Highway 371 is a highly-traveled Trunk Highway leading to some of Minnesota’s most pristine lakes and largest tourist attractions. The nine-mile Highway 371 four lane expansion occurred just north of County Road 18 in Nisswa and extended to Jenkins, north of County Road 16. As tourism and travel continued to grow in the area, capacity, safety, social, economic and environmental impacts and concerns began to arise.
The project converted 10 miles of two lane highway into a four-lanes on a route that extends from Nisswa, through Pequot Lakes and ending in Jenkins. The $50 million project included the construction of three bridges, an interchange with roundabouts, two reduced conflict intersections and the realignment of the Paul Bunyan Trail.
Earthwork was a major component of the project, requiring two million cubic yards of material to be moved. Innovative 3D modeling of the moved material was developed in our office and deployed to the road graders and dozers, resulting in an efficient office-to-field operation. Several innovative design solutions were implemented during the expansion of Highway 371. Cutting-edge drainage solutions were employed, significant attention to habitat preservation occurred, a number of sustainable approaches were used to preserve water quality and protect the environmental integrity of the project and creative traffic engineering solutions were deployed to assist the surrounding communities’ safety and economic prosperity.
As part of the Mathiowetz Construction Company (MCC) Team, we served as the lead design firm managing the design and construction quality for the project. The design services included roadway engineering, hydraulics engineering, structural engineering, traffic engineering, environmental engineering, surveying, project controls and construction quality management.