BlaineMN.gov
CityConnect March/April 2022
What’s Inside
New Online Utility Payment Services....................................................5 Intersection of 105th Avenue and Trunk Highway 65
What’s Next for Highway 65 Summer Registration Begins Monday, March 7......................................6
City of Blaine 10801 Town Square Drive NE Blaine MN 55449
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PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID TWIN CITIES, MN Permit No. 32324
Arbor Day Tree Sale Starts Tuesday, March 15.....................................8
The City of Blaine continues to drive the coordination of improvements to Highway 65. The City has taken the lead through the necessary studies, applying for funding, contracting for design services, and setting the stage to finally construct improvements. Blaine residents and businesses all know the issues and problems created by the congestion on Highway 65. It would be great to go straight to a design solution to begin construction. However, the funding will be decided at the national level by people who have never driven in this area. Meaning that studies are a critical piece to tell the story and compete against all the other traffic problems across the country. Development of these projects from concept to construction takes years. Three to five years is extremely fast even for simple projects. More complex projects like this typically take five to eight years or longer. Doing the up-front work including the permitting, design, and right of way acquisition goes a long way in making a project competitive. At that point a project can be built within an election cycle if funds are made available. The latest push began in 2018 with approval to have the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) start a Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) Study of the corridor. While there have been studies done in the past, the process to make the project eligible for federal grants and funding requires these studies to be less than five years old to reflect the current transportation demands and patterns of development. The PEL study area extended from 81st Avenue in Spring Lake Park all the way north to Bunker Lake Boulevard in Ham Lake. The area was further broken down into three sections. The City of Blaine is currently focusing on the center section from just south of 99th Avenue to just north of 117th Avenue. The study follows the federal process to examine a range of alternatives that address capacity, access, mobility, and safety issues. Development of a purpose and need statement, followed by identification and evaluation of potential design concepts. The final study report was officially accepted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and MnDOT in September of 2021. The City of Blaine through our local state delegates Senator Jerry Newton, Representative Erin Koegel, and Representative Nolan West were able to receive grant funding from the state legislature for the next steps. The City contracted in early 2021 to begin the investigation and design work of the center section of the study area before the PEL was officially complete. A team from TKDA and HDR consulting firms were selected to do this work. This team has also been helping the City apply for additional grants for the eventual construction of the improvements. The final project for this section of Highway 65 will cost between $100M to $150M and cannot be built all at once. Therefore, it needs to be designed so each individual project can be built separately and still work with the other pieces. Smaller projects are also easier to get funded. Continued on Page 4