Project Manager Newsletter
October 2026
Hello and thanks for your patience for this belated October PM newsletter.
October was a big month for the Hwy 252/I-94 study! Hopefully you all saw that MnDOT and Federal Highway Administration published the Federal Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the State Draft EIS on October 23.
The Draft EIS includes the purpose and needs for the project, the alternatives that we studied, the evaluation results, including the benefits and impacts of each alternative, and the identified preferred alternative. The document does not include mitigation commitments, and it does not select the preferred alternative.
Selection of the preferred alternative is anticipated to come in the combined Final Environmental Impact State (FEIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) sometime next summer.
For this newsletter, I wanted to reiterate that we want to hear from you. Take a look at the preferred alternative and spend time reading the various chapters and appendices. Both documents are available for review on the DEIS tab.
The public comment period has also begun and will continue until December 22. We are taking comments several ways, including through the project website:
Email: Highway252andI94.DOT@state.mn.us
Voicemail: 952-944-5555
Mail: Amber Blanchard, Project Manager, Minnesota Department of Transportation, 1500 West County Road B2, Roseville, MN 55113
We will also have public hearings in Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, and Minneapolis and a virtual meeting. For more information on these meetings, please see the dates and locations on the Meetings tab.
The Draft Noise Analysis Report is also available separately from the Draft EIS. This explains the noise analysis that was done on the entire corridor and explains the potential location of noise walls. More information will also be available at the Draft EIS public hearings and the noise wall meetings for those eligible to vote.
The publication of the Draft EIS is a major milestone in the development of this project, and I know it is a long time coming for many of you. There have been many questions that the team couldn’t answer since we needed to analyze multiple options and I hope this helps answer some of your questions. We started working on the Draft EIS last spring and it is finally ready for you to read.
I want to express my gratitude to you for your patience and understanding over the last couple of years as we have worked hard to get to this point. I look forward to seeing you all at the meetings and reading your comments.