The new section of Highway 212 from Eden Prairie to Chaska will get beautified next spring thanks to $750,000 in federal stimulus dollars.

Eden Prairie, Chanhassen and Chaska will each get $250,000 worth of landscaping improvements along the new corridor.

“We were relatively pleased,” City Administrator Matt Podhradsky told the council during a worksession Monday night. “They put a lot of resources toward this.”

The city is currently working through the process of highlighting areas in need of landscaping. Each of the interchanges has already been targeted in addition to neighborhoods near Veterans Park as well as Bavaria and Audubon roads.

“We were impressed with how the plans were put together,” said City Engineer Bill Monk.

The idea will be to soften steep slopes and screen homes with the landscaping. The dollars will not be used for noise abatement.

“This isn’t going to do much, if anything, about noise,” Monk warned.

Installation of plants should begin next April, he added. “From here to Eden Prairie, it’s going to be as nice a road as you’ll find in the Twin Cities from a state highway perspective,” said Kevin Ringwald, director of planning and development.-Mollee Francisco, staff writer