And then there were two.
For the past decade, the stoplights between interstates 694 and 35E along Hwy. 36 have been steadily disappearing, replaced with interchanges or overpasses to keep traffic moving along one of Washington County's major commuting corridors. It's part of the Minnesota Department of Transportation's ongoing effort to essentially turn that stretch into a freeway to downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
In 2005, the McKnight Road interchange was completed. That was followed by the Margaret Street overpass in the same year, the Rice Street interchange upgrade in 2011 and the English Street interchange last year. By the end of summer, the $13.8 million Hilton Trail interchange, replacing another set of stoplights near Pine Springs, will be completed just east of I-694.
That leaves stoplights in the Hwy. 36 corridor at Hadley Avenue in Oakdale and at Century Avenue (Hwy. 120), the border between Oakdale and North St. Paul. And their days are likely numbered.
A major question is what the redesign will look like. Those plans will include the additional complication of figuring out how the Gateway State Trail, the busiest bicycle and pedestrian route in Minnesota that runs parallel to Hwy. 36, will fit in.
The Washington County Board on Tuesday got its first look with MnDOT officials at the results of a study narrowing the redesign to two alternatives estimated to cost between $28 million and $36.6 million.
The more expensive alternative would include building interchanges at both Hwy. 120 and Hadley Avenue; the other would have an interchange at the more heavily-traveled Hwy. 120 and an overpass at Hadley Avenue.
The local governments involved in planning and funding the projects — Washington and Ramsey counties, Oakdale and North St. Paul — all support the two-interchange proposal. In fact, cutting off direct access to Hwy. 36 from Hadley Avenue would run counter to Oakdale's Comprehensive Plan and Washington County's Transportation Plan.
