What's that project on I-35W, and when will it be done?

The Drive gets many questions about traffic and road construction projects, and one of the most frequently asked over the years has been about the project on the east side of Interstate 35W just south of downtown Minneapolis.

MnDOT did a four-year, $240 million reconstruction of the freeway between I-94 and Crosstown Hwy. 62, replacing bridges, putting down new concrete pavement and adding carpool lanes and a bus station at Lake Street.

The agency declared the project officially complete in September 2021, but there is one lingering component that has workers still on the job and one northbound lane closed near 42nd Street.

"What's been going on on 35W northbound, between 46^th and Lake Street, along the side?" asked Drive reader Phil. "I can't figure out what it is."

That portion of the freeway is prone to flooding, so in a first-of-its-kind project, MnDOT built six underground concrete tanks to collect runoff. The tanks, large enough to hold 4.5 million gallons of water — enough to fill about seven Olympic-sized swimming pools — will hold the water until it is pumped through a pipe into a tunnel that leads to the Mississippi River.

Work on the tanks, which began in 2019, is expected to be done in April when MnDOT puts roofs on the structures, said agency spokesman Jesse Johnson. But motorists will have to wait until the end of the summer before the far right lane reopens.

MnDOT will need to finish building a retaining wall, completing the road work on I-35W, and restoring the area before barricades blocking the lane come down, Johnson said.

Plymouth MetroLink's on-demand ride service is now taking passengers to Maple Grove Transit's Arbor Lakes Station.

The new destination was added last week and allows passengers who use the west metro city's Click-and-Ride service to connect with Maple Grove's My Ride. From Arbor Lakes, passengers can get a ride to anywhere in Maple Grove, Osseo, Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. My Ride also takes riders to the Robbinsdale Transit Center, Crystal Shopping Center and CROSS Food Shelf in Rogers.

Passengers also can connect with a Click-and-Ride van at the Arbor Lakes Station and take it to any destination in Plymouth or to the handful of locations outside the city such as Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka, Colonial Square in Wayzata and Golden Valley Center.

"This service addition brings new options for riders to get to and from Plymouth and provides access to a range of locations in surrounding areas," Metrolink Transit Administrator Nur Kasin said. "It can also bolster job opportunities by serving as a connection for commuters — and will give Plymouth employers greater access to the workforce in areas outside of Plymouth."