One of Minnesota's most comprehensive road construction seasons still has two months to go

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan touted the successes of the 2024 Minnesota road construction season about 50 yards away from a project that caused headaches over the past weekend.

Crews worked to begin resurfacing about six miles of highway 36, the part that runs past Rosedale Mall.

“We all have heard the famous Minnesota saying that there are two seasons, winter and construction,” Flanagan said, cars, pickups, and 18-wheelers rumbling away behind her.

No kidding.

This year nearly 197 projects began throughout Minnesota and are scheduled to be completed within the next two months.

That doesn't include 54 other projects for improvements to airports, water ports, railroad crossings, and transit infrastructure.

“We are building more infrastructure and we are ensuring that our highways, our roads, are safer for all of us,” Flanagan said, noting that the highway 36 project cost $17 million in state and federal funds.

The money comes from the state bonding bill of 2023 and the federal infrastructure bill signed into law two years earlier.

“it’s all of these resources coming together to ensure that we have the kind of infrastructure that will lead us into the future for decades to come.

But the weeks to come will see orange cones by the hundreds lining all those construction sites, keeping workers safe and warning motorists to use caution and patients a little while longer.

“Please obey the traffic laws,” said Lieutenant Mike Lee of the Minnesota State Patrol.