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Transportation
Andrew Krueger

End is near for monthslong closure of Twin Cities highway

Road crews work to stabilize a hillside highway
Crews work this month to address a slope failure that forced the closure of a section of State Highway 13 near Lilydale Regional Park in Mendota Heights. The highway was closed after rain-saturated soil on the hillside gave way in early June.
Robert Jones | Minnesota Department of Transportation

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Work continues to repair and reopen a Twin Cities highway that’s been closed for months.

A section of State Highway 13 in Mendota Heights was closed to traffic in early June, after rain-saturated ground on a hillside below the road gave way.

After the Minnesota Department of Transportation studied the problem over the summer and created a plan to address it, crews started working on the highway in September.

MnDOT had hoped to have the highway back open by Nov. 1 — but that’s now been pushed back to Nov. 10.

Road crews work to stabilize a hillside highway
Crews work to address a slope failure that forced the closure of part of State Highway 13 in Mendota Heights. They've been constructing a retaining wall and installing a drainage system.
Robert Jones | Minnesota Department of Transportation

MnDOT maintenance operations engineer Chris Hoberg said that once repair work got underway, it took longer than expected to drill piling to build a retaining wall.

“It took a little bit longer for us to get through the bedrock, and there was a lot of that piling that needed to be installed, so it kind of expanded our schedule there a little bit,” Hoberg said. “But that’s really been the only surprise that we’ve come up against.”

He said crews are also adding a drainage system to prevent another slope failure.

“They’re digging down below the roadway and putting in place the pipe that’s going to help prevent water from impounding in the soil mass, and divert that water away to our storm sewer system,” he said.

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Once the drainage system is in place, crews will backfill and grade the road bed, install curbs and gutters, and then pave the highway.

Given how late it is in the season, and the cooler weather on the way, Hoberg said crews will put down temporary lane markings — then come back next year to install permanent ones.

Until the repair work is finished, Highway 13 remains closed between Wachtler Avenue and Sylvandale Road in Mendota Heights. A detour is posted.