It’s open today. Well, it’s supposed to be open today. The new portion of The New Highway 212 is supposed to open for traffic today from its current temporary ending spot in Eden Prairie at Dell Road all the way out to the interchange with Highway 41 in Chanhassen. The new highway was planned to be open out to the new intersection with Powers Blvd in Chanhassen by this time, but the construction crews had made so much progress that they were able to open it out to Highway 41 about six months ahead of schedule.
The President of Zumbro River Constructors, Herb Morgan, attributed the fast pace on the progress to a dry summer and early fall (good construction weather); the good cooperation between the city, county and MnDOT staff on the project; and the skills of his employees. I think that’s a fair attribution.
This photo was taken at the actual opening event on Monday. The grand opening/dedication/ribbon cutting program was a little over an hour long. Maybe a bit longer than it needed to be, given that it was only 9 degrees above zero F. It was cold out there standing on a frozen slab of concrete with the west wind whistling through my head. But the new road is open, and that’s a good thing for Eden Prairie.
