ENG Ground brakes today on the Blatnik Bridge replacement. Gov. Tim Walz, MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger, and U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith mark the start of the project at a 1 p.m. ceremony in Duluth today, after six years of planning. The job carries a $1.8 billion price tag, with $1 billion from the federal government and Minnesota and Wisconsin splitting the balance, and MnDOT is leading delivery. The 65-year-old I-535 span is Minnesota’s second-longest bridge and is one of two crossings between Duluth, MN and Superior, WI. Ames-Kraemer Joint Venture II holds the design-build contract, executed in July, and HNTB is the designer. MnDOT’s project newsletter puts mid-to-late September work on a Winter Street detour and Susquehanna Avenue, resurfacing the corridor and adding a left-turn lane and pavement markings to carry traffic once the bridge closes. That closure comes in early 2027 and runs four to five years, with the new tied-arch span opening in October 2031 and cleanup into 2032.
Sources: FOX 9, Aug. 31; MnDOT, I-535 Blatnik Bridge; MnDOT, The Connector, August 2026
POLICY A new federal program would lease highway and rail right-of-way to utilities. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced America’s Great Corridors of Commerce on Aug. 26, and its request for information published Aug. 18 and closes Sept. 12. The model puts a private “Corridor Manager” under contract to a state DOT or a railroad to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain utility channels along an existing corridor for 30 to 50 years, then lease capacity to transmission, fiber, water, and pipeline owners and share the revenue with the right-of-way holder. The department argues the approach avoids acquiring new private property, and it points to categorical exclusions to shorten environmental review. The Build America Bureau will designate up to five corridors a year, favoring multi-state routes, and will supply technical assistance, permitting coordination, and help structuring the partnership. The information request, docket DOT-OST-2026-3269, asks industry about deployment barriers, multi-jurisdictional management, objections to the partnership model, the federal technical assistance agencies would need, and how the design should hold utility rates down. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the approach would “make energy more affordable and fuel American industry.” An informational webinar runs Sept. 1 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Sources: Federal Register, Aug. 18; U.S. DOT program page; AASHTO Journal, Aug. 28
BIZ Engineering executives rate their own firms far above the economy around them. The ACEC Research Institute released its third-quarter Engineering Business Sentiment study on Aug. 27, built on 591 responses from member-firm executives surveyed July 28 through Aug. 10. Net ratings put firm financial performance at +79 and industry sentiment at +76, against +32 for the U.S. economy. Twelve months out, the firm reading holds at +41 and the industry at +17, while the economy turns negative at -8. Half of firms carry a backlog of a year or longer, and the median backlog is 12 months. Data centers lead the sector readings at +83, with water and wastewater at +82. On staffing, 88 percent report open positions, 65 percent expect to hire more, and the hiring outlook sits at +59. Licensure runs through the results: 96 percent of firms have positions that require a PE, 91 percent encourage staff to pursue one, and 93 percent emphasize the FE exam. On risk, 85 percent cite political and economic uncertainty, 72 percent cite inflation, and executives put the odds of a recession in the next six months at 41 percent. Senior research consultant Joe Bates pointed to the widening gap “between how firms feel about their own businesses versus the broader economy.”
Source: ACEC Research Institute, Aug. 27
BIZ A Minneapolis firm closed two acquisitions in eight days. WSB announced on Aug. 20 that it had acquired Civil Infrastructure Associates of the Nashville metro, a practice built on water and wastewater utilities, civil site design, aviation infrastructure, and surveying. On Aug. 27 it announced the acquisition of Foresight Planning & Engineering Services of Austin, which does planning and communications, geotechnical and structural engineering, scheduling and project controls, and program and risk management for transportation owners. Both deals extend WSB into Sunbelt markets, and the firm reports 1,800 staff across 50 offices. The wider market stayed active. Morrissey Goodale counted 521 U.S. transactions over the trailing 12 months, up 6 percent, and 10 domestic deals in the week ended Aug. 27, three of them with Minneapolis-based acquirers. The third was SitelogIQ, which bought IPOWER Alliance of Lyons, Colorado.
Sources: WSB, Aug. 20; WSB, Aug. 27; Morrissey Goodale, Aug. 27
POLICY Carlton County froze data-center approvals for a year. The county board voted unanimously on Aug. 24 to adopt an interim ordinance barring new data-center approvals in the county’s townships while it updates its comprehensive plan. Cities inside the county are not covered. A local group, The Land Stewards, asked for the moratorium at a meeting in early June, and the question stayed live through the summer as Google’s proposed Hermantown campus drew regional attention. Carlton joins a widening set of Minnesota jurisdictions that have paused large data-center siting while they write rules. Minneapolis adopted a six-month moratorium on May 27, on an 8-5 vote, covering the establishment, re-establishment, or expansion of facilities larger than 350,000 square feet, and it runs through November alongside the city’s zoning rewrite. Wright County adopted a one-year township moratorium on May 19 under Ordinance 26-2.
Sources: KAXE, Aug. 26; Data Center Dynamics, May 27; KRWC, May 26
ENG MnDOT put firms on notice about a new general engineering consultant master contract. The department’s professional and technical notices page now carries an advance notice that MnDOT anticipates posting the final request for proposals for a General Engineering Consultant master contract for preconstruction services in early October. No scope, ceiling, or award count is posted with it. Separately, MnDOT posted right-of-way acquisition work for US 63 in Spring Valley on Aug. 28, open to prequalified consultants, with responses due Sept. 15. Dakota County’s request for industry comment on final engineering design of the County Road 50 and Interstate 35 interchange remains posted with no response date.
ENG Four Minnesota projects are open for environmental comment this fall. The Environmental Quality Board’s Aug. 25 Monitor carries the current slate. The Department of Natural Resources is the responsible governmental unit for Mile Post 7 West Ridge in Silver Bay, a combined railroad relocation, dam progression, and stream mitigation project in Lake County, with comments due Sept. 28. Brooklyn Park is the responsible unit for the Brookdale Park Channel Design in Hennepin County, comments due Sept. 24, and Goodhue County for Pelican Point at Lake City, also Sept. 24. Arden Hills posted a variance for the Hillview Business Park in Ramsey County with a Sept. 14 deadline, the nearest of the four. Saint Louis County decided on Aug. 13 that the Jenkins Creek Restoration in Kelsey Township does not require an environmental impact statement. The Monitor publishes weekly on Tuesdays.
Source: Minnesota Environmental Quality Board, EQB Monitor, Aug. 25
Entries are open for the 60th annual Engineering Excellence Awards - ACEC Minnesota honors consulting engineering projects for technical mastery, innovation, complexity, and public benefit, with preliminary entries due October 8, final entries October 29, and winners named at the February 18 gala. Winning projects advance to the national ACEC competition. The four-session Emerging Leaders program for early-career staff runs this October and November.
The (Almost) Daily Brief publishes most weekdays: policy, funding, workforce, and industry news for Minnesota’s engineering firms, in a few minutes of reading.