Work on final 3 miles of Twin Cities Central corridor to begin in September

Visioning Sessions Contractor crews will begin working this fall on elements of the western three miles of the 11-mile Central Corridor LRT Project. In September, they will begin prep work to retrofit the Washington Avenue bridge to accommodate light-rail trains by reconstructing the bridge piers. In December, they will start work to tie in the Central Corridor line from the Hiawatha LRT line just west of the Cedar-Riverside Station to Pleasant Street on the East Bank. The bulk of the Civil West contract work, though, will start in spring 2011.

The complete Civil West
schedule from west to east:

• East of the Metrodome
to Pleasant Street (including Washington Avenue bridge work), December
2010-November 2012.

• Washington Avenue
bridge foundation work, September 2010-December 2010.

• Pleasant to Oak Street,
May 2011-August 2012 (includes building the transit-pedestrian mall on the East
Bank and the East Bank Station).

• Oak Street
intersection, May 2011-November 2011.

• Oak to 29th Avenue,
March 2012-November 2012 (includes reconstructing the Huron Boulevard
intersection and building the Stadium Village and 29th Avenue stations.

• Transitway
reconstruction, May 2011-August 2011.

• 29th Avenue to Emerald
Street, March 2012-November 2012 (includes reconstructing University Avenue
west of Highway 280).

The Civil West work
includes:

Constructing three miles
of double track.

Modifying the Washington
Avenue bridge.

Building four LRT
stations (West Bank, East Bank, Stadium Village and 29th Avenue stations.).

Reconstructing sidewalks
and streets, including the Huron Boulevard and University Avenue intersections.

Constructing a
transit-pedestrian mall on Washington Avenue on the East Bank.

Building a new flyover
bridge over Interstate 35W where Central Corridor tracks will join the Hiawatha
line just west of the Cedar-Riverside Station and east of the Metrodome.

The Civil West
construction bids are to be opened July 27 and the Metropolitan Council is
expected to award the contract Aug. 25.

Meanwhile, the Civil East
construction bids are to be opened May 1, and the Met Council is to award the
contract June 23. As previously announced, construction will begin in July east
of the Capitol and north of Interstate 94. For Civil East construction details,
see the March 10 news release:

Work will begin in May on
streets around the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis to prepare them to
receive more traffic when Washington Avenue is closed to cars and trucks and
converted into a transit-pedestrian mall.

More specific schedule
information will be available once the Civil West and East contractors are
hired and the work schedules are developed.

Other contracts still to
be awarded are for systems (train signal systems, communications and traction
power/electrical) light rail vehicles, fare collection and the operations and
maintenance facility.

The Central Corridor
Light Rail Transit Project will link downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis
along Washington and University avenues via the state Capitol and University of
Minnesota. Construction will begin in 2010 on the planned 11-mile Central
Corridor line, with service beginning in 2014. The line will connect with the
Hiawatha LRT line at the Metrodome station in Minneapolis and the Northstar
commuter rail line at the new Target Field Station.