Mining firms United Taconite and RGGS Land and Minerals announced recently that they have given notice to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) of their intent to terminate the easement rights to the portion of Hwy. 53 that is located between Hwy. 135 and 2nd Ave. in the town of Virginia, as that land is now needed for mining operations to continue.
Hwy. 53 is a major transportation corridor between the metropolis of Duluth and International Falls; since 1960 portions of the highway that run through St. Louis county have been located on land owned by the mining companies through easement rights. One those rights are rescinded, MnDOT will find itself in a position of having to get out in front of a imminent transportation access challenge.
According to the terms of the easement, MnDOT must relocated the highway by spring 2017 to an area outside the planned mining area, in order for work to proceed. Consequently, MnDOT is recommending the E-2 route as the preferred location of the relocation project. In a proposed $220 million project, this northernmost route would include a 200-ft-high, 1,100-ft-long bridge across the Rouchleau Pit. It would be one of the highest bridges in the state.
There is some urgency to kickstarting this project, and the risks as acknowledged by MnDOT add further concern to the ramifications of the proposed project. At present, funding sources are unknown, as are the community and social impacts of the project. Concerns that the highway would need to be relocated again in the future are being addressed in the planning stage, due to the relative volatility of the mining industry. Adding to this, the timeline for this project is seen as “short and aggressive,” which is goading MnDOT engineers to hit the road running.
