The (Almost) Daily Brief

EPA Moves Hazardous Substance Response Plan Deadline to 2030

By Megan Dayton · 10/12/2026

PROJECTS  MnDOT lets the second I-494 design-build package Tuesday. SP 2785-462 extends E-ZPass lanes on I-494 from I-35W to Highway 77, reconstructs pavement and drainage on I-494 from Lyndale Avenue to 24th Avenue, reconstructs pavement on I-35W from 82nd Street to 76th Street, and replaces the bridges carrying the CPKC Railroad over I-494, Highway 77 over I-494, and 82nd Street over I-35W. MnDOT asked for letters of interest in the spring of 2025, issued the request for qualifications on March 25, shortlisted two teams on June 10, Ames Construction and C.S. McCrossan Construction, and issued the request for proposals on July 1. Major construction starts in spring 2027. Neither team’s designer has been publicly identified. MnDOT’s project page says design and construction post-letting oversight will use consultant contracts.

Source: MnDOT, I-494 Airport to Highway 169 Project 2

POLICY  Commerce has told customs how to value U.S. content in steel, aluminum, and copper from Canada and Mexico. A Bureau of Industry and Security notice publishing Wednesday defines the term for products of Canada and Mexico that qualify for preferential treatment under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, implementing clause (2)(d) of Proclamation 11032. U.S. content covers the value attributable to parts wholly obtained, entirely produced, or substantially transformed in the United States. To the extent not already counted there, it also covers the value attributable to steel melted and poured, aluminum smelted and cast, or copper smelted and cast in the United States. The guidance applies to products entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01am eastern on the publication date. Proclamation 11032, issued June 1 at 91 FR 34085, adjusted the tariff regimes for aluminum, steel, and copper and modified three earlier proclamations. Firms with a question about a specific product are directed to Customs and Border Protection. The docket is 260918-0056.

Source: Federal Register public inspection, Bureau of Industry and Security

PROJECTS  Washington County is soliciting engineering for a roundabout modification on Bailey Road. The public works department posted a request for proposals on Oct. 9 for the CSAH 18, Bailey Road, at CSAH 19, Woodbury Drive, roundabout modification project. The scope covers project coordination, preliminary engineering, final design, stakeholder and public engagement, and utility coordination. Proposals close Nov. 6 at 3pm. The county ran a separate final-design solicitation on CSAH 10, 17 and 17B in September.

Source: Washington County, bid posting

ENG  MnDOT is taking proposals for a five-year program of preconstruction master contracts. The department posted the request for proposals on Oct. 9 under Master Contract 1263, and proposals are due Nov. 17 at 2pm. Questions close Oct. 23 at 2pm, and answers are due Oct. 28 at 2pm on the professional-technical notices page. MnDOT anticipates offering master contracts to multiple responders. The contracts are non-exclusive, the program spans five years, and teams must be able to work anywhere in the state. Work is assigned through work order contracts, which MnDOT’s districts and offices manage under the Engineering Services Division and the Office of Project Management and Technical Support. Proposals are scored on a 100-point scale weighted key personnel and team 40 percent, GEC program and project development 40 percent, and small business utilization 20 percent. Exhibit A lists twenty core project development activities, among them bridge plans and specifications, preliminary and final road design, hydraulics, traffic engineering and forecasting, surveying, environmental documentation, right-of-way, utility coordination, public engagement, digital delivery, and project cost estimating. Projects developed under the program may be delivered design-build or design-bid-build, and the RFP warns that project development activities “may result in ineligibility to serve on a design-build team” unless MnDOT deems them low level. MnDOT gave advance notice of the program in August.

Sources: MnDOT, professional-technical notices; RFP Part A, Master Contract 1263; Exhibit A, scope of work

PROJECTS  Four buildings come down this year to clear a full-access interchange at Highway 610. The Coon Rapids City Council awarded a $101,592 demolition contract to One-Call Contracting on Oct. 6 for three twin homes and the former Anoka County storage and maintenance facility on 93rd Avenue NW. The project adds a westbound exit ramp and an eastbound entrance ramp at East River Road, realigns the existing ramps, adds a deceleration lane on westbound Highway 610 and an auxiliary lane eastbound, builds a new bridge at the northeast ramp, and widens the eastbound bridges over East River Road and the BNSF tracks. It also carries replacement traffic signals at the ramp intersections, new stormwater ponds, a 10-foot shared-use trail to Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park, and a tunnel under East River Road. As of the Oct. 6 meeting, consultant TKDA had completed the final plans and they were with MnDOT for comment or approval, and the city was finalizing agreements with MnDOT, BNSF and Anoka County. Public Works Director Tim Himmer said the city expects to seek bids this winter, with construction running from spring 2027 to summer 2028.

Source: ABC Newspapers, Oct. 9

BIZ  Utilities have asked regulators for $23.1 billion in rate increases this year. A report released Wednesday by the advocacy group PowerLines puts third-quarter requests at a record $4.5 billion, which more than doubles the third quarter of 2025. Midwest utilities serving 7.9 million customers requested $800 million in the quarter. Southern utilities serving 11 million customers requested $2.2 billion, taking that region to $9 billion for the year. Northeast utilities serving 5.6 million customers requested $900 million, and Western utilities serving 20.8 million customers requested $600 million. The Edison Electric Institute projected last year that its members would spend $1.1 trillion on capital between 2025 and 2029, and a PowerLines analysis this year put utility capital spending through 2030 at $1.4 trillion, up 21 percent. Residential electricity prices rose 7.3 percent from April 2025 to April 2026, according to the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. PowerLines founder Charles Hua said the requests “reflect an ongoing rise in utility costs.”

