By Shannon Fiecke, Staff Writer 

A favorable construction market has shaved $5 million off the anticipated cost of extending County Road 21 and building a transit station and bus-only highway ramp in Shakopee.

Enebak Construction’s $20 million construction bid secured the Northfield company the job, anticipated to take one to two years to complete.  

It was one of seven companies that bid for the long-anticipated project, which has been in plans since 1990.

Trees were cleared from the 2.9-mile route in southeastern Shakopee this summer. Equipment was expected to begin moving in Wednesday to start grading.

Crews will probably continue working well until December, when the ground freezes up, County Engineer Mitch Rasmussen said. About 1.5 million cubic yards of dirt has to be moved.

If weather cooperates, the road and transit improvements could possibly be complete by the end of next year.

The four-lane divided highway will connect existing County Road 21, which dead ends at County Road 42 in Prior Lake, northward through the Southbridge community to meet with County Road 18 in Shakopee. It will provide a more direct route for many drivers to reach Highway 169.

The project includes the construction of bus shoulders, the Eagle Creek Transit Station for express buses on the southwest corner of County Roads 16 and 21 and a bus-only ramp from Stagecoach Road to northbound 169, which will quicken travel from buses from an existing transit lot next to Home Depot.  The Eagle Creek station will have a parking lot and shelter.

Federal funds will fund approximately $17 million of the entire project, and the county’s portion is approximately $2 million. The remainder will be paid by the Metropolitan Council ($287,647) and the cities of Shakopee ($190,355) and Prior Lake ($416,249).

The County Road 21 extension was recognized by the Metropolitan Council as the completion of a significant north-south link in the regional highway system grid and was awarded $11.5 million in federal funds through two separate regionally competitive solicitations. Critical elements that aided in the regional selection of this project were transit elements.

The project was selected in April 2009 to receive an additional $7.3 million in federal stimulus funds.Due to the significant bid savings, the state and Metropolitan Council agreed to reserve funding of up to 7 percent of eligible items in the contract for potential contract changes. There is $1,363,640 available for potential changes ($1,090,912 in federal funds and $272,728 in county funds). The set-aside of federal funding is atypical; however, on a project of this size and complexity, the county believes it’s reasonable to expect some anticipated changes.

Because it received federal stimulus dollars, the county accelerated the project timeline.  

The following seven construction bids were received:

•  Enebak Construction, $19,957,032.

•  S.M. Hentges & Sons, $21,720,381.

•  Hoffman Construction, $21,730,236.

•  Mathiowetz Construction, $21,915,120.

•  Ames Construction, $21,991,698.

•  Shafer Contracting, $22,559,938.

•  CS McCrossan Construction, $23,763,915.

Over the past 18-plus years, Scott County has worked closely with the Metropolitan Council, federal and state transportation officials, the cities of Shakopee and Prior Lake, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community and others to make the County Road 21 link a reality.

Transportation studies, completed in the late 1980s for the new Bloomington Ferry Bridge, identified the need for a north-south link in the regional arterial highway system to help manage and support the movement of traffic in the south metro region. The County Road 21 corridor was identified as early as 1990 as the appropriate link to meet this need, according to Scott County transportation documents.  

Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (952) 345-6697 or sfieckee@swpub.com.