A public open house meeting will be held on Monday, November 14, 2011, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Medina City Hall. Click here for additional details.

Project Information

Hennepin County and the City of Medina are undertaking this project to address the existing safety, capacity, and mobility issues at the intersection of Highway 55 and CSAH 115/CR 116. The long-term solution for the area is an interchange, with CSAH 115/CR 116 bridging over Highway 55 and the railroad tracks.

The funding and timeline for construction of the interchange are uncertain. Therefore, the County and the City have been working together for the past several years to develop interim improvements for the area. These shorter-term improvements will improve safety, capacity, and mobility until the longer-term solution can be implemented.

The City received federal funding from the Highway 55 Corridor Coalition. The funding will pay for the environmental review, preliminary and final design, and right-of-way acquisition.

Project Elements

The project will include replacing the existing signal system at Highway 55, constructing raised medians, modifying accesses, constructing facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists, upgrading the railroad crossing, and constructing a backage road on the north side of Highway 55.

What Has Been Done So Far

Concept Phase -
The City developed a concept plan for the proposed improvements. Following meetings with local businesses, Mn/DOT, and Hennepin County, the City Council approved the concept layout presented at the November 18, 2008, City Council meeting with conditions according to the resolution.
(See the Layouts page.)

Preliminary and Final Design Phase -
The County hired an engineering consultant, TKDA, to complete this phase of the project. The City, County, and TKDA began this phase in May 2011. Work will include refining the concept layout into a preliminary layout that will be approved by the City, the County, and Mn/DOT; completing environmental studies and documentation and obtaining required permits; and completing the final plans and construction documents.

Work completed to date includes:

Concerns related to the project and concept layout included potential loss of access to and from Highway 55, concerns about the proposed backage road west of CR 116, the need to balance impacts and to be fair to all property owners, and the need to provide adequate compensation for property acquisition.

The traffic analysis indicated that a traffic signal is not warranted at the CR 116/ Clydesdale Trail intersection, even if access closures are taken into account. The County has determined where the intersection ranks on their priority list for traffic signal construction. The priority factor calculated by the County is well below the threshold for installing a signal on the County system.

After construction is completed, the County will continue to monitor traffic volumes and operations at the intersection.

Next Steps

After the open house meeting, TKDA will continue to work on the preliminary layout, addressing comments from the public. TKDA will also be preparing the environmental document and the application for the establishment of a Quiet Zone at the railroad crossing.

The Project Team anticipates that the preliminary layout and environmental document will be completed in early 2012. Another open house meeting will be held in early 2012 to present the preliminary plans and right-of-way needs. The final design is scheduled for completion in mid-2012.

It is important to note that the project is not fully funded at this time. Additional funding will need to be obtained to construct the project, so the schedule for construction has not been set.