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Final design of the project to construct a full interchange at TH 610 and East River Road in Coon Rapids is about to start.
The Coon Rapids City Council Aug. 5 approved a letter of engagement with consulting engineering firm TKDA in the amount of just more than $2 million to do the work and authorized staff to execute the agreement.
The interchange currently has a westbound on-ramp and eastbound off-ramp. The estimated $40 million project would add a westbound off-ramp and eastbound on-ramp.
TKDA was hired by the city for the preliminary design work and a preferred alternative layout has been approved by the Minnesota Department of Transportation .
“The project has been in a holding pattern for quite some time and we are set to move forward on final design,” said Public Works Director Tim Himmer.
Final design work will take about a year and require approval from MnDOT. The project will be shovel ready at this time in 2025, Himmer said.
Funds for the TKDA contract will come from $1.1 million in state bonding dollars allocated to the project, plus $300,000 left over from an earlier state grant earmarked for preliminary design work.
To fund the balance of the cost, staff have included $600,000 in the proposed 2025 city budget.
“It’s a big number and caused me more than a little heartburn, but it will show that the city has skin in the game,” Himmer said.
In its efforts to secure construction funding, the city struck out at the 2024 Minnesota Legislature when it requested $23 million from the state bonding bill, but no legislation was passed.
But since then the project has been awarded $10.8 million through the Minnesota Highway Freight Program and it is “looking very strong” to receive $10 million in federal dollars from the Metropolitan Council’s regional solicitation process, Himmer said.
The Metropolitan Council’s Transportation Advisory Board has recommended the funding for the project, but it still awaits action from the council itself, he said.
Council Member Brad Greskowiak agreed the city’s contribution to the TKDA contract is a big number, but it has to move forward with this project to benefit future generations.
With Metropolitan Council approval of the $10 million, the project will have received $20.8 million, a little more than halfway to being fully funded, Himmer said.
Both the city and Anoka County have committed $2 million each toward the project cost, Himmer said.
The city will be back at the Minnesota Legislature in 2025 seeking money for the project and it will be also looking for dollars from other federal and state sources.
Working with the county, the city has been trying for many years to get a full-access interchange to TH 610, either at Coon Rapids Boulevard or East River Road, because no full interchanges exist on TH 610 from the Coon Rapids/Blaine border to the Mississippi River.
The initial focus was at the partial Coon Rapids Boulevard/TH 610 interchange and the city purchased property at the corner of the Coon Rapids and Foley boulevards for that proposal, but attention turned to East River Road after MnDOT rejected the Coon Rapids Boulevard plan.
A new city water tower is now under construction on the city property at the Coon Rapids and Foley boulevards intersection.
SOURCE: Hometown Source
