The road construction season is going to be pretty active this year in Waconia.

Highway 5 is going to be reconstructed to allow for safer travel for vehicles and pedestrians. They are adding more lanes, a stop light, turn lanes, and removing quite a few left hand turns. There will also be a pedestrian tunnel under Highway 5 and trails down both sides.

Reference:
Oak Avenue – Stoplight by SA and the High School.
284 – Stoplight by Caribou.
Highway 10 – Stoplight by Mackenthun’s

Starting in May
The empty area between Mackenthun’s and the Ford dealership will start to be developed.

In June and July
Highway 5 will be completely closed between Highway 10 and Oak Avenue. It will be open between Oak and 284 but only to local traffic. No through traffic. Westbound traffic will be detoured onto 284 south to Highway 10 (roundabout) to Oak Avenue (stop sign). Eastbound, reverse those. That’s going to cause a lot of congestion in the mornings and evenings.

August, September and October
Highway 5 will re-open between Highway 10 and Oak Avenue. However it’ll remain closed to through traffic between Oak and 284. Westbound traffic will be detoured onto 284 south to Highway 10 (roundabout) to Highway 5 (stop light). Eastbound, reverse those. That’s going to be better for traffic, but still a pain.

The major construction will be done November of 2015 with landscaping completed in Summer of 2016.

Now, if you watch the video, they have additional detours outlined that are concerning to neighborhoods around the hospital. However, they should be shorter detours; around a week.

Either way, the increased traffic through downtown and the adjacent neighborhoods isn’t going to be fun. Main Street will get much more traffic along with Highway 30 and Olive St.

What about events?

What about the Taste of Minnesota, the Band Festival, the County Fair, Nickel Dickel Day, and other city events? Well that’s just going to cause even more issues.

More information on the project can be found at the official site.

Wait, it gets worse!

Highway 5 between East Scandia Road in Waconia and County Road 11 in Victoria will be closed starting in the spring and going through the fall.

Everyone off to Highway 7 or 212 and 10 to get to Waconia.