You know it’s spring when the orange comes out in full force. And this year, the construction starts off with county road 10 and includes most roads on the east side of town.

County road 10 will close April 23rd and be open again, hopefully, by mid-November. They are going to modify the road to meet up with the stoplights just to the east of where it comes out now. They will also add drainage, turn lanes and bigger shoulders which is good news for the bikers.

Unfortunately, county road 10 is the main road to take over to Chaska. With the road closed, the already busy Highway 5 is the only alternative.

To make it worse, Highway 5 will be getting medians, turn lanes and better striping this summer too. No closures, but you can expect delays.

What’s one more headache? Starting in July, highway 284 will be closed from 5 to 212. This project includes mill and overlay which I think means re-surfancing. Good news here is that’s only a month project. But other construction on 284 and Sparrow Road will cause even more problems as a roundabout is put in place. Talk about getting fancy. This roundabout could take three months though!

Those are the biggest headaches and if you drive east or south out of Waconia, you will surely see road construction, additional traffic and a sad change as the farmland continues to change into city.

More construction details can be seen at the official Waconia site.