Minnesota Notes

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I see the second one in the background (just above-right of the red van).  Where's the third?

It's about 1/3 of a mile behind the one in the above picture. That one adds a "1 MILE" notice on the I-94 West panel.

[MNHighwayMan]

Is there an END I-494/I-494 ENDS sign anywhere, or does this new sign layout omit that?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Is there an END I-494/I-494 ENDS sign anywhere, or does this new sign layout omit that?

There's an END 494 - JCT 94/694 1 1/4 MILES sign posted on the Bass Lake Road overpass that's been there for as long as I can remember. There's not a new END shield or anything, unfortunately.

[MNHighwayMan]

Ah, okay. I couldn't remember if there was one previously, so I was just wondering if any old one remained or whether a new one was put in place. Thanks.

[froggie]

I don't recall there ever being an END sign at the Fish Lake Interchange before.  Just the advance sign that Patrick posted that's been there for decades.

[MNHighwayMan]

I don't recall there ever being an END sign at the Fish Lake Interchange before.  Just the advance sign that Patrick posted that's been there for decades.

This post confused me, because my name happens to be Patrick as well. What're the chances, you suppose?

[froggie]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Roadsguy]

I don't recall there ever being an END sign at the Fish Lake Interchange before.  Just the advance sign that Patrick posted that's been there for decades.

This post confused me, because my name happens to be Patrick as well. What're the chances, you suppose?

And both with "HighwayMan" in your names, and both with Minnesota route shields... I too was briefly confused in glancing back up the thread.

[SSOWorld]

http://kstp.com/traffic/minnesota-department-of-transportation-close-i35-bloomington-burnsville-replace-86th-street-bridge/4532286/?cat=12196

How many trucks does it take to damage a bridge?

[Mdcastle]

One truck to damage two bridges- the same truck hit the 82nd St bridge.

[jakeroot]

http://kstp.com/traffic/minnesota-department-of-transportation-close-i35-bloomington-burnsville-replace-86th-street-bridge/4532286/?cat=12196

From the article,

"The problem is the bridge is tall but it's not tall enough."

[froggie]

That stretch of I-35W opened in 1959...there were lower bridge clearance standards back then.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I confirmed this morning that there is still one US 61 shield remaining in Lake County. It's on the MN 1 mileage sign leaving Ely. Appears that sign has yet to be replaced/patched since 1990 and not an error.

[froggie]

A Minneapolis associate of mine just sent me a photo of that sign...the photo's apparently been floating around the Facebooks.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

And may not be there much longer because some fuckhead has now reported it to MnDOT.

[froggie]

To be fair, that sign should have been replaced years ago.  Besides the likely age and condition of the sign, sign accuracy is more important to the driving public than some whiff of nostalgia for a few roadgeeks.

Though I'll be the first to agree that MnDOT should have just kept it as US 61 and included a "hidden concurrency" along I-35 much as what's done along I-94 with US 12 and US 52.  My Minneapolis associate said the same thing to me when he showed me the photo.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I went to check out the MN 371 Nisswa/Pequot Lakes work. The Pequot Lakes bypass is now fully open along with the CR 11 interchange, but there's still a lot of remaining work on the Nisswa section. Overall it's a nice looking route.

[MNHighwayMan]

On my way back from Duluth and I must've briefly passed through a time warp back to 2007, because I saw this on SB I-35. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor:



Contractor error on a replacement sign?

Edit to replace hasty gas station upload with straightened and cropped version of picture.

[froggie]

Probably thought it was a replace-in-kind...

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I thought that sign had already been replaced once in the last few years...

[MNHighwayMan]

I thought that sign had already been replaced once in the last few years...

I wouldn't doubt that they have. The other three signs are correct, just not that one.

Edit: The latest GSV for the spot shows a correct sign. I have to wonder how this came to be.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The new MN 24 Mississippi River bridge in Clearwater will open tomorrow, a couple months ahead of schedule.

http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2017/08/16/clearwater-officials-celebrate-highway-24-bridge-opening/569601001/

As an amusing side note you can easily tell the MN 24 shield they used at the dedication ceremony was a patch job, making me wonder if there's a special "dedication shield" that gets reused at all sorts of dedication ceremonies in Minnesota 

[MNHighwayMan]

The MN-24 marker reminds me of a lot of patch jobs you'll see in use on detour signage and the like. (Except it's in way too good of condition to be one of those. )

[MNHighwayMan]

Has anyone else noticed that MN-298 has been truncated to end at the Academy for the Blind? I was browsing the route in GSV and noticed this. The latest logpoint confirms that the academy loop is now the southern endpoint of the route, while the previous August 2014 version still lists the full route that ended at the prison fence.

Edit: I guess this is kind of old news, as I did some reading and found that legislation in 2013 amended the definition of LR 298 to end at the loop (LR 323).

[froggie]

Field-checked it when I was home last month and updated TM (and OpenStreetMap) with the results.