By Jon Tatting
jon.tatting@ecm-inc.com

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has announced that the Hwy. 95 bridge—crossing the Rum River just north of the smaller Second Avenue SW bridge—is scheduled for replacement in 2013.

The Cambridge City Council on Feb. 1 received word of this and other area projects, which were presented Jan. 25 at the East Central Regional Development Commission Legislative Forum in Kanabec County.

An origin and destination study conducted in 1999 revealed that Cambridge area residents represented 70 percent of the traffic traveling on Hwy. 95, the main east-west transportation route through the region, according to a Region 7E legislative forum handout provided at the council meeting.

It was further noted that a logical detour for the Hwy. 95 bridge replacement project is Second Avenue SW—from the Cambridge Campus on the west end to likely Fern Street near Bridgepark Apartments on the east end—and the old bridge that connects city park land.

Other possible detour routes would take traffic 5-6 miles either north or south of Cambridge.

The Second Avenue SW bridge, built in 1922, cannot handle the volume of detour traffic due to its current state and sufficiency rating of 49.4, according to the handout. And while the city of Cambridge had planned to replace this bridge in 2017, the city now hopes to move this bridge replacement project up to 2012 in order to accommodate the detour.

Cambridge City Administrator Lynda Woulfe noted local Sen. Rick Olseen plans to advocate for $2.5 million in either direct appropriation or bonding money from the state this legislative session to complete the project.
In fact, a city official from Cambridge has been asked to testify Feb. 11 in support of this project and its needed funding before the state Legislature.

NLX passenger rail
The legislative forum also addressed the highly anticipated Northern Lights Express (NLX) passenger train, scheduled to run in 2012-13 from Duluth to Minneapolis.

Cambridge has been identified to host a depot station in or near the downtown area, projected to create 700 to 1,100 jobs and $120-170 million in development potential in the Cambridge area.

Hwy. 65 improvements
Cambridge, a member of the North Trunk Hwy. 65 Corridor Coalition, is further supportive of the following projects as identified by the coalition:

• Four-lane expansion of Hwy. 65 from County State Aid Hwy. (CSAH) 30 north of Cambridge to Hwy. 107 near Braham as well as construction of a new intersection/interchange at Hwy. 107.

• Signals installed at Hwy. 65 and Co. Rd. 74 (221st) intersection in East Bethel.

Overall, the city of Cambridge is asking local legislators for their support in securing funding for all of these projects.

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