Residents expressed frustration Thursday over proposed plans for the 2028 closure of the left turn from northbound Minnesota Highway 280 to Broadway Street Northeast in Lauderdale at a meeting held by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in Minneapolis.

MnDOT has identified MN 280 and Broadway Street Northeast intersection as a “significant safety concern.” Crash rates at the intersection between 2015 and 2019 exceeded the “critical” crash rate by 1.66 times. That means it carries a statistically significant accident problem, according to the agency.

Before closing the left turn, MnDOT officials plan to reconstruct the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and Industrial Boulevard to better handle truck traffic; partner with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to ensure compatibility with its Grand Rounds Missing Link project; and add bike facilities and reconstruct sidewalks on Hennepin Avenue.

Though Minnesota Highway 280 is closed in both directions between Minnesota Highway 36/Interstate-35W and Interstate-94, it is expected to open in time for the State Fair, said Chris Bower, an area engineer for Anoka and Ramsey counties with MnDOT.

While closing the left turn was not MnDOT officials’ first idea for the project, other alternatives had issues and drawbacks. There is too much traffic at the intersection to allow for a roundabout and the highway is too narrow to allow for a J-turn, or reduced conflict, intersection.

MnDOT officials in 2020 initially proposed closing the northbound left turn from MN 280 to Broadway. However, businesses in the area, including the United Parcel Service, or UPS, pointed out that semi-trucks taking Larpenteur Avenue and Hennepin Avenue up to Industrial Boulevard couldn’t fit around the intersection, Bower said.

“We have a safer interchange, safer intersection up at Broadway and the trade off is about 30 seconds of travel time during the active rush hour,” Bower said.

But, residents at Thursday’s meeting, visibly frustrated, said there were concerns about longer travel times, impacts on local businesses and other safety concerns.

Around 20,000 cars travel on Hennepin Avenue per day, Bower said, and that number is expected to go up by about 3,000 cars a day with the project.

“They don’t seem concerned enough to me about the danger of the diverted traffic of those 3,000 or however many vehicles that are now are going to go onto East Hennepin and then go north on Industrial Boulevard,” said St. Paul resident Pat Thompson. “And at that intersection, the park board is building all this nice bike infrastructure. And the most vulnerable people on the road are people on bikes and pedestrians.”

MnDOT will continue taking community feedback on its proposed improvements into 2027.

“And I think the notion of adding traffic is a legitimate concern…we’ve done computer simulations and I think it’s fair to be skeptical of the computer simulations, but one of the big improvements we’re going to be making is coordinating all the traffic signals on Hennepin Avenue,” Bower said.

To learn more about the Minnesota Highway 280 project, go to dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/hwy280stpaul-roseville/.