Construction workers laid the gold colored concrete stripe on Interstate 90 on Monday, July 24. The original stripe was installed in 1978.

“This is my favorite part of the whole $82 million Interstate 90 project,” says Victoria ‘Tori’ Nill. Nill is the assistant district engineer at the Minnesota Department of Transportation District 7 Office in Mankato.

This favorite part of the project she is referring to is the laying of gold colored concrete panels near the westbound rest stop by Blue Earth.

The panel was laid by crews on Monday, July 24. There will be a matching golden panel put in place on the eastbound lanes next year, when that portion of I-90 is reconstructed in 2024.

The new golden stripes across the interstate replace ones that were originally installed in 1978, when I-90 was first constructed.

Nill says Interstate 90 is the longest road in America, 3,080 miles from Boston to Seattle. The nation celebrated completion of Interstate 90 after contractors paved the last four miles of interstate near Blue Earth in 1978. Reminiscent of the “Golden Spike” that symbolized completion of the nation’s first transcontinental railroad in 1869, officials arranged to tint a small section of I-90’s concrete pavement gold.

Two Minnesota National Guard trucks met nose-to-nose at the golden panel, recognizing the interstates’ original purpose as a National Defense Highway system. And, 2,500 people attended a ceremony and parade in September of 1978.

Former Blue Earth resident Randy Schreiner remembers the Golden ‘Stripe’ and the ceremony quite well.

“I was involved in the original placement of the gold concrete pavement in July, 1978, near the rest areas when I worked at Blue Earth Ready Mix,” Schreiner says. “It was quite an honor that the local business was chosen to provide the concrete for this very unique project.”

Schreiner says the company used gold powder from Germany to add in the concrete mix.

“And I was the one who got to put it in the ready mix truck,” he recalls. “First time, I was covered head to toe in the gold dust.”

Those golden panels on eastbound and westbound I-90 had survived the wear and tear of millions of vehicles for almost 30 years, Nill says, but by 2006 this stretch of interstate was crumbling and had to be repaved.

“But in recognition of the golden panel’s importance, the roadway’s golden shoulders were left untouched, and are visible today,” she says.

The new golden panels are being reestablished in their same original locations across the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-90 during construction in 2023-2024.