Transportation Summit Held Days Before Start of Busy St. Cloud Construction Season

(KNSI) – It is set to be a busy construction season in the St. Cloud area, and that was on full display Thursday at a transportation summit held at city hall.

Cooper Avenue South and Wilson Avenue are being redone by the city after being pushed back from last year. Public Works Director Tracy Hodel says the backlog for materials was around 30 weeks in 2022, meaning crews would not have what they needed to finish the projects on hand until too late in the season.

Additionally, there will be about 15 miles of local road resurfacing, county projects, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Highway 10/Highway 23 interchange rebuild. MnDOT Project Supervisor Rob Abfalter says the multiyear reconstruction will affect east side businesses, but the agency is being proactive in reaching out to them.

“We’re working with the City of St. Cloud. We’re going to have a business meeting to try to keep the area involved so they know what’s going on. Start with a weekly one. We’re gonna start, like, on the 20th of April, I think at nine o’clock at the Copper Kitchen.”

When the project is finished there will be a new vehicle and pedestrian overpass at 4th Street Southeast, which will improve access to Cash Wise Foods and Runnings. A network of pedestrian paths will stretch all the way over to the east side Kwik Trip.

It will begin with work on non-peak hours starting April 17th and build to a closure of half of each roadway. While one direction is shut down, temporary two-way traffic flow would be set up on the remaining portion. Abfalter says it is a two-year-plus project that will affect motorists even after the cold and snow pauses work.

“The detours remain on over winter. There’s some ponds for water retention for water quality for a storm sewer and stuff [that must be installed.]”

The ramps connecting Highway 10 to Highway 23 will connect to an extended acceleration lane allowing merging traffic to get up to speed. It is a complete reimagining of the interchange that will require time to implement.

Detours include using Mayhew Lake Road to go north. The most substantial alternate route is for south Highway 10. Motorists will need to take Highway 15 through Sartell and west St. Cloud before hooking east again at Division Street.

___