'Future of transportation': Celebration marks the start of $195M rebuild of Hwy. 65 in Blaine

City leaders in Blaine have been talking for nearly 20 years about remaking traffic-choked Hwy. 65 to address mobility and safety.

At long last, the project is ready to roll.

This year, the north metro city and Anoka County secured the last of state and federal dollars needed to pay for the $195 million project with the goal of transforming one of the state's most dangerous highways into what one lawmaker called the "future of transportation."

"This is absolutely incredible," Blaine Mayor Tim Sanders said during a Thursday event to celebrate the project's full funding and thank all those who pushed the ball across the goal line. "Ultimately, it's the 72,000 residents who are extremely excited about this road project coming to fruition."

Two years from now when work begins, motorists traveling on Hwy. 65 will feel the pinch. Then again, driving through a construction zone may not be any more maddening — or slower — than it is now as bottlenecks form at many hours of the day, and motorists and pedestrians attempting to cross the highway face waits that often seem interminable.

"There is that time with a lot of orange cones and a lot of folks on the street that people gripe about, that day will come," said Gov. Tim Walz during the celebration attended by state lawmakers, Anoka County commissioners and transportation officials, law enforcement and personnel from the Minnesota Department of Transportation. "But it's the other side of that day where we're all looking forward to," Walz said, noting the 5.8 million Minnesotans who will benefit from the project.

When completed in 2028, Hwy. 65 will operate like an expressway. Stoplights at four interchanges between 97th and 119th avenues will be replaced with underpasses or overpasses with on- and off-ramps with roundabouts. Some access points that don't currently have stoplights will be closed and new frontage roads built to connect motorists with the new interchanges.

The project also will include sidewalks and biking trails to facilitate safer crossings and improved transit facilities.

While the new road won't have any additional travel lanes to handle the daily traffic of 60,000 vehicles, the layout is expected to drastically speed up trips for motorists and reduce crashes, officials say.

"This is a big deal," said Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis. "Blaine will be the multi-modal capital of the metro. This is the future of transportation."

Minneapolis Public Works crews will start their annual fall street sweeping Tuesday, a process that will last into November.

Hot pink "No Parking" signs will be posted at least 24 hours before a street is swept. Vehicles left on the street will be ticketed and towed. Parking will be banned from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the day a street is swept or until the street is cleaned and the signs are removed.

A Street Sweeping Schedule Map is available on the city's website. The city also has a service allowing people to sign up to get an alert automatically by email or text.