MnDOT is kicking off replacement of the aging I-35E bridge over Shepard Road in St. Paul at 7 a.m. Monday, April 13, a full week earlier than initially planned. Instead of rolling out a pricey temporary span, crews will haul in roughly 23,000 cubic yards of fill and stack it into a temporary embankment that will top out at about 22 feet. Once it is paved, that dirt bypass will carry interstate traffic while the existing overpass is demolished. Shepard Road beneath the bridge will stay closed in the work zone for months as the roughly $18 million project grinds along.
Closures, detours and timing
According to MnDOT, work starts at 7 a.m. Monday and will shut down key stretches of Shepard Road in both directions. Westbound Shepard will be closed from Lexington Parkway to Otto Avenue. Eastbound Shepard will be closed from Lexington Parkway to the northbound I-35E ramp. The northbound I-35E ramp to Shepard will stay open, with traffic detoured along Lexington Parkway, West Seventh Street and Otto Avenue. MnDOT says these closures are expected to last through the fall and is bluntly advising drivers to build in extra travel time.
How the soil bypass will work
Rather than assemble a temporary bridge, MnDOT is going with an asphalt-topped bypass built on carefully layered soil. Each layer will be wrapped in fabric to guard against washout and keep the structure stable. The embankment will use about 23,000 cubic yards of dirt, rise to roughly 22 feet in spots, and is projected to carry about 82,100 vehicles a day once traffic is shifted onto the temporary roadway, according to the Star Tribune. MnDOT spokesman Kent Barnard told the paper that the approach avoids squeezing traffic head-to-head on a half bridge and "keeps traffic flowing as smoothly as possible."
What drivers should expect
Local coverage has repeatedly warned that closing Shepard Road in this stretch will shove commuter traffic onto nearby city streets and tack on minutes, especially during rush hour. Television reports have tied the shutdown to MnDOT’s broader slate of 2026 road projects and urged travelers to pad their schedules and stick to marked detours. CBS Minnesota has also recommended checking traffic tools before heading out, so drivers do not learn about the closure the hard way.
Why MnDOT chose dirt over a temporary bridge
MnDOT officials say bringing in and installing a temporary steel bridge would have meant longer lead times and a higher price tag than simply building an embankment alongside the existing structure. The soil bypass, they argue, is a more cost-effective way to avoid the usual head-to-head traffic pattern that comes with rebuilding one span at a time. Project documentation and the agency’s project page peg the work at roughly $18 million and lay out the construction schedule and traffic impacts in more detail, for anyone who likes their road projects with fine print.
New digs for MVTA
Just to the south, the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority is celebrating its own infrastructure upgrade. The agency marked completion of its renovated Burnsville bus garage with an April 9 ribbon cutting, according to a press release from Rep. Angie Craig. Regional planning documents list the Burnsville Bus Garage at 11550 Rupp Drive and describe ongoing modernization and electrification planning for the site. The revamped facility, cited in those materials as a key operations and maintenance hub for MVTA, sits a few miles south of the Shepard Road work and underscores the broader wave of transit and transportation spending in the corridor.
Where to get updates
MnDOT is posting project details and an email sign-up for alerts on its I-35E and Shepard Road project page, and both the agency and local reporting point to an on-site camera that will share daily progress photos for anyone who wants a front-row seat to the dirt-pile engineering experiment. Commuters are urged to check real-time travel information before leaving home and to keep an eye on 511 for detours and lane changes. For quick route checks, visit 511mn.
