My only complaint was that they took out the sound reducer from the East end near the 21st Ave E exit for the rollerbladers.  It was so quiet, but to remove them for one thing is kind annoying.

Having the constant traffic jam after the Lake Ave. exit will be such a relief.

You mean...it's done?  It's over (soon)?  I'm new in town and thought that the construction was going to continue for a while.  Like, through the winter and into next spring.

You have no idea how happy this makes me.

Oh, it's not over.  Notice they're moving the concrete barriers to the center until next year when they will finish this project.  It's only opening for the Winter folks.

Sorry to complain but why do other cities(e.g., Rochester, Mpls/St. Paul) get attractive bridge railings, concrete "stonework effect" and sound barriers? Will there be sound barriers between the freeway and the residential areas near Grand and also near 21st East?

I switched to riding my bike and taking the bus so the whole mega project barely affected me. Glad they have gotten the needed work done.

Frankly, I'm amazed that they are going to be finishing up on time with the state shut down this past summer.  Is there confirmation of this?

I am thrilled that when I visit the West area the 4oth avenue on-ramp is smooth!!! Great job - no complaints from me!

Federal vs. State/County/City funding.

Iron:
I live near the 21st Ave E exit and the walls are perfect for sound, and if they were higher it would ruin the view.  When those wall were built (MNDOT) they took into account the homes there, but when the city built the overflow tanks they planted a bunch of trees that will grow and block the view eventually (dumb).  

The only thing that made me mad was that they removed the sound proofing on the road for the rollerblading race once a year.

My biggest complaint is the idiots who entered a packed freeway to drive a few blocks.  Once you get past the merge to one lane, there's no reason that one lane shouldn't flow freely.  The one impediment of course is people entering.  I can't tell you how many morons I saw get on at the Bong Bridge/46th W entrance and then get off on Central.  Really?  You couldn't drive those 10 blocks on Collalillo Dr.?  It was amazing how you could sit in stop and go traffic way back on 21st W and the root cause was people getting on the freeway at 46th.  When of course they could have entered on Central Ave. to three open lanes.  Kudos to the construction workers and contractors for getting it done ahead of schedule and a big screw you to all the idiotic drivers whose moronic decisions made the construction zone harder to navigate.

We'll see how it looks in a couple of years, I suppose.  

Now, I've been meaning to post about this but haven't so I'll mention it here.  How about this Bong Bridge project that's supposed to take a couple of years?  Did anyone go to the public meeting about it? (I didn't.)  I bike or drive across the bridge daily, and often think how great of shape the concrete is in.  After I heard it was to be "repaired" I looked at it more closely.  I'm not a bridge engineer, but wow, I challenge you to walk, bike, or drive across the Bong Bridge and find anything that looks like it needs repair.  Or if you don't have time, this website has many good recent pictures of the bridge.

Of course it's hard to see the underside, and yeah the I-35 bridge tragedy, but I would like to see proof that this 2-year, $15million investment is needed.