FARGO -- Moorhead's new Interstate 94 interchange at 34th Street and southeast Main Avenue is set to open Thursday.
When it does, elements of the old interchange and some nearby roads will close because of rules set by the Federal Highway Administration.
Federal officials said their policies don't allow more than one interchange to operate in the same area because it can create congestion and cause drivers to weave and swerve as cars leave and enter roadways.
Closing the old ramps at southeast Main Avenue has some landowners in the area upset because it will make access to some commercial and development property more difficult.
The Hardy Family Limited Partnership, which bought land in the area several years ago, sent city officials a letter in August urging them to keep the old ramps.
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Citing its own holdings, as well as property owned by Menards, the letter states that closing the old ramps to southeast Main Avenue "will have a decidedly inverse effect on the economics of future businesses located on either property."
The newly formed Moorhead Business Association is also advocating for retention of the ramps.
City officials said they are agreeable to keeping the old ramps and are working with the Metropolitan Council of Governments on a study that will analyze what effect the old ramps may have on traffic and the environment.
The federal government will allow the old ramps to be used only if the study shows that, at a minimum, the ramps won't harm the operation of the interstate, said Bob Zimmerman, Moorhead's city engineer.
The MetroCOG study could be complete in February, Zimmerman said.
Some property owners in the area would prefer that the old ramps never be used again.
The PROffutt Limited Partnership opposes any change in the current interchange plan.
Several City Council members have made it clear they want staff to continue to explore ways to keep the old ramps open.
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Nancy Otto said the ramps are important to a lot of people and a lot of businesses.
"I thought we had that nailed down," she said.
Zimmerman said if the old ramps are closed, it will result in a more complicated route for trucks trying to reach Moorhead's old industrial park, as well as for drivers trying to reach Menards.
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
