do need to add it, we could add to the system," she said.