Highway 280 serves as a north-south route along the western edge of Ramsey County, between the city of Saint Paul and suburban Roseville. The highway passes through the small city of Lauderdale between Saint Paul and Roseville. Highway 280 is largely built on a slope, providing an excellent view of downtown Minneapolis to the west, particularly for southbound vehicles. The route has a 55 MPH posted speed limit over its entire length. Highway 280 is built to freeway standards from its interchange with Interstate 94/US Highway 52 to its interchange with East Hennepin Avenue/Larpenteur Avenue, although the entrance/exit ramps at Como Avenue are rather tight. This section of the route has auxiliary lanes between University Avenue and the Kasota Avenue/Energy Park Drive exit. There is a signal-controlled intersection at Broadway Street NE on southbound 280 only. The 280/35W interchange in Roseville is incomplete, so traffic from 280 northbound cannot reach 35W southbound without using intersecting surface streets, and the same is true for northbound 35W traffic attempting to reach southbound 280.
History
Highway 280 was authorized on July 1, 1949, but did not begin construction until 1955. It was completed between Highway 36 and Kasota Avenue in 1959 and to University Avenue in 1961. The highway was linked to Interstate 94 in 1968 upon the freeway's completion between Minneapolis and St. Paul. South of Como Avenue, 280 was widened and its ramps improved in the mid-1990s. The Larpenteur Avenue/East Hennepin Avenue interchange in Lauderdale was reconstructed in 2009 to eliminate the tight, no-acceleration-lane ramps. The intersection at County Road B was also closed permanently in 2009, as were the unsignaled intersections at Roselawn Avenue and Walnut Street. With construction completed in December 2009, the signal at Broadway Street was modified to allow left turns from northbound 280, thus maintaining a stoplight for southbound 280 only, but Broadway Street traffic can now only turn right. Thus, 280 is now in a sense a northbound freeway only, with a single stoplight for southbound traffic. The 2009 construction project also rehabilitated the concrete pavement between Interstate 94 and Territorial Road. The project also included replacement of the BNSF Railroad bridge on Larpenteur Avenue west of 280; placement of a new median on 280 from south of Como Avenue to Larpenteur Avenue; and noise walls along 280's east side. Highway 280 was originally proposed to continue farther, turning westward south of its Interstate 94 junction in Saint Paul, and then continuing west into Minneapolis as a freeway running roughly along 28th Street. The route would have continued westbound to about France Avenue South. That freeway was never built, and the ramp stubs at Saint Paul's 94/280 junction were removed in the early 1980s.
Highway 280 as detour route for I-35W
Because of the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge Collapse in nearby Minneapolis on August 1, 2007, Highway 280 was designated by MnDOT as the official detour route for I-35W, resulting in its temporary conversion into a full freeway by closing the intersections at County Road B, Broadway Street, Walnut Street, and Roselawn Avenue. Despite the replacement I-35W bridge's opening on September 18, 2008, many of 280's at-grade intersections were not reopened. Plans for a permanent 280 reconfiguration, per information provided by MnDOT officials at the open house meeting on October 21, 2008, involved the following:
Closing access to County Road B on 280's east side, but keeping a right-in/right-out private entrance on the west side for the business there, Paper Calmenson.
Closing Roselawn Avenue access completely.
Closing Walnut Street access completely, except for emergency vehicles only.
For Broadway Street, southbound traffic on 280 will be allowed to make right-in/right-out turns. Traffic on Broadway Street will not be able to make a left turn to head northbound on 280, but northbound traffic on 280 will be allowed to make a left turn onto Broadway Street to enter the businesses on that side. This unique intersection will effectively make northbound 280 a freeway while still making a stoplight at Broadway Street necessary for traffic heading southbound on 280. MnDOT proposed making 280 a complete freeway, but pressure from the businesses on the west side caused them to do the aforementioned reconfiguration.
The crosswalk at Broadway Street will be removed.
Construction began in the Spring of 2009, along with the replacement for the Larpenteur Avenue/East Hennepin Avenue interchange along 280. The construction project was completed in December 2009.
