Minnesota Notes

[Trademark]

The Transportation Omnibus bill is going through the House right now.

-Hornstein supported an amendment from West to add $25 mil in funding to turn Highway 65 into a freeway.

[froggie]

^^ Couldn't read the article, but guessing they want to connect 58th at Stillwater Blvd to the EB ramps at Manning?

[Mdcastle]

Exactly, there was a detailed layout of it in a 2020 TAB grant application.

[rte66man]

The Transportation Omnibus bill is going through the House right now.

-Hornstein supported an amendment from West to add $25 mil in funding to turn Highway 65 into a freeway.

Starting north of Blaine? Or south of old US10?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

On a happier note, a bill is advancing to designate TH 5 in Chanhassen as the Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF717&type=bill&version=0&session=ls93&session_year=2023&session_number=0

The bill passed and was signed, with (purple) signs to be installed this summer. The official length of the Prince memorial designation is from Mitchell Road in Eden Prairie to TH 41 in Chanhassen. His longtime Chanhassen home of Paisley Park is along the route.

Subd. 102. Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway. The segment of marked Trunk
Highway 5 from Hennepin County State-Aid Highway 60, known as Mitchell Road, in
Eden Prairie, to the westerly side of the intersection with marked Trunk Highway 41, known
as Hazeltine Boulevard, in Chanhassen is designated "Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial
Highway." Subject to section 161.139, the commissioner must adopt a suitable design to
mark this highway and erect appropriate signs. The signs must be purple in color.

I expect to see a lot of little red Corvettes out there this summer.

[The Ghostbuster]

If any of you ever drive on that route, you will also have the right to go crazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXJhDltzYVQ

[Mdcastle]

Augie Mueller is rolling around in his grave.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Augie Mueller is rolling around in his grave.

Heh, there are no signs posted marking that it's his memorial road anyway.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I noticed the temporary auxiliary lane on westbound Crosstown between Valley View Road and TH 100 in Edina that was used during the I-35W rebuild looks like it will be coming back, as the temporary "100 NORTH EXIT ONLY" sign used during that period has reappeared (though currently patched over). I'm guessing this is related to the upcoming I-494 projects somehow?

[bschultzy]

I noticed the temporary auxiliary lane on westbound Crosstown between Valley View Road and TH 100 in Edina that was used during the I-35W rebuild looks like it will be coming back, as the temporary "100 NORTH EXIT ONLY" sign used during that period has reappeared (though currently patched over). I'm guessing this is related to the upcoming I-494 projects somehow?

Gosh, I do hope so.

[Roadguy]

I noticed the temporary auxiliary lane on westbound Crosstown between Valley View Road and TH 100 in Edina that was used during the I-35W rebuild looks like it will be coming back, as the temporary "100 NORTH EXIT ONLY" sign used during that period has reappeared (though currently patched over). I'm guessing this is related to the upcoming I-494 projects somehow?

Gosh, I do hope so.

Yes, this is for 494 construction and will be in place through 2026

[bschultzy]

I noticed the temporary auxiliary lane on westbound Crosstown between Valley View Road and TH 100 in Edina that was used during the I-35W rebuild looks like it will be coming back, as the temporary "100 NORTH EXIT ONLY" sign used during that period has reappeared (though currently patched over). I'm guessing this is related to the upcoming I-494 projects somehow?

Gosh, I do hope so.

Yes, this is for 494 construction and will be in place through 2026

Oddly enough, MnDOT said they removed the temporary lane last year because the shoulder isn't constructed to handle the wear and tear, but it must be able to handle an additional three years of traffic.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota approves a gas tax hike indexed to inflation (in Minnesota, the gas tax is required by the state constitution to fund road projects). A 50 cent delivery fee on non-essential retail deliveries over $100 will also be instituted to raise revenue for highway funding.

