Drivers in the west metro soon will need to figure out some alternate commuting routes as a $5 million construction project will close part of Hwy. 7 in Minnetrista beginning about mid-July and continuing through late fall.
Minnetrista is building a roundabout and pedestrian underpass at the highway's junction with Kings Point Road. It is the first of several changes that are part of the Woodland Cove development further north on Kings Point near Halstead Bay in Lake Minnetonka.
That massive residential project is slated to add more than 1,000 housing units over the next decade on 490 acres of farm fields, forests, wetlands and rolling hills.
The intersection of Kings Point Road and Hwy. 7 is one of the two main entrances to the development, said Minnetrista City Administrator Mike Funk.
"We needed to improve access onto Hwy. 7 and do it in a way that's the most safe and effective method possible," he said.
The roundabout is a complicated project that includes realigning roads on the north and south sides of the roundabout. The developer will reimburse Minnetrista for all costs of the project, Funk said, except for about $600,000 that the Minnesota Department of Transportation is providing.
A detour will route truck and other traffic from Hwy. 7 south to Hwy. 5, although Funk expects many commuters to figure out shorter routes on local roads. Almost all of Hwy. 7 will be open to local traffic, he said, except for the half-mile segment near the Kings Point Road intersection.
The community most affected by the detour will likely be St. Bonifacius, a community of about 2,300 just west of the roundabout. State highway counts in 2010 estimated that 14,600 vehicles drive through the city on an average day.
