DULUTH – The $343 million highway interchange project scheduled to start this spring with traffic headaches on I-35 has been pushed back a year.
Already scaled back due to a $100 million funding gap that arose while planning the project, the Minnesota Department of Transportation said Wednesday that "after more in-depth analysis" major work on the Twin Ports Interchange aka "Can of Worms" won't start until spring 2021.
Issues with contaminated water and soil at the project site have piled up to the point that the department said more time is needed to re-evaluate how to deal with it all.
"This is an old area of industry," said Pat Huston, MnDOT's assistant district engineer for major projects. "Between the water and soil issues, we need to take a little more time to figure out if there's a way to better approach it that both meets all our environmental commitments … as well as the economics."
The three-year project addresses safety and aging infrastructure on the roads and ramps that connect Interstates 35 and 535 and Hwy. 53 in Duluth.
Two major parts of the project — the rebuilding of the Hwy. 53 bridge where it rises over the Lincoln Park neighborhood and the I-535 interchange at Garfield Avenue — were indefinitely postponed last year after contamination discoveries drove the total project cost up to $442 million.
Huston said MnDOT is working to stay within its $343 million budget, though legislators are being asked to consider an increase to finish the project as originally planned.
"We're looking at preservation work on the bridges, to make sure they're not deteriorating anymore, as we work on securing funding," Huston said.