Tom and Jean Cliffords in 1969 Charger
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. -- The metro's highway maps will need to be updated again on Friday, when the newest stretch of Minn. Highway 610 opens to traffic.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, Minn. Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel and Maple Grove Mayor Mark Steffenson officially cut the ribbon Wednesday on the new three-mile section of highway linking U.S. 169 in Brooklyn Park with U.S. 81 in Maple Grove.
Klobuchar recalls hard work with former Congressman Jim Ramstad, and former Senate colleague Norm Coleman, to put Hwy 610 on the front burner with the Federal Highway Administration.
"This is about development, economic development," Klobuchar told KARE. "And it for the businesses that need these roads so we can expand and we can have jobs in Minnesota instead of in Mumbai. That's our plan."
Highway 610, which has become a major east-west route across the top of the metro, was built in pieces between 1987 and 2001. For the past ten years the westbound lanes ended at Highway 169, but as of Friday motorists can drive from Highway 81 on the west to University Avenue on the east.
The project, built by C.S. McCrossan Construction, wasn't slated to begin until the year 2014. But it was moved up MnDOT's list thanks to a $48 million federal stimulus grant awarded in 2009.
"This is a great use of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money," Tom McCrossan, the CEO of the prolific highway building contractor.
"We hear a lot about jobs bills, but this is one of those instances where hundreds of people were employed on this job throughout the course of the project, between our company and our subcontractors."
Rep. Melissa Hortman, a long-time supporter of extending Highway 610, said the project's a great example of how the A.R.R.A. kept people working and accomplished a transportation goal at the same time.
"That's 200 families that were paying their mortgages and buying groceries in a tough, tough economy that wouldn't have had jobs if it wasn't for this project."
It's not the only place where politics jump started long delayed public works projects. Just down U.S. 169 McCrossan has nearly completed the untangling of so-called Devil's Triangle.
The three-way intersection of Highways 169, 81 and 85th Avenue in Brooklyn Park and Osseo, had long been the source of epic traffic backups. The dual Burlington Northern Santa Fe train trains that ran parallel to Highway 81 also created added headaches.
The Minnesota Legislature's historic 2008 override of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of the transportation bill moved the Devil's Triangle project up by years.
"Next Thursday we'll be having a ribbon cutting at Devil's Triangle," Rep. Hortman said, "And that was override project. That would not have been in the chute to get done for a few more years if we wouldn't have done the override."
As part of Wednesday's ribbon cutting ceremony, vintage cars drove down the new concrete pavement. There was added significance to two cars at the head of the pack.
Tom Clifford's Dodge Charger and Dan Lidberg's Dodge Coronet SuperBee were both built in 1969. That was the year plans for Hwy 610 were first unveiled, and debated.
"Back then in 1969 it was kind of an issue in the neighborhood out here, the fear that this freeway was going to be coming through and we'd lose all our property values," Clifford recalled.
"Now, here we are! It's 42 years later and it's still not all the way built. But it's getting closer."
Commissioner Sorel said the final link in the 610, stretching two and a half miles to meet I-94 near Rogers, is scheduled to begin as early as 2015. For now, however, the locals are happy to get another chunk of freeway.
"This is going to really make it easier for us to get across the top of the city," Clifford remarked. "We can hop on right up the street here and away we go!"
(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)