Duck Lake Road bridge takes center stage in June 1 ribbon-cutting ceremony

Since 1988, Rose Hilk and her husband Ron have made their home on Duck Lake in Eden Prairie, witnessing both the joys and challenges that the lake has faced over the years.

Hilk and other members of the recently formed Eden Prairie Duck Lake Association eagerly anticipate the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday for the newly completed 150-foot Duck Lake Road bridge, which reunites two parts of the lake.

The ceremony is scheduled at 4 p.m. on June 1 at the fishing pier on the bridge near Prairie View Elementary School, celebrating last year’s completion of the $4.7 million Duck Lake Road improvement project from Duck Lake Trail to Mallard Court.

In a collaborative effort between the City of Eden Prairie and the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District, the project aimed to enhance safety for pedestrians, bikers, and motorists on Duck Lake Road while improving water quality in the lake.

The association, the city, and the water district will host the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“We want to be part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony because we see the bridge every day,” Hilk said. “We’re getting our paddleboats underneath it and going to the other little lake that was across (Duck Lake Road), which was something that we could never do before. We felt there should be a little bit of recognition, and the city agreed.”

Before the bridge, the main part of Duck Lake and its western lobe had been divided by the road since the early 1900s when fill was used to construct the road across the lake.

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Earlier this month, the Eden Prairie Duck Lake Association announced the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project, highlighting it as a significant improvement by adding “badly needed” bike trails and sidewalks. These enhancements, the release added, not only benefit residents but also address long-standing safety concerns for students walking to Prairie View along narrow shoulders “in danger of being hit by cars.”

The road improvement project also served as the catalyst for forming the association — a volunteer non-profit organization consisting of 110 homeowners from all sides of Duck Lake — with a mission to actively engage with the watershed district and the city in enhancing the lake’s health.

“We, as homeowners, consider that lake to be a very fine resource for us in many ways,” Hilk said. “Not just for recreational use but also to increase our property value. It’s something we take very seriously.”

The ceremony is open to the public, and the Prairie View student watershed art contest winners will also be announced.

Impacts on Duck Lake Road users, the lake

Carter Schulze, the assistant city engineer, provided a comprehensive overview of the Duck Lake reconstruction project and its effects on road users and the lake.

In addition to the bridge and fishing pier, the project included several other enhancements.

A newly paved trail now runs along the west side of Duck Lake Road, extending from Duck Lake Trail to Pavelka Drive, and a concrete sidewalk was constructed from the pedestrian railroad crossing at Duck Lake Road, near Eden Prairie High School, to Duck Lake Trail. The project also includes the installation of new concrete curbs and gutters.

“The connection to the school is 1,000 percent better and safer,” Schulze said.

New stormwater management features have also been implemented to treat water runoff effectively.

“The (lake) water quality is better,” Schulze said. “We installed a stormwater management system so when the water runs down the curb and gutter, it goes into some collectors that treat the water before it goes into the lake, so the water quality is meant to be improved there.”

The project’s origins

Schulze attributed the project’s goals in the planning stages to valuable neighborhood feedback, which emphasized the importance of enhancing pedestrian and bike safety in the area.

“Prior to the project, there weren’t any bike or pedestrian facilities on the crossing there between the school and Padons Drive,” he said.

Schulze also highlighted the need for updating, improving, and reconstructing the roadway to address flooding issues, particularly on the west side, as the road was equipped with a 12-inch corrugated metal pipe.

“Anything that drained down through the west side (of the lake) had to go through that pipe essentially to get to the other side,” he said. “So, there were some flooding concerns there.”

Design plans for the project started to form in 2017 with the initial goal of widening the existing roadway bed, but the proposal encountered an obstacle due to wetland impacts.

“Just the amount of material that needed to widen the roadway was starting to cause those problems,” Schulze said.

Planners regrouped to find another solution.

“They basically switched gears to a bridge option,” he said.

According to that plan, the two bodies of water would be connected, and the lakebed underneath the roadway would be restored.

The original plan had an estimated cost of $2 million. However, with the addition of the bridge, Schulze said the cost increased significantly.

The primary funding for the project came from municipal state aid funds for streets, according to Schulze. The city had allocated a portion of its annual funds to cover its share.

Schulze added that the watershed district subsequently agreed to contribute $1.175 million, which effectively covered the cost of the bridge.

“They are paying us in installments over a couple of years to cover the expenses,” he said. “It’s essentially part of their water management plan that encompasses Duck Lake. Together, these two funding sources account for the majority of the project cost.”

Goldfish in Duck Lake

Hilk said the lake has experienced its share of highs and lows over the years.

“And it has been in a down state for a while due to some water level issues,” Hilk said. “We have seen a significant increase in the population of goldfish. And, the lake level has been so low that none of the other fish species introduced by the DNR for stocking purposes have been able to survive.”

Schulze described the presence of goldfish in the lake as an oddity.

“Somebody at some point put some goldfish in that lake, and of course, they bred and spawned like crazy,” he said. “There are quite a lot of pools of goldfish in the lake. Not sure what to do with that at this point. But at some point in the future, there might be a plan to get them out of there.”