MnDOT staff told the Richfield City Council on May 27 that one way to shorten construction for the I‑494 corridor work is to use full closures of selected structures — including Highway 77 bridges — and accelerated bridge construction techniques, but they cautioned those options require detailed analysis of local detours and coordination with other regional projects.

Andrew Letai said MnDOT is planning a baseline three‑year construction schedule for project 2 (roughly 2027–2029) but that using full closures and accelerated work could compress the timeline. "We're starting out, assuming a 3 year, construction window," Letai said, adding that the first year typically is used for utility relocations and temporary widening, leaving two seasons for major bridge and mainline work.

MnDOT described specific staging tradeoffs: a two‑season baseline for bridge replacement could be reduced if crews fully close the Highway 77 bridges and accelerate construction, but that would send significant volumes onto alternate routes. Council members and city staff repeatedly asked how detoured traffic would affect local streets such as Nicollet and Portland avenues and raised concerns about concurrent projects (Hennepin County reconstruction on Nicollet, Highway 62 and other nearby corridor projects) that could worsen local congestion if not staggered.

City staff and elected officials requested a detailed comparison of the benefits and impacts of a one‑season accelerated closure versus the baseline multi‑season plan. MnDOT agreed to develop that analysis and present it at the next work session.

MnDOT and county/city staff also discussed near‑term impacts from project 1 construction in Richfield: multiple total weekend closures of I‑494 are already scheduled for the coming weeks (MnDOT said three of the next four weekends would include full shutdowns in parts of Richfield during certain work) and city officials reported heavy local congestion and travel delays on days when local crossings such as Twelfth and Portland were restricted.

County or city staff said that when Portland Avenue bridge work requires demolition the contractor is contractually required to reopen the crossing within 180 days; MnDOT staff said closures of 494 are needed to conduct safe bridge demolition and that advance notice and stronger local communication are needed before weekend shutdowns.

No formal council action was taken. Council members asked MnDOT to return with corridor‑wide staging analyses that include quantitative diversion modeling, a timeline comparison of one‑season versus multi‑season bridge replacement, and coordination plans for concurrent county and regional projects.