County Road 42 reconstruction begins

Prior Lake American

County Road 42 will undergo some changes over the next few years.

Two reconstruction projects, spearheaded by Scott County are planned for 2018 and 2020. Each are designed to improve traffic flow and ease congestion along the road, which serves about 27,000 vehicles per day.

The 2020 project includes changing 1.3 miles of County Road 42 between county roads 17 and 83 from a rural two-lane to a four-lane divided highway. It's one of the last sections of 42 with two lanes, Scott County Highway Engineer Tony Winiecki said.

Happening this year

The 2018 project includes the following updates:

• The installment of dual left turn lanes on County Road 42

• Permanent signals at the intersection of County Road 42 and Highway 13

• Permanent signals at the intersection of County Road 42 and Quebec Avenue

• Road surfacing

• The installment of trails and sidewalks

"It's all intended to help traffic flow through that intersection better than it does today," Public Works Director and City Engineer Jason Wedel said of the project.

That portion of County Road 42 serves Prior Lake, Shakopee and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

"It'll be a big impact in this area," Winiecki said. "We're not going to set up official detours but very likely, people will find their way around this. Typical to most construction projects like this, it'll be pretty chaotic the first week, if not two weeks, around here and then people figure out alternative routes and best times of day to travel through this area."

The reconstruction was planned for 2008 and temporary traffic signals were installed around 2004 but the project kept getting pushed back, Wedel said.

"It's been delayed for various reasons," Wedel said.

Winiecki said one of the main reasons was funding, as the project could cost up to $9 million, though that price is nowhere near finalized and will depend on contractors' bids.

"We're also setting up such as, that if we do have an expansion in the future, we're not tearing up all of what was built and starting over," Winiecki said. "We're thinking about the future here and when I say future — this could be many, many years down the road. But at least we're establishing one of the curb lines such that we're not redoing everything over again."

The cities that use the roadway will not participate in cost-sharing; Scott County and the Minnesota Department of Transportation will pay for the project.

Like the County Road 21 and Highway 13 reconstruction, happening in downtown Prior Lake, the project was needed to handle growing traffic needs in the area, Prior Lake City Manager Frank Boyles said.

"With these projects, the more agencies you have involved, the more steps that are necessary and that's quite intentional," Boyles said. "We're down to the last steps in moving forward with that project."

The County Road 21 and Highway 13 reconstruction project was designed to ease traffic congestion in the area.

Though there are various frustrations with any project and especially road projects, the improvements are necessary, Boyles said.

"Other cities have seen some of these major intersection improvement projects over time and it's Prior Lake's time to do it now to prepare for the future," Boyles said. "The bottom line is, these are necessary improvements."

The project will start in May and is expected to be done in December, depending on the weather.