(October 17, 2022) Pope County officials, area State Legislators, MnDOT officials, first responders, and the greater community gathered on Monday the 17th to mark the impending opening of the State Highway 29 overpass north of Glenwood.
The Pope County Highway Department held a short program at its shop facility, hosted by MnDOT District 4 Engineer Shiloh Wahl, with speakers and attendees from the stakeholders involved in bringing the overpass project from an idea to design to a fully constructed project in fall of 2022.
Speakers delivering remarks to the gathered audience included Pope County Commissioner Gordy Wagner, State Representative Paul Anderson, State Senator Torrey Westrom, and State Transportation Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger. The speakers highlighted the advocacy by local officials and residents, and support of state legislators and former and current State executive branch officials as critical in bringing the project to fruition, improving safety at busy intersections, facilitating better traffic flow, promoting vehicle-railroad safety, and greatly reducing emergency response times.
After the conclusion of the program and remarks, officials gathered on the overpass deck for a ribbon-cutting by Commissioner Wagner, marking the ceremonial opening of the overpass. Officials then joined first responders in proceeding over the overpass as the first vehicles to cross the new bridge that brings Highway 29 across Highway 55 and the Canadian Pacific Railway below.
MnDOT staff expects the approaches to be paved and the overpass to be open to public traffic in the coming week or two, and will be publicizing that opening once a final date is established.
For more information on the overpass project, visit the MnDOT website for the project here.
