CANNON FALLS — Late-night drivers, beware.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has scheduled overnight traffic shutdowns on U.S. 52 in Cannon Falls on Monday and Tuesday as part of the $14.3 million interchange construction project going in on the south end of town. The closings will occur as necessary from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. to allow construction workers to set beams over the freeway.
"Basically, Highway 52 in both directions will close in both directions for up to 15-minute intervals," said Kristin Kammueller, MnDOT's Community Relations/Public Affairs Coordinator.
The closings could drag into the same time slot on Wednesday, Kammueller said, if weather proves to be troublesome on Monday or Tuesday. It's the only closing scheduled for this construction season, but Kammueller wouldn't rule out additional closings in 2014.
Construction on the interchange began in July and is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2014. It's part of the ongoing push to make U.S. 52 a controlled-access freeway. The final step of this particular interchange project will be removing the two stoplights in Cannon Falls, which are the last remaining signals along U.S. 52 between Rochester and the Twins Cities.
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Significant grading of the area has already been done, Kammueller said, in preparation for new frontage roads in the region.
Most of the $14.3 million funding was received through MnDOT's Safety and Mobility (SaM) grant program, though Goodhue County and the city of Cannon Falls also chipped in significant dollars.