The governor will sign the transportation bill with the increases into law.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF2887&version=0&session=ls93.0&session_year=2023&session_number=0&type=ccr

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/minnesota-legislature-passes-transportation-bill-with-delivery-fees-gas-tax-increase/

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Some of the road project funding mentioned in the bonding bill:

-TH 65 freeway in Blaine
-US 8 rebuild from I-35 to Chisago City

Interchange studies or early groundwork:
-TH 36 at CSAH 17 (Lake Elmo Avenue) near Stillwater
-US 169/Sherburne CSAH 4 (Fremont Avenue) in Zimmerman, if/when built between this and the Elk River freeway would remove all stoplights on 169 between US 10/TH 101 and Lake Mille Lacs
-US 10/169 at Anoka CSAH 56 (Ramsey Blvd) and 57 (Sunfish Lake Blvd) in Ramsey
-I-35E at County Road J in Centerville (turning this from the current half-diamond to a full interchange)
-US 14 at Olmsted CSAH 44

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?session=ls93&number=HF669&session_number=0&session_year=2023&version=list

[froggie]

A few other things of note from that bonding bill:

• Fridley wants to extend 57th Ave NE across the BNSF tracks, and got $4M from the bonding bill for that.
• Another reconstruction of the Hennepin Ave Bridge over the Mississippi River
• Reconstruction of 117th St west of US 52 in Inver Grove Heights.  This is notable because this is the routing CSAH 32 will eventually take to connect to 52.
• $25M for the Kellogg Blvd bridge in downtown St Paul
• Worth noting that the bonding bill doesn't actually ADD money to the 10/169 or 35E/CR J projects...it instead amends law to allow past bonding (in this case 2020) to be used for construction of the former and final design of the latter.

[Alps]

Quick question: What are the "UT" county routes in Koochiching County? They're clearly more minor than the un-prefixed ones. Wondering what that stands for.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Quick question: What are the "UT" county routes in Koochiching County? They're clearly more minor than the un-prefixed ones. Wondering what that stands for.

Unincorporated Township. Lake and Cook County at minimum also post these.

[J N Winkler]

I had to ask the same question last September when I ran across UT shields (both independent-mount and guide-sign) in signing plans.  From the follow-up discussion back then, it appears 16 counties, not all in the northern part of the state, have UT roads, and the shields are diagrammed in signing plans since they don't appear in the MnDOT standard signs manual.

[Mdcastle]

Also in the bill is $250K to retire some bonds that were used for building improvements at Upper Sioux Agency State Park, presumably another step forward to the state abandoning the property now that the Highway Formerly Known as 67 is unusable and the Indians have been agitating for the state to give them the land.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I noticed tonight that the signs on TH 100 have been replaced between TH 55 and I-694 (with exit numbers now added). But what was also installed that I don't ever remember seeing before in Minnesota were large yellow ground-mounted "RIGHT LANE EXIT ONLY AHEAD" signs throughout the auxiliary lanes on the stretch. Usually a small white "RIGHT LANE MUST EXIT" or often no signs at all denoted these sorts of things.

[Alps]

Quick question: What are the "UT" county routes in Koochiching County? They're clearly more minor than the un-prefixed ones. Wondering what that stands for.

Unincorporated Township. Lake and Cook County at minimum also post these.

Thank you! I'll thank you in person again in a couple hours.

[triplemultiplex]

Quick question: What are the "UT" county routes in Koochiching County? They're clearly more minor than the un-prefixed ones. Wondering what that stands for.

Unincorporated Township. Lake and Cook County at minimum also post these.

Thank you! I'll thank you in person again in a couple hours.

I believe it's actually "Unorganized Township" which is basically the same idea. There is no local government entity below the county in some of those remote reaches of northern and northeastern Minnesota.  So much of it is public land anyway, there's no point in trying to organize 20 people with cabins into a municipal township.

Should be a few "UT" county routes in St. Louis County as well since it goes all the way to the border and there are definitely no townships up there in the boundary waters.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

A 2021 article that talks a bit more in depth about the UT roads can be found here: https://www.boreal.org/2021/10/01/370109/county-connections-unorganized-territory-ut-roads

I haven't seen any in St. Louis County, but of course those far northern reaches where they could theoretically exist are going to be largely water too.

[froggie]

I haven't seen any in St. Louis County, but of course those far northern reaches where they could theoretically exist are going to be largely water too.

According to MnDOT data, there are 323 centerline miles of UT road in St. Louis County, so they gotta exist somewhere.

Took a look at MnDOT's EMMA mapping app.  They seem to be spread across the county...several along CSAH 4 north of Duluth, as close to Duluth as the north side of Island Lake.

[J N Winkler]

There is more information on UT roads in a previous discussion in this thread.  Yes, St. Louis County does have UT roads--I posted Google StreetView of two (complete with shields).  And I think you, Froggie, discovered there are 16 counties, not all in northern Minnesota, with UT roads.