Source: Utility Dive, Oct. 9

PROJECTS  Bids on the $58 million Highway 371 overpass in Baxter go out in the fall of 2027. MnDOT project manager Eric Schiller and Derek Schmidt of project consultant WSB briefed the Baxter City Council on Oct. 6. City Administrator Brad Chapulis said the benchmark was 60 percent design by September, with full design due by April. The project carries Highway 371 over the BNSF Railway tracks and Highway 210. The briefing put it in final detail design, with surveys, utility relocations, soil borings, and right-of-way acquisition underway. Construction preparation runs in 2028, the overpass and interchange in 2029, and wrap-up work on Excelsior Road in spring 2030. The first construction year builds an Excelsior Road roundabout east of Highway 371. Schiller said Highway 371 would detour on College Road, Cypress Drive, and Clearwater Road. Highway 210 traffic would leave the highway at County Highway 48 and route through Brainerd to a new Willow Street roundabout.

Source: Brainerd Dispatch, Oct. 9

FUNDING  Minnesota voters will decide school finance questions in 63 districts on Nov. 3. The questions cover new or increased referendum revenue, capital project levies, and bond authority. Saint Louis County Schools has both an operating referendum and a capital projects levy on the ballot, together worth $6 million a year if both pass. Superintendent Brian Masterson said the operating referendum would raise $5.85 million in general fund revenue, $2.6 million of it from the state under Seasonal Tax Base Replacement Aid, a law passed last session that returns previously collected taxes on cabins and vacation homes. That aid is available only if a referendum passes. The remaining 55 percent of the tax impact falls on local property owners and would add $180 in the first year on a $250,000 home. Masterson cited declining enrollment and rising transportation, technology, and health care costs.

Source: Duluth News Tribune, Oct. 11

PROJECTS  MnDOT takes comment Tuesday on a Spring Valley highway reconstruction. The project replaces the city’s utilities under the highway. The open house runs Tuesday, Oct. 13 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm at the Spring Valley Ambulance Service Building, 100 Emergency Drive. The project covers Highway 16/63 from Tracy Road to Griswold Street and Highway 63, Section Avenue, from the Highway 16/63 intersection to County Road 12. Plans add a roundabout at the Highway 16/63 and Section Avenue intersection, replace sidewalks and pedestrian ramps, build new sidewalk where none exists now,, and replace the storm sewer, watermain, and sanitary sewer under the roadway. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2030. The community has taken part in two years of preliminary design work and engagement.

Source: MnDOT news release, Oct. 1

POLICY  Brainerd certified street assessments over objections to the contractors’ work. The city council voted 4 to 3 on Oct. 5 to certify assessments for the Beech Street and Oakridge Road reconstruction, which resurfaced the streets, added curb and gutter and a sidewalk, replaced storm sewer, and added a new water main. The project took a year longer to finish than expected. Six residents spoke and four more filed written objections, reporting lawns replanted with weeds, vibration damage, and lost driveway access. Most assessments fell between $3,600 and $10,000, and two properties owe $15,000 and $20,000. Meadowview Manor, a manufactured-home park with 95 lots, was assessed $43,644 on the same front-footage basis the city applies to every benefiting property. Public Works Director Paul Sandy wrote that front-footage assessment “is an equitable and widely accepted method” because streets are priced by the linear foot. Council member Jeff Czeczok voted no, citing the number of concerns and the contractors’ failure to perform. Residents can contest the assessments in district court. A second project covering Hawkins Drive, Joseph Street, Ronald Street, and an alley drew the same complaints, with assessments running from $1,600 to $12,300.

Source: Brainerd Dispatch, Oct. 12

FUNDING  The Iron Range board put $1.8 million behind Virginia’s steam heat conversions. Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board members voted unanimously on Oct. 7 to send the grant to the Virginia Economic Development Authority’s Downtown Commercial Rehabilitation Program, which provides loans and financial assistance to downtown property owners. The city’s district steam heating system shuts down Nov. 2, and the owners still on it must install alternative heating or winterize their buildings. IRRR Community Development Director Whitney Ridlon told the board 21 downtown commercial properties have not completed conversions and may qualify for help. “For many properties, the estimated market value is less than half the projected cost,” Ridlon said. Virginia has been moving buildings off the system since late 2017, and the Virginia Public Utilities Commission approved the final phase of the conversion on Jan. 22, 2024.

Source: Duluth News Tribune, Oct. 10

BIZ  Avon-based Blattner Energy has started work on a $1.5 billion Missouri solar project. Blattner is the contractor for the 650-megawatt Swan Energy Center in Bates County, Missouri, which developer Clearway Energy Group is building on part of a former strip mine. The plant would generate enough electricity for the equivalent of 200,000 homes a year and reach commercial operation in 2028, with 500 jobs at peak construction. Clearway says the project is backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement and sits inside a 1.2-gigawatt portfolio the developer announced earlier this year. A banking consortium led by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, DNB Bank and National Australia Bank is investing. Blattner has been a unit of Quanta Services since a $2.7 billion acquisition in 2021, and this is Clearway’s first solar facility in Missouri.

Source: Engineering News-Record, Oct. 9

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