Willmar Rail Connector & Industrial Access Project

This project is complete.

Project Updates

July 2, 2021

• The roadway portion of the project reached substantial completion
• Railway spur construction began this month

October 8, 2021

• The roadway portion of the project is complete
• There may be occasional punch list items worked on, and/or inspections during the roadway warranty period of the design/build project

October 2022

• The rail portion of the project is complete

Project Summary

Construct a new rail line on the west side of Willmar. The project includes the realignment of US 12 and the reconstruction of Hwy 40, including two new bridges. The rail line will connect the following two existing main track subdivisions. The Morris subdivision parallels Hwy 12 west of Willmar. The Marshall subdivision parallels Kandiyohi CR 55/CR 15 and Hwy 23 to the southwest.These subdivisions serve local, regional and national rail customers in the Northwest, Midwest, and southern United States.

Project Timeline

• Start of road construction: summer 2019
• Estimated end of road construction: fall 2021
• Start of rail construction: summer 2021
• Estimated end of rail construction: fall 2022

Contractor

• The Hoffman Team - major participants of the team include Hoffman Construction Company, Lunda Construction Company, and Bolton & Menk, Inc.

Design-Build Contracting Process

• Roadway will use Design-Build contracting process
• Design-build is a contracting process that brings designers and contractors together early in the detail design portion of a project. Willmar Wye is a design-build project. For more information visit the links below.
  • MnDOT Design-Build
  • Willmar Wye Design-Build
• Railway final design and construction will be carried out by BNSF

Project Purpose

The Minnesota Department of Transportation and its partners Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF), City of Willmar, Kandiyohi County and the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission will add a rail connection between two existing BNSF railway lines and modify surrounding roadways to better move freight through the city of Willmar.

The Willmar Rail Connector and Industrial Park Access Project (Willmar Wye) will provide a direct connection between the Marshall and Morris Subdivisions of the BNSF rail network. Providing this direct connection will decrease the number of trains that need to pull into the rail yard in downtown Willmar. The project also includes a rail spur that will provide access to the city of Willmar's industrial park.

The purpose of the Wye project is to:

• Provide a direct connection between the Marshall and Morris Subdivisions of the BNSF Railway freight rail network
• Provide freight rail access to the City of Willmar's industrial park

Project Benefits

• Improve safety for travelers by reducing at-grade crossing exposure
• Increase multi-modal opportunities for shippers
• Encourage economic growth
• Improve quality of life
• Delay and emissions savings for travelers (e.g. drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists) by reducing wait times for crossings to clear.
• Reduce the number of trains traversing through downtown Willmar and the accompanying noise.

Regional Demands

Rail shipments of oil have grown sharply in regions, such as North Dakota’s Bakken energy fields,  that lack sufficient pipelines as alternatives.  Investments in the network are needed to allow network capacity to “catch up” with the new demand.  Production is reported to be approaching 1 million barrels a day with roughly 72 percent of that fuel transported by rail.  These trains are bound for refineries in the Gulf and locally within the Midwest region, while coal cars are bound for export terminals located both in the Great Lakes and on the West Coast.

Grain trains are also frequently delayed, reducing a farmer’s ability to manage market fluctuations and tempering profit margins.  By easing this choke point in Willmar, the project would add much needed capacity in this portion of the rail network.

The Minnesota Comprehensive Statewide Freight and Passenger Rail Plan (MnDOT, 2012) identified the Marshall Subdivision as a corridor that will need investment due to volume and capacity issues.

Project Partners-Contributions/Commitments