Rice Street/Highway 36 Interchange Construction

Rice Street/Highway 36 Interchange Construction

Project Updates

July 16, 2010 - Preliminary Work Underway

After 18 months of planning and design, the Highway 36 and Rice Street interchange project is under construction. You will notice the following construction activities happening throughout the next few months:

Tree removals in the Highway 36 right-of-way and along the Rice Street corridor
Private utility relocations will continue including the burial of existing overhead utilities along Rice Street
Demolition of the existing Wonder Bakery, Sinclair gas station, Fortune House restaurant, and the apartment building located on the southwest corner of the Minnesota Avenue and Rice Street intersection
Construction of the easterly portion of the new Rice Street bridge over Highway 36 while traffic continues to use the existing Rice Street bridge
Construction of the east half of new Rice Street while traffic is routed along the west side of the existing roadway
Storm sewer and stormwater ponding area construction

Traffic on Highway 36 will be maintained at all times although there will be individual lane closures. Rice Street traffic will also be maintained, but lanes will be narrower, sidewalks will be closed and traffic will be detoured for a short period. Except for brief closures, traffic will be able to use the ramps to and from Highway 36 at all times.

As construction progresses updates will be provided on this website, so check back often.

For more information about the construction activities please contact:

Bob Lee
Ramsey County Project Manager
651.266.7127
Robert.Lee@co.ramsey.mn.us

Beth Engum
Kimley-Horn Project Engineer
651.643.0434
beth.engum@kimley-horn.com

Steve Rose
SEH Project Inspector
612.759.1544
srose@sehinc.com

January Open House

To provide an opportunity for all interested parties to review the Rice Street/Highway 36 Interchange and Rice Street preferred alternative layout, a public open house was held Wednesday, January 20, 2010 in the Rose Room at the City of Roseville Skating Center.

Preferred Alternative Selected

Based on detailed traffic analysis and public input, the Project Management Team has selected the Offset Single Point Interchange as the preferred alternative to be carried forward for further review in the environmental document The reason for this decision is identified below.

Provides the best long term traffic operations
Does the best job of accommodating bicycles and pedestrians
Allows for maintaining traffic during construction
Is most compatible with plans for a future park and ride in the SE quadrant of the interchange

The preferred alternative also includes improvements to the Rice Street corridor (Offset Single Point interchange) from CR B to CR B2 as indicated below:

The roadway would be reconstructed to 4-lanes and divided by a median
Turn lanes would be provided at select major intersections, as traffic volumes dictate

Stormwater and drainage improvements would be included to achieve watershed standards.

Project Background

What is the Rice Street/Highway 36 Interchange Study?
Trunk Highway (TH) 36 is an important statewide corridor designated as a principal arterial, high-priority interregional corridor. Rice Street (CSAH 49) is a minor arterial that serves as an important reliever to I-35E. The growth of the general area has resulted in additional traffic and development pressures in the communities along TH 36 and the various north/south roadways serving the trunk highway. This project (S.P. 6212-165) addresses issues at the intersection of TH 36 and Rice Street. It includes the reconstruction of the Highway 36 and Rice Street interchange, and also improvements to Rice Street between County Road B-2 on the north end, and County Road B on the south. The project resides mostly in the city of Roseville, however portions of the project also enter the cities of Maplewood and Little Canada. Currently the project is in the Preliminary Engineering and Environmental Assessment phase, which will conclude in March 2010. There is no funding currently assigned for construction of the project; therefore a construction date has not yet been identified. Ramsey County is currently pursuing funding.

Why is the project necessary?
The purpose of the proposed Rice Street/Highway 36 interchange improvements is to address existing and future safety and operational deficiencies. The need for the project is driven by:

Anticipated increase in traffic volumes on Rice Street from 20,000 vehicles per day to (existing) to 27,200 vehicles per day (2033)

Rice Street bridge over Highway 36 no longer meets current geometric standards
Rice Street bridge is in poor condition and eligible for federal bridge replacement funding.
Closely spaced intersections do not comply with current Mn/DOT access management standards and cause traffic flow issues
Pedestrian facilities are not continuous across TH 36 or Rice Street
As traffic volumes increase, safety and traffic operations will continue to deteriorate if existing deficiencies are not addressed.

How have interchange alternatives been evaluated?
Mn/DOT initiated a brainstorming and internal screening effort to determine the range of feasible interchange concepts that would be reviewed by the Project Management Team. The Mn/DOT process resulted in five unique concepts. The consultant also developed additional concepts, and one of these were included in the initial screening process, for a total of six interchange concepts.

A level of service (LOS) analysis was conducted using year 2033 traffic forecasts to assess traffic capacity and operational characteristics for each of the six interchange concepts. Based on this analysis, three of the concepts were eliminated from further consideration. The remaining three concepts represent more traditional single point and diamond interchange types. These types appear to accommodate the forecast traffic volumes, operate at a high level of service, and present common design features that are understood by drivers. The remaining three interchange concepts included:

Within these three concepts, there are unique design options that were also considered and carried forward for further evaluation. Based on detailed operational analysis and a qualitative screening including such factors as construction cost, right-of-way impacts, and other social and environmental factors, an Offset Single Point interchange was selected as the Preferred Alternative.

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