[0:01] Okay, good morning everybody.

[0:04] Uh, reminder we are recording. This is

[0:07] meeting number 14 for the Verdon Avenue

[0:09] and Highway 100 interchange project

[0:12] October 2nd, 2025.

[0:16] Again, thank you for your patience.

[0:18] Businesses are open and accessible. Uh

[0:20] we have some various

[0:23] programs going on right now to support

[0:25] the local businesses in the Grand View

[0:27] District and at 50th in France worth the

[0:30] detour passport. Uh restaurant week was

[0:34] last week so that one's uh over but

[0:36] Saturday morning family movies continue

[0:38] October and November. So visit the

[0:41] better together.org

[0:43] backworththed detour for more

[0:45] information on that.

[0:48] still having a lot of construction

[0:49] related stuff, noise, dust, vibrations.

[0:53] Continue to ask people to stop for

[0:55] pedestrians in the crosswalks and be

[0:57] courteous to fellow drivers. Again, if

[1:00] you're not comfortable with that

[1:01] crosswalk, uh the midblock crossing on

[1:03] Eden, uh we would recommend using the

[1:06] crosswalk at Vernon. That's a fully

[1:10] controlled traffic signal system.

[1:13] These are the project goals. Again,

[1:15] improve safety and mobility for all

[1:17] users. to create those separated

[1:18] pedestrian routes, improve traffic

[1:20] operations,

[1:22] consolidate the high 100 access points,

[1:26] uh, and create limited limit impacts

[1:28] with greater efficiency by combining the

[1:31] city and the county projects. So, we'll

[1:33] talk about the dates, uh, a little bit

[1:36] more as we get through this

[1:37] presentation. So, again, this is the

[1:39] project overview. Starts west of

[1:42] Interlockan Boulevard. It has the Vernon

[1:45] Avenue bridge over CP KC rail. Pink are

[1:49] the big wide sidewalks that are being

[1:50] constructed through the entire project.

[1:53] Uh and then the highun bridge that

[1:56] supports Vernon Avenue from the west and

[1:58] 50th Street from the east. And then the

[2:01] newly constructed and aligned on and off

[2:03] ramps on each side of that new bridge.

[2:09] Lots of communications have been

[2:11] happening throughout the duration of

[2:14] this project and will continue until the

[2:16] project is complete. Uh they are listed

[2:18] here. The main source of information

[2:20] again is the better together.org

[2:24] website.

[2:25] That is your best spot to check out

[2:28] information.

[2:30] Construction details, schedule details.

[2:32] Where are we at today? So this

[2:34] intersection has been and continues to

[2:37] be free flowing at Vernon in Interlockan

[2:40] Boulevard. Gus Young Lane lane is closed

[2:43] at the Dino Liquor Store and it's going

[2:46] to stay closed because the contractor

[2:48] needs that space for equipment and

[2:50] materials and cranes while they start on

[2:54] that west abutment work very soon.

[3:00] And speaking of that, the permit and

[3:02] agreements between the railroad and

[3:04] Excel Energy have been approved a week

[3:08] and a half ago. Excel has deenergized

[3:11] the power line and Ames is starting to

[3:13] work in this area next week. So, Ames

[3:16] will start removing the west the

[3:18] existing bridge abutman on the west

[3:20] side. They'll create space for Excel to

[3:22] come in with big steel conduit and

[3:25] casing and then Excel will run a new

[3:27] line inside that steel casing pipe. So,

[3:30] they are working together to get this

[3:31] work completed and it sounds like Ames

[3:34] is starting next week.

[3:37] These ramps closed a few weeks ago,

[3:39] continue to be closed uh until they're

[3:42] on schedule to reopen mid November. Um

[3:45] everything on this side of the project

[3:48] on the east side is continues to be on

[3:50] schedule for opening on that mid

[3:52] November is the is the schedule.

[3:57] Other schedule stuff, the Highway 100

[3:59] bridge deck, the entire thing was poured

[4:01] last Wednesday night. Um pretty

[4:04] interesting thing. 15 trucks roughly an

[4:07] hour from about 900 p.m. to 4 in the

[4:10] morning. So now the deck is ready to

[4:12] have the concrete median poured, the

[4:15] curbon gutter poured, the sidewalks,

[4:17] that's all happening next week. So the

[4:19] contractors getting ready to continue

[4:21] those concrete pores on that Highway 100

[4:23] bridge.

[4:25] The northbound Highway 100 on-ramp, the

[4:28] noise wall planks are starting. So

[4:30] you'll start to see those going up to

[4:32] finish that noise wall. The noise wall

[4:35] at Hawthorne Court, they're pouring the

[4:37] concrete noise wall posts. We started

[4:39] that yesterday. I have a picture of

[4:41] that. Uh we did ask the contractor to

[4:44] create multiple schedules and cost

[4:46] options.

