Cedar Avenue to spend a season in the construction zone

As the snow melts, the second round of construction on Cedar Avenue begins.

And it's going to be a doozy.

Unlike last year, when most of the road work was south of County Road 42, this year's orange barriers, reduced speed limits and coordinated traffic jams will be on the busy stretch of road north of County Road 42 all the way to the Minnesota River.

First, Dakota County will continue with its work to remake Cedar Avenue into a rapid busway with wide shoulders. Then later in the summer, the Minnesota Department of Transportation plans to resurface its section of the road -- Hwy. 77 from north of 138th Street to the river bridge.

"We'll have an awful long corridor of construction this summer," said Mark Krebsbach, Dakota County's transportation director.

The county project rolls forward first, with work on the sides of the road and retaining wall construction yet this month.

Then there will be work relocating utilities, replacing traffic signals and ripping up and rebuilding the road with wider shoulders to make room for bus rapid transit on the corridor.

Until then, drivers will have to navigate construction congestion.

"We'll be down to two lanes in each direction here north of [County Road] 42 for the duration of the summer," said Ross Beckwith, a county construction engineer on the Cedar Avenue project. "It can be down to one lane during off-peak times."

There will be periodic total closures of the road or intersection, just as there were in 2011. The 142nd Street intersection will be redesigned, prohibiting drivers on the side street from crossing or turning left onto Cedar Avenue.

And the project, for its final touches like landscaping and maybe even a final coat of pavement, will continue into the spring and summer of 2013.

The MnDOT resurfacing maintenance project north of 138th Street, planned for later this summer, is less dramatic but will likely be irksome for drivers.

There will be lane closures, but with the promise of smoother pavement and concrete when it's all done.

"People who drive that section of road know that it's pretty rough and it's just time to do it," Gillach said.

"It's going to result in a much better ride quality on a lot of road."