Lyndale Ave. Bridge Reopens in Bloomington

One year and $30 million dollars later, the Lyndale Avenue bridge over I-494 on the Bloomington-Richfield border opened to traffic Saturday.

Business owners along that stretch of 494 says when MN-Dot closed the exits and detoured the cars, their businesses detoured with it.

"It was almost immediate. The store, we had less traffic. It died off," said Teri Voehl owner of USA Baby.

She says the last year was a challenge.

"Being able to say we're off 494 and Lyndale, that that's something people recognize. But when you can't just easily exit at Lyndale and you have to drive two streets down to take an exit. It's harder," said Voehl.

The project was scheduled to reopen in October. MN-Dot just made it. The ramps and bridge reopened on Halloween.

Frustrated customers had to fight their way to their favorite stores. Stores in the areas are happy to have the project behind them.

Businesses did not want to share figures, but when the ramps first closed a year ago, before the economic downturn, one manager told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he expected to lose 20-percent of his business.