By this time next year, a major upgrade to Highway 10/Engler Boulevard from Bavaria Road to Park Ridge Drive in Chaska will be nearly completed if all goes as scheduled. Among other improvements, the project will create four roundabouts including one at the high-traffic intersection of Highway 41 and 10.
Bids for the $26.7 million construction project will be advertised soon, according to Project Manager Darin Mielke of Carver County, but the first phase of construction won’t begin until April 15, 2025. The project’s overall cost, including land acquisition and professional services, is $34.3 million.
Artist rendering of planned Highways 41 and 10 roundabout.
“It’s a pretty substantial project,” Mielke said, but one that planners say will improve traffic flow and safety for the growing area. The project was one recommended in the Highway 10 Corridor Study that kicked-off in 2018. Funding comes from multiple federal and state sources, as well as Carver County and the City of Chaska.
As part of the project, Carver County will reconstruct Highway 10 into a four-lane highway (two lanes in each direction) with a center median from Bavaria Road to Crest Drive. Other improvements include: roundabouts at Bavaria Road, White Oak Drive, Highway 41/10, and Park Ridge Drive near the Chaska Community Center; pavement resurfacing from the Highway 212 interchange to Old Audubon Road; trail connections along Highway 10, including from the Chaska Community Center to Ravoux Road; and a new City of Chaska Public Safety Campus.
The project also includes two pedestrian underpasses – one under 41 on the north side of the intersection, and one under Engler on the east side of the intersection.
Mielke noted that the other roundabouts will have pedestrian crossways where there are two lanes to cross, with LED flashing lights that can be activated by pedestrians. The pedestrian underpasses will provide safe crossings for students attending Chaska Middle School West and East.
The public’s response to the project as it has moved through the design phase has been mostly positive, Mielke said.
“Overall, everyone’s looking forward to it because of the capacity and safety enhancements it will provide with the roundabouts. In particular, those two pedestrian underpasses are a huge safety benefit for the middle schooler kids that need to cross the intersections. We’ve had a few close calls and even a few pedestrian accidents at that 41 and 10 intersection in the past. So overall, the safety component of this is really positive for the public.”
To keep the project moving on schedule, Mielke said they will pay incentives to construction companies to hit the deadlines. The goal is to complete the Highway 41 and 10 portion by Labor Day, before school starts in the fall of 2025. The goal for completing a substantial portion of the roadway is Nov. 15, 2025.
“It’s possible to get it done in that time,” Mielke said, noting that the schedule includes contingencies for weather and other possible delays. “We also have a plan in mind if we get delayed and we have to delay some work into 2026.”
The first phase of construction begins at the Bavaria Road roundabout section and is slated for April 15 to June 9, 2025.
The second phase includes the roundabouts at White Oak Drive and Highway 41/10 and is scheduled for June 6 to Aug. 29.
The third phase includes the section of Highway 10 east of the Highway 41 intersection and the roundabout near the Chaska Community Center at Park Ridge Drive. The completion goal for that portion is Nov. 15, 2025. The third phase also includes a portion of Highway 10 near the planned Chaska Safety Campus. That portion and the new Safety Campus are scheduled to be completed by Oct. 31, 2025.See a video rendition of the completed project here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94uKWEa1Uak
