Funds to fix problematic Burnsville intersection still stalled

For more than a decade, Burnsville leaders have pushed for improvements to the intersection of Hwy. 13 and County Road 5, the scene of many accidents. They've just hit their latest roadblock.

State transportation officials omitted the $31 million project from a list of requests vying for federal economic stimulus money. That's left the Burnsville mayor and others pushing to get it included in the list of "shovel-ready" projects that would be funded as part of President Obama's plan to inject money into the economy.

Cars often whiz by the signalized intersection at 55 miles per hour. The intersection, west of Interstate 35W, has one of the highest accident rates in the state, with 147 crashes reported over a recent five-year stretch. Many involved cars traveling at high speeds and "T-bone" crashes, officials said.

The city wants to remove the stoplights and build an overpass for County Road 5 to cross above Hwy. 13. Accidents and increasing volume of traffic have caused major congestion.

Just down Hwy. 13 from the intersection with County Road 5 are the ports of Savage. Grain, salt, fertilizer and other shipments come through the ports and are trucked out -- in fact, the route carries more truck traffic than any nonfreeway road in the metro area. There are also regional trucking terminals, including Yellow Freight, and a number of construction material suppliers not far from the intersection.

City officials have long tried for any source of funding for the project. They say they understand that there are a number of pressing major infrastructure projects in the state and the nation. But here, they say, the need will only worsen without a new interchange.

"The traffic volumes at Highway 13 and 5 are growing just as Scott County and areas to the east, the city of Savage and Prior Lake, are growing," said Jim Skelly, Burnsville's city spokesman.

It was disappointing, said city manager Craig Eberling, that state transportation officials did not include the project in transportation-related requests for federal stimulus funding. But, he added, city officials are still holding out hope for some of that money.

Last week, Mayor Elizabeth Kautz gave new U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood details on the Burnsville project in hopes he can help secure federal funding. She said Hwy. 13 is critical for freight movement and as a commuter link between Hwy. 169 and Interstate 35W. County Road 5 is a key route for north-south travel in the region and relieves traffic from 35W, she said.

"I wanted him to know that this particular project, 5 and 13, was not in the state's list -- and we meet all of the criteria," she said.

That intersection was singled out as the most-needed project in a 2000 study of the corridor sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Dakota and Scott counties and the cities of Burnsville and Savage.

Kautz said she believes the project would fit with Obama's stimulus plan by providing work and also putting in place a key step in the city's plans to redevelop the northwest part of the city, near the Minnesota River.

Though much of the project focuses on the interchange, improvements would continue along Hwy. 13 from County Road 5 to Washburn Avenue, near the Menards store, Skelly said.

The T-shaped project zone would include County Road 5 from Williams Drive on the south to 126th Street on the north.

Other improvements could include extensions and other changes to frontage roads, new traffic signals along 5, secondary intersection improvements, and modifications to driveways and access points. There was a previous federal grant of $2.4 million for the project, which remains in the planning stages.

The long-range goal, Skelly said, is to connect the new interchange with another new interchange on 35W at 118th Street.

Joy Powell • 052-882-9017