Minnesota State Highway 62 (east)

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Trunk Highway 62
Length:	12 mi (19 km)
Formed:	1988
West end:	I-494 / Hennepin C.R. 62 at Eden Prairie and Minnetonka
East end:	MN 55 in Minneapolis
Major cities:	Minneapolis Richfield Edina Eden Prairie Minnetonka
Minnesota State Highways < TH 61 US 63 >

For the highway in southwestern Minnesota numbered 62 between Windom and Fulda, see Minnesota State Highway 62 (west).

Minnesota State Highway 62 is a 12 mile (19 km) long state highway in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. The route was part of Hennepin County Road 62 until 1988, when a portion of the route was inherited by the state.^{[citation needed]} The western terminus of the route is at Interstate Highway 494 in Eden Prairie, where the road continues west as Hennepin County Road 62 to Hennepin County Road 101. The eastern terminus is at Minnesota Highway 55 near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis. Locally, the road is known as "the Crosstown," though there is no signage to reflect this on the route.[1]

[edit] Route description

The original Hennepin County numbering corresponded with 62nd Street in Minneapolis. However, some portions of Highway 62 do stray from the 62nd Street plane, as near the eastern terminus, Highway 62 runs along the plane of 58th Street.

Due to the existence of a second Minnesota Highway 62 in the southwest corner of the state between Windom and Fulda, the stretch of Highway 62 in the Twin Cities starts its numbering at milepost 100. This is unorthodox in that the two state highways have a combined length of 36 miles. "Mile 100" is calibrated where Hennepin County Roads 101 and 62 meet in Minnetonka, though the mileposts themselves, starting with mile 104, do not appear until the state-maintained section inside the beltway.

[edit] History

Highway 62 had a traffic light at its terminus at Highway 55 until the interchange was reconstructed during construction of the Hiawatha Line light rail in 2004.

[edit] Future

[edit] I-35W and Highway 62 Crosstown Commons

A typical traffic jam in the Crosstown Commons. The atypical part was that this picture was taken on a Saturday afternoon, not during rush hour.

The Twin Cities' Highway 62 has one of the most notorious junctions in the region where it interweaves with Interstate Highway 35W. This mile-long stretch is known as the Crosstown Commons, and the highway itself is known as the Crosstown Highway (but there is no signage to reflect these names). Plans to "unweave" and expand this section of roadway to improve traffic flow have come and gone for many years, frustrating the 200,000 drivers who use it daily. Construction of the current design was expected to begin in July of 2006, but was delayed due to failure on the part of the Pawlenty Administration to fund it. The project was adequately funded and bids were received in April 2007, and construction began in May 2007. The new interchange will feature three through-lanes for I-35W (including one HOV lane) in each direction and two separate through-lanes for Highway 62 in each direction, eliminating the need to weave across traffic. The cost of correcting the deficiencies in that short stretch of highway was estimated to be $285 million.^[1]

The bid was won by the Ames, Lunda, and Schafer consortium for $288 million. The project will include 25 new bridges, 63 lane-miles of highway, and will expand the total roadway width from 6 lanes to 12 lanes at Lyndale Avenue. The bridges will be cast in Coates, Minnesota and trucked in for on-site erection. The new design will include transit/HOV lanes and is scheduled to be completed in 2010.^[2]

[edit] Exit list

Destinations	Notes
CR 61 (Shady Oak Road)
US 212 west	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
US 169
Gleason Road
Tracy Avenue
TH 100
Valley View Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
CR 17 (France Avenue)
CR 31 (Xerxes Avenue)
CR 32 (Penn Avenue)
I-35W south – Albert Lea	West end of I-35W overlap
Lyndale Avenue	Exit 11A of I-35W
I-35W north – Minneapolis	East end of I-35W overlap
CR 35 (Portland Avenue)
Bloomington Avenue	Eastbound exit and entrance
TH 77 south / Cedar Avenue north
28th Avenue
34th Avenue
TH 55 west (Hiawatha Avenue) / Minnehaha Avenue
TH 55 east	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance

[edit] References

• Adam Froehlig (November 23, 2003). Minnesota Highway 62 (I). MN Highway Endings. Accessed August 26, 2004.
• Adam Froehlig (March 18, 2003). Minnesota Highway 62 (II). MN Highway Endings. Accessed August 26, 2004.
• Steve Riner (December 27, 2003). Details of Routes 51-75. Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page. Accessed August 26, 2004.

[edit] External links

• I-35W and Highway 62 - Crosstown Commons - Reconstruction project - web page