Oxboro Lake Project Underway in Bloomington, MN

Taking Advantage of Cold Weather

In the fall of 2021, the City of Bloomington awarded Frattalone Companies a $2.7 million contract for improvements to Oxboro Lake, a 25-acre storm water pond, just east of Ziegler CAT. The lake was a historic shallow wetland that became a stormwater holding pond as Bloomington developed beginning in the 1950s and 60s. Over the ensuing years, runoff from the developing City filled the wetland with topsoil and sediment to a point that the City needed to improve the water quality of the lake and restore the hydraulic capacity to its original volume to better control future stormwater events. Water from Oxboro Lake flows into Nine Mile Creek before entering the Minnesota River.

The project was specifically planned to be constructed in winter to take advantage of cold weather to excavate the lake sediments. Because winter weather is more variable than years past, the City allowed the contractor the option of completing the project over two winters.

The first order of business was pumping down 15 million gallons of stormwater to allow the lake bottom to freeze solid so that trucks could be directly loaded with 85,000 cubic yards of excavated sediments. Trees were cleared for access points and to allow restoration of the perimeter of the lake.

With the coldest January since 2014, the project has gone well. Using three loading operations and more than 60 side dump trucks, we hauled more than 6,500 cubic yards daily and will complete the project in one winter season.

After the excavation is complete, the utilities group will install new stormwater piping outfalls into the lake and the perimeter shoreline will be restored with new native vegetation.

The City of Bloomington produced a great video about the project showing lots of details about our operations. You can view it on our YouTube channel here.