These images are courtesy of the National Agriculture Imagery Program, a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and were taken in 2005.

This view, at roughly 4-feet-per-pixel zoom, is a close-up of the I-35W/I-494 interchange, which is a standard cloverleaf.  I-35W runs north-south, while I-494 runs east-west.  The Bloomington(south)/Richfield(north) border is shown by the white line following the I-494 westbound lanes.  On the far bottom is American Blvd, whose bridge was built across I-35W in 2005.  The building in the upper left is part of the new Best Buy headquarters campus.  The building and large parking lot adjacent to the SB-to-WB ramp was the location of an old billboard agency, and by this time had been redeveloped into a Galyan's (an outdoor outfitter).

This panned out view, at roughly 10.25-feet-per-pixel resolution, shows a larger overview of the I-35W/I-494 interchange area and adjacent interchanges.  The major streets in the area are 76th Street (parallels I-494 to the north), American Blvd (parallels I-494 to the south), 82nd Street (parallels American Blvd to the south), Lyndale Avenue (parallels I-35W to the east), and Penn Avenue (parallels I-35W to the west).  The Bloomington(south)/Richfield(north) border is the white line running east-west along I-494.

This area has changed a lot in recent years and there are plans for further change.  Most of the area between Penn Ave, I-35W, I-494, and 76th St has become a new headquarters campus for Best Buy, built ca. 2003.  Previously this was a mix of houses and car dealerships.  The retail development north of I-494, between I-35W and Lyndale Ave, was built in the early 2000s.  American Blvd was constructed during the early to mid 2000s as a reliever route for I-494, culminating in the bridge over I-35W in 2005.  The I-494/Penn Ave interchange was previously a diamond interchange, and reconstructed into the Single Point Urban Interchange shown here in 2002.  MnDOT and Richfield have plans to do the same with the I-494/Lyndale Ave interchange in 2009.  The 76th St bridge over I-35W is being replaced in 2008.  Longer-term plans include redevelopment of Southtown (the area bordered by I-494, I-35W, American Blvd, and Penn Ave) and the reconstruction and widening of I-494, including reconstructing the interchange at I-494/I-35W.

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Page last modified 25 April, 2008