Cranes Over I-35W Stormwater Storage Facility, Minneapolis Skyline Beyond
Interstate 35W stormwater storage tunnel construction with cranes and concrete wall barrier alongside active highway.
The I-35W Stormwater Storage Facility runs alongside the freeway just south of downtown Minneapolis, part of a Minnesota Department of Transportation project to capture and hold runoff before it reaches the Mississippi River. Crews built the facility using large-diameter shafts bored into bedrock, connected by tunnels designed to store millions of gallons of water during heavy rain events. The project was undertaken alongside a broader I-35W corridor upgrade that added transit and bicycle infrastructure between downtown and the southern suburbs. Downtown Minneapolis, including the IDS Center and Wells Fargo Center towers, sits a few miles north along the same freeway corridor.
Photo taken in February 2022.
