Paving crews on Thursday, July 25, work on the section of southbound Prairie Center Drive just west of Flying Cloud Drive. Photo by Mark Weber
Repaving of Prairie Center Drive is expected to shift on Monday, July 29, to the southbound lanes between Highway 212 and Technology Drive, an area just outside of the Elevate at Southwest Station apartments.
That section of southbound Prairie Center Drive will be closed, requiring drivers to take detours. The Highway 212 off-ramp to Prairie Center Drive will also be closed during this segment of the repaving project, which will last until Aug. 7.
Why it matters: Portions of Prairie Center Drive are Eden Prairie’s busiest city street, with about 20,000 motorists using it daily, according to a 2020 estimate. The $2.8 million project by the City of Eden Prairie will challenge motorists accessing nearby businesses until work is complete at the end of September. Details about detours are on the city’s website.
Work starting Monday on a new stage of the project means the southbound lanes of Prairie Center Drive between Technology and Flying Cloud drives will reopen to traffic, according to Adam Gadbois, assistant city engineer for the city.
This map, reprinted from the City of Eden Prairie website, shows in blue the detours for the segment of Prairie Center Drive repaving scheduled to begin on July 29, shown in red.
The project includes a new base for the road and four layers of asphalt. The third layer was being put on southbound lanes today (Friday). A fourth and final layer will be put down over the length of the project at the very end “to create a final layer that has a reduced amount of seams and joints, and one, finished look,” Gadbois said.
The project is on schedule, and motorists seem to be finding alternate routes while business entrances remain open, according to Gadbois. “It’s what we were hoping for,” he said.
Gadbois said the paving contractor, Northwest Asphalt, has been working Saturdays and often into the weekday evenings to keep the project on schedule.
A separate but nearby project also begins Monday: construction of traffic signals at Prairie Center Drive and Franlo Road, where Arby’s restaurant occupies the northeast corner of the intersection, and the Eden Prairie Library occupies the southeast corner. Motorists trying to access the Eden Prairie Center mall from the south are encouraged to use entrances at Preserve Boulevard or Regional Center Road.