Highway 47 - St. Francis Blvd

The City of St. Francis is working with Anoka County and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) in regards to the Hwy 47 transportation corridor. This partnership is to address pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle traffic safety.   

The highway reconstruction project is a large and complex undertaking for the city that requires coordination between the city, county and the state. Due to its scale and cost, it must follow a structural process that includes planning, design, environmental review and public input. While this can make progress seem slow, these steps are necessary to ensure the project is done correctly, safely and with accountability. All agencies involved recognize its importance and are actively working to move it forward.

To stay up to date on the the latest, MnDOT has created a website dedicated to the Hwy 47 project. 

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/hwy47stfrancis/index.html 

Local Project Movement:

April 2025 - City, County and MnDOT discuss interim measures to improve road concerns. Engineering will begin process of designing and cost estimating.  City Council also votes to bring the final project design to four roundabouts and eliminates the two stop lights. City requests and amendment to the funding received to update the intersection changes.

February 2025 - City enters into an agreement with Anoka County and MnDOT on cost sharing the expenses of the preliminary design and environmental work as well as approves a contract with WSB to complete the work required to move the project forward.   Teams meet monthly to discuss completed work, safety, impacts to the overall project and next steps.

December 2024 - city contracted with a firm to aid in telling our story at the State Capital on the importance of assisting the city financially with the utility work that needs to be completed at the time of the Hwy project.  (A separate project page has been created on the city website for this portion of the project as it is separate but related to the Hwy project)

August 2024 - the State, City, County and contracted engineering firm begin the steps towards the preliminary design and environmental requirements. Efforts to lay out what agency will complete what steps, what work has already been completed by the state so we are not duplicating and what requirements are necessary due to the grant award.

May 2024 - the City was awarded a grant by Met Council for a portion of the Hwy reconstruction costs.  Additionally, MnDOT has dollars dedicated to the pavement replacement and feels with the grant award we should begin moving forward with design. A gap in funding still exists.

2023 - City submits several grant applications along with our engineering partners for funding opportunities to secure dollars needed to complete the project.   Grants are competitive as there is a great need in the state for infrastructure funding.  

2022 - City, County, State and engineers work through several intersection concepts and related safety concerns as well as group meetings with businesses located at the impacted intersections.