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Westbound I-90 ramps open

By
Lori Sorenson

The westbound ramps for I-90 at Luverne and Beaver Creek reopened last week following summer construction between the two towns.
The work involved resurfacing the existing westbound pavement, and westbound motorists were shifted to the eastbound lanes in “head-to-head” two-way traffic between Luverne and Highway 23.
The westbound ramp from Luverne onto I-90 was closed for the duration of the project from June 14 through Aug. 25.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation initially announced in May that westbound ramps at Highway 75 would be closed for both exit and entrance during construction.
However, the state negotiated a change order with the contractor, PCiRoads, to delay the Luverne exit ramp closure until after the Sturgis Street Rally in order to allow South Highway 75 businesses to capture some of the westbound traffic business.
The westbound exit ramp onto Highway 75 was closed in mid August in order to complete repairs on that portion of the project.
In the time since then, westbound travelers wanting to reach Luverne and Beaver Creek had to exit at Magnolia and take County Road 4 west to their destinations.
Construction was initially planned for nine miles from Luverne to just west of Beaver Creek, however work on the western five miles of the project was suspended midway through the project.
According to Roger Risser, construction manager for MnDOT District 7, workers found the pavement repair between mile markers 4 and 9 would be too extensive and costly to be repaired with this year’s project.
“Instead of trying to make a repair at every joint for a 10 to 15-year fix, we’re looking at a repair next year that will be good 30 years,” Risser said.
The work, to be completed next summer, involves a concrete overlay with asphalt between existing and new concrete layers so the cement doesn’t crack.
Four miles west of Beaver Creek in the eastbound lanes will be completed along with the nine miles of overlay planned for the westbound lanes from the South Dakota border to the east.
Unlike this year’s project, Beaver Creek’s exit and entrance ramps for the westbound lanes will remain open for most all of the roadwork next year.
Mayor Josh Teune had expressed concern about the impact of Beaver Creek’s ramp closures this year on the community.
Particularly, he and City Council members were disappointed when the Beaver Creek ramps weren’t reopened when the western five miles of I-90 work was suspended.
“If they weren’t working on it, why didn’t they open the ramp?” Teune said at a recent city council meeting.
Risser said that Beaver Creek ramps couldn’t be reopened because traffic couldn’t cross over from the head-to-head configuration until west of County Road 6, where the existing center median crossover is located.
Exit and entrance ramps for eastbound lanes remained open all summer, and eastbound travelers accessing Luverne and Beaver Creek were impacted only by the two-way traffic configuration.
PCiRoads, LLC was awarded the project with a bid of $4,844,421.70.

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