Anoka Highway 10/169 Project Receives ACEC-MN Grand Award
Congratulations to the City of Anoka for receiving a 2024 ACEC-MN Grand Award for the Highway 10/169 Improvements project. This award recognizes an engineering project that demonstrates an exceptional degree of innovation, complexity, achievement, and value. The project team was presented the award on Friday, February 23 at the ACEC-MN Gala.
In the 1930’s, Highway 10/169 was expanded to a 4-lane expressway. Downtown Anoka was bypassed in 1964 which constructed the expressway on its current alignment, and the roadway has remained virtually unchanged since then. Meanwhile, Anoka County has grown from 85,000 people to more than 350,000 in that same period. For decades, the highway corridor has been severely congested, experienced extremely high crash rates, and served as a barrier to pedestrians and bicyclists. All local trips were forced to travel on Highway 10/169 due to no continuous local connections. In the prior 10 years, more than 1,100 crashes were recorded on this one-mile stretch of road, with more than 325 people injured, including 2 fatalities. The Fairoak Avenue intersection had a crash rate more than 5 times the state average.
Pedestrians and bicyclists had an extremely limited network of accommodations and their exposure to traffic was extremely high, creating unsafe conditions for all modes.
The US Highway 10/169 corridor through the City of Anoka had been studied numerous times since the 1990’s, resulting in no actual change due to the high price tag and lack of a shared vision. In 2013, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) hired Bolton & Menk to complete a study of this corridor that achieved regional needs while providing community improvements that were supported by all partners, MnDOT and Anoka County.
After the study was completed in 2014, the City of Anoka moved forward on their goal to develop a singular vision all parties could support, as well as develop a funding plan to execute these improvements. In just two years, all funding for this $85 million project was realized through continuous advocacy, numerous competitive awards, and commitments from project partners.
With the city leading the project, the community’s values are prominently featured in the design. The project greatly enhances community connectivity by providing a new, continuous roadway network on both sides of the highway. Construction began in 2022 with substantial completion in November 2023. This investment greatly reduces traffic crashes, improves local circulation and connectivity, provides pedestrian accommodations, and allows Highway 10/169 to operate safely and efficiently.
Learn more about the City of Anoka’s Highway 10/169 project.
