By Leah Shaffer, Correspondent

The Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), have to come to a tentative agreement on how to design a new interchange for Highway 169 and Interstate Highway 494, according to state Rep. Jenifer Loon, R-Eden Prairie. Loon has been one of the local legislators working with state and federal officials to kick-start the long dormant project.

Loon visited with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood while he was in Minneapolis last month, and through his office, heard the FHWA has “conditionally accepted,” MnDOT’s “performance based design.”

“I just think it’s a huge step forward,” said Loon.

The performance-based design from MnDOT would cut $30 million from the costs of the project and exclude two directional flyover ramps that take drivers eastbound from I-494 to northbound Highway 169 and from southbound 169 to westbound 494.

“Whenever you can reduce the cost of a big project by $30 million it means that perhaps we can get closer on finding the funds to really make some improvements there,” said Loon.

The project, which includes the reconstruction of the interchange and removal of stoplights, was last stalled due to the differences in what the FHWA would require for its design and the state’s plan for a less extensive (and less expensive) project.

According to state officials, a traffic analysis shows the interchange project would be sufficient without two of the major directional flyover ramps. By not building those flyover ramps, they would shave approximately $30 million off the total cost of the project.

Federal officials previously balked at the idea of building an interchange without every directional ramp. Under the performance-based design, MnDOT would continue to evaluate the traffic needs in the area and the eastbound and southbound ramps could be built at a later date, if needed.

“They now have to agree on the criteria for that proposal,” added Loon.

In September, MnDOT submitted the interchange project as part of its application for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program funds to cover $135 million of the $200 million-dollar project. For the TIGER application, “they did lead really with the performance-based approach,” noted Loon. The application also included a proposal for full funding of project in case it did not receive FHWA support. However, with this conditional agreement, it appears federal officials may be willing to work with MnDOT on its performance-based design.

Whether this will give the project an edge in receiving federal grant funding has yet to be determined. It’s estimated that states will hear back about TIGER in late December or early 2010.

Loon was nonetheless enthusiastic about this most recent step, describing it as “a huge step forward for everybody.”