The MCWD's administrator Eric Evenson and MnDOT's Dick Stehr will discuss MnDOT's decision to abandon its interchange project at 62/55, claming it cannot build the road segment under the legislation passed last May to protect Camp Coldwater Springs. The debate will begin roughly around 6:30 p.m. over Almanac, PBS, channel 2.
I have also included the press release from MCWD posted publicly two days ago when MnDOT made its decision. Please post if possible. Thanks
Martin Keller, MCWD consultant
Media Savant Communications
Lynnhurst
Media Notice
Contact: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MartinKeller/Media Savant Communications
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
MINNEHAHA CREEK WATERSHED DISTRICT VIEWS MNDOT’S TERMINATION OF HWY 55/62 INTERCHANGE PROJECT WHILE IT SEEKS RELIEF FROM NEXT LEGISLATURE AS UNNECESSARY; MCWD CALLS FOR A WORKABLE SOLUTION TO BOTH BUILDING THE HIGHWAY PROJECT AND PROTECTING CAMP COLDWATER SPRINGS
MINNEAPOLIS,MN., -- September 18, 2001 – The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) today called the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT) decision to terminate the building of the Highway 55/62 Interchange as an unnecessary action that will inconvenience motorists, waste public money and delay a workable design that would allow construction to continue and the protection of Camp Coldwater Springs. MnDot’s decision was announced today during a conference call with the MCWD and MNDOT and Judge Franklin Knoll who has been hearing legal arguments in a lawsuit brought by MCWD against the state agency over the design of the interchange groundwater runoff and the potential impact to the springs.
“MnDOT’s decision to terminate its interchange project in hopes of seeking relief from the next legislature from recent and past environmental legislation has the potential to make voters choose between protecting an important historical resource and constructing the highway. By taking this position, MnDOT is walking away from the table to protect a valued water resource at the springs,”says Eric Evenson, MCWD administrator.
The original settlement agreement, created under the guidance of Hennepin County District Judge Knoll, established that MNDOT and MCWD would work together to find a revised design for the highway 55/62 interchange that would not impede flow to Camp Coldwater Springs. A jointly selected, independent engineering firm, Shannon & Wilson, found that MNDOT's current interchange design was flawed. MnDOT estimates that the design recommended by the independent engineering firm could cost between $4 to $8 million. On August 27, MnDOT filed a legal request asking that it be released from fulfilling an out-of-court settlement agreement negotiated earlier this summer with the district.
“The MCWD has clearly demonstrated that the MnDOT design would harm the springs,” says Louis Smith of Smith Parker, MCWD legal counsel.“However, we feel there are workable solutions to be explored without stopping highway construction.”
Concerns that the original Highway 55/62 design initially proposed by MnDOT would harm the flow of the historic Camp Coldwater Springs were confirmed by a series of dye tests conducted last June and during recent tests at the site during dewatering. The tests showed a connection between the flow of the springs and part of the spring's recharge area to the southwest, which included the interchange area, only a quarter mile away from the springs.
Camp Coldwater Springs, located at the old Bureau of Mines site near Fort Snelling in south Minneapolis, is considered the birthplace of Minnesota and an important site by some Native Americans. The Camp Coldwater Springs area is a valuable fresh water spring located near Minnehaha Falls and the site of much known -- and unexplored - Native American and Minnesota settlement history.
The Minnehaha Falls gorge and surrounding Mississippi River bluff is not only the subject of Longfellow's poetry, but also the site of several groundwater-fed seeps and springs, including two Black Ash seeps, which the Department of Natural Resources classifies as a critical natural areas.
For more than 33 years, MCWD has monitored and investigated the lakes and streams that feed Minnehaha Creek across two counties and 29 cities and towns, from the upper watershed North and West of Lake Minnetonka to the Lake itself, through the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes, to Minnehaha Creek and Minnehaha
Falls. The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, working in partnership with cities, townships, and citizen groups, has helped to improve the water quality in most of the lakes and streams in the watershed. Recent lake and wetland restoration projects include Gleason Creek, Long Lake, Painter Creek, Twin Lakes/Cedar Lake, Lake Calhoun, Pamela Park, Lake Nokomis and others.
The MCWD designs and builds projects to protect water resources including lake restoration, wetland enhancement, erosion repair and flood control. The District also coordinates cities, counties, park districts developers, and others within watershed boundaries for compatible and efficient water resource management.
For more information, or to interview Eric Evenson, or Louis Smith, please contact Martin Keller at 612-220-6515.
# # # #