[4:48] We asked if there was any way possible

[4:50] to open this bridge this year, the

[4:51] Vernon Avenue bridge. And if not, we

[4:54] asked them to create schedules and

[4:56] options to get Gus Young Lane open uh

[5:00] while that bridge is closed if we can't

[5:02] continue working through the winter. So,

[5:04] a lot of unknowns yet. They stated they

[5:07] would get us some of those schedule and

[5:08] cost options by the end of this week. Uh

[5:12] I should note that the Henipin County

[5:14] and the city will coordinate decisions

[5:16] on how to handle what schedules and what

[5:20] costs come forward. But most of the

[5:23] funding for the Vernon Avenue bridge is

[5:24] Henipin County. So they have to go

[5:26] through their processes to approve any

[5:28] change orders or change of schedules or

[5:30] any of that kind of stuff even though

[5:32] the city holds a contract. So there's

[5:35] processes by both agencies once we have

[5:37] that information to get those approvals

[5:40] to move forward. Once we know something,

[5:42] we will be sharing it out during these

[5:45] meetings on the website, emails, all

[5:47] those sources.

[5:50] So pictures, we'll just share some where

[5:52] we at today kind of pictures. Again,

[5:54] this intersection hasn't changed.

[5:56] Interlockin and Vernon Avenue free

[5:58] flowing.

[6:00] Uh this is the Vernon Avenue bridge

[6:02] area. You can see picture on the left is

[6:04] the east abupment. It's been done and

[6:07] ready. In the background, they're

[6:08] starting to form the wall next to

[6:10] Hawthorne Court. And then flipping

[6:14] around and looking from that abutment to

[6:16] the west, this is where this work is

[6:18] going to start next week. That power

[6:20] line's been deenergized and Excel and

[6:23] Ames are going to coordinate the work to

[6:25] start to build the abupment on the west

[6:27] side.

[6:30] Starting to get ready to pour the

[6:31] sidewalk along Vernon Avenue 2. So this

[6:34] is on the south side of Vernon near the

[6:36] Devonti as you can see in the

[6:37] background, but getting ready to pour

[6:39] the concrete curbon gutter and the wide

[6:41] sidewalk from that east abutment

[6:47] at Hawthorne Court. This is looking at

[6:49] the apartment. You can see the noise

[6:52] wall post installed adjacent to the new

[6:55] retaining wall which starts near the

[6:58] apartments and heads west. And in the

[7:00] background, which is the picture on the

[7:03] right, you can see they're starting to

[7:05] form and actually pour those noise wall

[7:08] posts that are on top of that retaining

[7:10] wall. So that wall continues to be

[7:13] constructed.

[7:15] And here's some pictures from that

[7:17] Wednesday night pour from just over a

[7:19] week ago. as very large crews got out

[7:22] there and were doing this work, pouring

[7:25] lots and lots of concrete finishing it,

[7:28] broom, finishing it, working on that

[7:30] deck. You look at the rebar here on the

[7:33] bottom lower of the right hand pitcher.

[7:36] That's where the concrete curve and

[7:37] sidewalk will be poured next week.

[7:42] So, they're tying into that exposed

[7:44] rebar there for the curb and the

[7:45] sidewalk.

[7:47] Again, more pictures of that night. The

[7:49] one on the left, you can see the smooth

[7:51] gutter line that'll be adjacent to the

[7:54] curb when it's complete. And the one on

[7:57] the right, again, just a big big pumper

[8:00] arm concrete pumping truck to place that

[8:03] concrete on that deck during those

[8:05] overnight hours.

[8:10] Picture of the bridge again from a

[8:12] different angle. You can see Highway 100

[8:14] in the background on the left. And then

[8:16] again on the right hand picture is

[8:18] showing the the new off-ramp

[8:22] alignment where that dozer is in the

[8:24] background. That'll be northbound high

[8:27] 100. You'll come up go under the Eden

[8:29] Bridge and come straight up to the 50th

[8:32] Street intersection. So that braiding

[8:34] work is well underway and nearly

[8:37] complete and they'll soon be installing

[8:40] concrete curbs and all the paving along

[8:43] those on and off ramps within the

[8:45] project. Again,

[8:48] these are the renderings that we've

[8:49] showed throughout these meetings. The

[8:51] one on the left is the the bridge from

[8:53] the top. It's getting closer to that

[8:55] view every every day. And then the one

[8:58] on the right is the view from northbound

[9:01] I 100, which is starting to look very

[9:03] much like the rendering also.

[9:09] So, stop sharing here and see if there's

[9:12] any questions in the chat. So if you

[9:15] have any questions, please type it in

[9:18] in the chat and we can answer those

[9:20] questions. Now the meeting will be

[9:23] posted, these slides will be posted to

[9:24] the website. The recording will be

[9:26] posted to the website. If you got

[9:28] questions, just reach out directly to

[9:30] me. Uh we can help answer those

[9:33] questions. Once we know more on the

[9:35] schedules, those will be posted and

[9:36] provided to everybody. Um,

[9:41] see anybody typing in no questions.

[9:46] Again, we'll be posting this

[9:48] information. Updates will be to the

[9:50] better together.org

[9:53] website. If you have specific questions,

[9:55] feel free to call or email and happy to

[9:58] answer those.

[10:01] Still don't see anybody typing, so I'm

[10:02] going to call it a meeting. Thanks,

[10:04] everybody.