A project that traces back to a city memo written 36 years ago has finally wrapped up in Plymouth. The $35 million Station 73 project raised Highway 55 to build a tunnel so pedestrians and bicyclists can safely cross underneath, added two roundabouts, and reworked County Road 73, all finished after two years of construction.
The city celebrated the completed work with a gathering in Plymouth, according to CCX Media. City Manager Dave Callister told the outlet that the earliest written record his team could track down was a memo dated June 15, 1990, sent to the Plymouth City Council by then-City Manager Jim Willis proposing a realignment of County Road 73, though planning on the broader concept may stretch back even further.
Highway 55 links the western suburbs to Minneapolis and now carries about 30,000 vehicles a day, the station’s report notes. That volume has grown alongside Plymouth itself, which had roughly 20,000 residents back in the 1970s and is now home to about 80,000 people.
A Senator’s Personal Tie to the Highway
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who grew up three blocks from Highway 55 and rode her bicycle along its shoulder as a teenager in the 1970s, joined the celebration by phone on November 10. She said the highway used to be dangerous to cross and no longer is, per the same account from CCX Media. Klobuchar also helped secure a $15 million federal RAISE grant for the project, a turning point Plymouth Mayor Jeff Wosje credited with finally getting the long-stalled plan moving…