Ramps and West River Parkway Closures While LRT Bridge is Built Over I-35W

MINNEAPOLIS - March 25, 2011 - Announcement from the Metropolitan Council - Central Corridor Project Office

Two Interstate 35W ramps will close for several months as crews prepare to build a bridge over the interstate to join Central Corridor and Hiawatha Light Rail Transit tracks.

On March 30,  the Fourth Street ramp to southbound I-35W will close until July 2011. The alternate route is the entrance ramp from eastbound Washington Avenue to southbound 35W.

On April 4, the ramp from northbound I-35W to the Washington Avenue East Bank exit will close until the end of November 2012. An alternate route to the East Bank will be the Fourth Street SE/University Avenue SE exit from I-35W.

West River Parkway to close for two days in April

Other closures are in store for adjacent areas to the east.  Work to strengthen the Washington Avenue Bridge to carry Central Corridor trains will close West River Parkway and the adjacent bike trail April 5 and 6.  These closures will be from 7:00am to 7:00pm both days. The closures will facilitate work on the bridge piers.
 
Cedar ramp to westbound Third to close mid-April to mid-September

In mid to late April, work will close the Cedar Avenue ramp to westbound Third Street until mid-September 2011 when it will reopen in a new configuration with two-way traffic. Detour information will be provided in future weekly construction updates for Minneapolis at http://www.centralcorridor.org/ under the construction section.

The work will relocate the Metro Transit bus stop to the southwest ramp; no other changes are planned to bus service as a result of the ramp closure. This work is the first phase of rebuilding the ramps and creating a signalized intersection just west of Cedar Avenue. Central Corridor tracks will be built in the middle of Washington Avenue under Cedar Avenue where they will turn and head south to where they will merge with Hiawatha tracks on an existing bridge over I-35W between the Cedar Riverside and Metrodome stations.
 
More detailed information will be made available about additional ramp closures and detours for this area at http://www.centralcorridor.org/ and distributed via a weekly electronic construction update. The public can sign up for these updates online.
 
About the project: 

The Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project will link downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis along Washington and University avenues via the state Capitol and the University of Minnesota. Construction began in late summer 2010 on the planned 11-mile Central Corridor line, and service will begin in 2014. The line will connect with the Hiawatha LRT line at the Metrodome station in Minneapolis and the Northstar commuter rail line at the Target Field Station. The Metropolitan Council will be the grantee of federal funds. The regional government agency is charged with building the line in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The Central Corridor Management Committee, which includes commissioners from Ramsey and Hennepin counties, the mayors of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota, provides advice and oversight. Funding is provided by the Federal Transit Administration, Counties Transit Improvement Board, state of Minnesota, Ramsey and Hennepin counties' regional railroad authorities, city of St. Paul, Metropolitan Council and the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. The Central Corridor LRT Project website is http://www.centralcorridor.org/.