Hwy. 10 construction expands into Ramsey

Drivers on Hwy. 10 in Anoka have been squeezed into one lane this summer and last year, too, as the Minnesota Department of Transportation carries out a massive rebuild of the heavily traveled road.

Last week, construction spread westward into neighboring Ramsey as a different project got underway, extending the single-lane configuration another couple of miles. Some drivers are not pleased.

Joe MacPherson, Anoka County transportation engineer, was staffing a booth at the Anoka County Fair last week and got an earful from one motorist.

"A guy came up and said, 'Enough of this crap,'" MacPherson said.

MacPherson shares the motorist's pain because he drives the corridor daily. But he's looking forward to 2025 when the "Anoka Solution" and the "Ramsey Gateway" projects are complete. When both are done, Hwy. 10 is expected to flow like an expressway.

Anoka County secured $140 million in federal, state and local money to remove traffic lights at Sunfish Lake and Ramsey boulevards and replace them with overpasses. The bulk of the work will take place in 2024 and 2025, but the contractor wanted to get a jump on things, which brought about the sudden lane closures, MacPherson said.

The closures won't last long. The highway will be back to two lanes by October, he said.

The project in Ramsey calls for new frontage roads on both sides of Hwy. 10 to connect with interchanges at Sunfish and Ramsey boulevards. The roads will eliminate about 70 direct access points to Hwy. 10 and will give space for trucks that currently stop on highway shoulders to unload cars at dealerships and deliver packages to businesses.

"This will dramatically improve safety," MacPherson said.

By starting preliminary work this year, MacPherson said the entire project can be completed in two construction seasons. Waiting until next year would turn it into a 3- to 3 ½-year project.

"We are trying to speed it up," he said.

In Anoka, two ramps recently reopened: one from Ferry Street to westbound Hwy. 10 and another from Cutters Grove Avenue to Hwy. 10.

The heat and humidity prompted the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority to call off a July 27 mobility fair to showcase how people with disabilities can use public transportation.

The agency will try it again Wednesday. Agency representatives will demonstrate how lifts, ramps and seatbelts for wheelchairs and scooters make buses and vans accessible at the fair at the Burnsville Transit Station, 100 E. Hwy. 13.