Demolition of Highway 53 over 21st Avenue West

From the 23rd of January, 21st Avenue West between 1st street and 2nd street will be closing for three weeks as part of the Twin Port Interchange Project. Mndot says this closure is needed to complete the demolition of Highway 53 over 21st Avenue West.

The project manager, Pete Marthaler spoke about the current phase of the almost 300 million dollar project.

”so generally, right now, a lot of our work is focused on concrete work and working on structures. obviously, once we get into the more traditional construction season, you’ll see a lot more work done on the freeway as we work to complete that portion.”

Some good news… he says some of the new roads will be open sooner than expected.

“because we started the portions on the on I-35 earlier than here and done it on a Garfield Avenue. That’s a little further along in the process. We will open I-35 north and southbound in their newly constructed lanes at the end of this fall, this coming fall. Additionally, we will open at 535 over towards the bottleneck bridge at the end of this fall as well. However, this portion, because it’s more more intensive in terms of magnitude of work. 53 here will remain closed until the fall of 24.”

Concerning when the whole project will be done, he says it will be around November of 2024.

For now southbound traffic from Garfield avenue to port terminal will be detoured onto Helberg drive through the entire 2023 construction season.

But once completed everything should flow better for cars and big freight hauling trucks, and it will be a safer drive too by getting rid of blind merges and left exits.

With all of the constructions taking place, mndot reminds drivers to pay attention on the road.