AFTON, Minn. — The eastbound approach to the Hudson Bridge has been slow going lately, due to lane closures from a huge repaving project on Interstate 94. It has created headaches and delays for drivers stuck in backed-up traffic.
The choke point where three lanes go down two or even one at a time has been especially challenging, leading drivers to seek bypasses.
"When people notice it's backing up here at the Hudson Bridge crossing they will exit five miles before that on Manning Avenue, and take this frontage road, Hudson Road, to try to sidestep the traffic," Sen. Judy Seeberger, who lives in the area, told KARE 11.
"It doesn’t really save people any time, unfortunately, and causes tremendous backups along this frontage road."
Sen. Seeberger, who is also a paramedic for the Lower Saint Croix Valley Fire Department, said the backups can also affect emergency response time.
"When I get a call and have to go to the fire department it takes me a really long time. We responded to a call two days ago on this road and it was a little tricky getting through the traffic."
Hudson Road runs parallel to the interstate on the south side. Businesses along that stretch have also been dealing with the backups and lane closures. For Black's Greenhouse, the bypass traffic has been both a curse and a blessing at times.
"Most of our clientele is from Hudson, so they have been not making their way across the river as much," Sarah Flynn of Black's Greenhouse, told KARE 11.
"We have had a decent amount of people who have never been here stop in, which is nice. A lot of people are coming in to look around, because they don’t want to stuck in traffic anymore."
Even though the backups are occurring mostly in the eastbound lanes of I-94, ramp closures have forced westbound drivers to come up with creative workarounds. Sarah Flynn said even routine trips have been a challenge.
"I tried to get from the Target in Hudson back to here a few nights ago, and it took me 35 minutes. And it's only three or four miles!"
One bright light in the past two days has been a lane shift, so they’re no longer using the off-ramps and on-ramps at Highway 95 as temporary driving lanes.
"What they had done is kept one thru lane going on the freeway and were asking motorists to use the off-ramp and the on-ramp as a thru lane, and that was way too confusing," Seeberger explained.
"It’s not a predictable scenario for anybody, so they were trying to merge back on and it was a mess. So, they just opened this up, so fingers crossed it will be moving a little better."
The pavement project covers 11 miles of roadway from Century Avenue on the west to the Saint Croix River on the east. It began in July of 2022 and is expected to wrap up in the fall of 2024.
MnDOT wasn’t able to make anyone available to talk about the project on Friday, but the project website lists the following summary:
- Resurface pavement and ramps.
- Construct new eastbound lane from I-494 to Woodbury Dr.
- Resurface frontage road (Hudson Rd.) in the project area.
- Upgrade pedestrian/bicycle accessibility.
- Repair drainage.
- Replace signage.
- Upgrade lighting.
- Install median barrier.
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