Three Shaft Openings Beside Residential Blocks, I-35W Stormwater Storage Facility

This excavation is part of the I-35W Stormwater Storage Facility, a Minnesota Department of Transportation project built to capture and hold runoff from the highway corridor before it's released into the sanitary or storm sewer system. The work runs adjacent to residential blocks in south Minneapolis, requiring retaining walls to shore up the excavation next to existing homes and streets. Large-diameter shafts like these are typically excavated to connect with tunnel segments bored below the surface, allowing stormwater to be diverted away from the freeway and surrounding neighborhoods during heavy rain events. MnDOT has pursued underground storage solutions in the corridor to reduce surface flooding without expanding the highway's footprint above ground.

Photo taken in February 2022.