MARBLE — The Minnesota Department of Transportation is hosting a public meeting on Wednesday, May 10, in Marble City Hall, 302 Alice Ave., to discuss the Highway 169 Cross Range corridor study from Pengilly to Taconite.
Doors open at 5 p.m. with a presentation at 5:30 p.m.
Project staff will give a brief background on the corridor and identify corridor needs based on community, industry and agency feedback, as well as technical analysis. Staff will also present concept alternatives being considered and show the preliminary evaluation of those alternatives based on how well they address the identified needs.
For those unable to attend in person, a recorded presentation will be posted to the project website at mndot.gov/d1/projects/hwy169-crossrange.
Since the 1980s, a variety of studies, environmental documents and projects have been completed on Highway 169 through the Iron Range. Over the past two decades, much of the corridor between Grand Rapids and Taconite has undergone roadway reconstruction, adding capacity and modernizing the roadway. The 8-mile section of corridor from Taconite to Pengilly is currently being studied to understand existing and future transportation needs and inform future projects.
A full Environmental Impact Statement was last conducted in 1989 on portions of the study corridor. Additional environmental documentation was also completed in the early 2000s, to document needs near, but not within the current study area.
Since these studies, federal regulations have changed to require a more robust environmental analysis and assessment of needs along the corridor. To meet requirements for federal funding, and to better understand the current and future needs of Highway 169 from Taconite to Pengilly, MnDOT is taking a deeper look into how the roadway functions today to plan for its future.
