Page 14 | October 1, 2011
www.plamerican.com | Prior Lake American
COUNTY ROAD 21 continued from page 1
“We haven’t noticed a significant speeding problem yet,” he said. The median lacks ample room for vehicles and pedestrians to wait for passing traffic, so people must be confident that both directions of 21 are clear. A bend in the section of 21 south of the intersection makes it more difficult to gauge traffic, said Paaverud. Anticipated traffic volumes didn’t warrant a signal at the intersection when the road was built, engineers said, although the county anticipates one will be needed in the future. “People have raised that concern of accidents once County Road 21 opens up,” said Bruce Loney, public works director for the city of Shakopee. “The county has the jurisdiction of the intersection, so any changes would need to be approved by Scott County. We will monitor the intersection along with the county to see what modifications are needed.” The county has standards and thresholds it considers when determining whether traffic signals are needed. County Engineer Mitch Rasmussen said engineers are watching the intersection, and the Sept. 21 accident will become part of the county’s record. “We don’t just open the road up and walk away. We are watching it all the time,” he said. “We know it takes tweaking to get it as close to perfect as we can.” A four-way stop at the intersection would cause accidents, because motorists don’t expect one on a major thoroughfare like 21, Rasmussen said. “You don’t see stop signs on 42,” he said. Rasmussen encourages drivers who are turning left from southbound Southbridge Parkway onto northbound County Road 21 to instead take Southbridge north, which is a safer movement. Rasmussen noted that 21 is a major roadway and he wouldn’t advise children to cross there. A pedestrian underpass is available nearby to navigate between Southbridge’s neighborhoods. Paaverud would like solar warning lights attached to the stop signs at Southbridge Parkway, which is the only non-signalized intersection along the new road. She also believes a lower speed on 21 would make the crossing a little safer. No speed limit has been established for the road, which requires a state analysis. Until then, the limit is the maximum 55 mph. The road has no speed-limit signs, although a 40 mph sign
left from construction is still up near the 21/County Road 18 intersection. The county has asked the state to determine the appropriate speed for the county road, but the study couldn’t be done until vehicles began using the road, according to Rasmussen. Only the state has the authority to set the speed. Engineers consider traffic and speed patterns and tend to set the speed limit at the 85th percentile of what motorists are driving, Rasmussen said. Also still to be completed is the Eagle Creek Transit Station lot at the intersection of 21 and 16. The park-and-ride lot, anticipated to open in May, will replace the BlueXpress stop at Safe Haven for Youth in Prior Lake.
CONGESTION Drivers have noticed longer waits at the realigned intersection of Southbridge Parkway/County Road 18 since County Road 21 opened. However, it’s likely much of the excess traffic is due to vehicles trying to avoid the interchange construction at County Road 101 and Highway 13 in Savage, said Rasmussen. During a recent weekday morning, county traffic engineer Tony Winiecki observed the heaviest wait times between 7 and 7:30 a.m. After a half hour, all waiting north- and east-bound traffic could make it through when the green light turned. However, westbound traffic was still heavy, with a backup nearly to Crossings Boulevard, at 7:45 a.m. “Both people on County Road 18 and Southbridge Parkway are having to wait fairly equally,” Rasmussen noted. “We’re getting a backup on 18 even though it’s given more of a free movement.” As the novelty of using the new 21 wears off and once the 13/101 interchange is complete, Rasmussen expects traffic to disperse more evenly throughout the area. “It will take some time for traffic to sort itself out,” he said. “We are also watching and adjusting the timing of the signal at 18 and 21,” he said. Rasmussen said the 21 extension is an important northsouth connector for the county road network. The clogged Bloomington Ferry Bridge will continue to be a problem, he said, but the county can only control the roads within its border. “I empathize with people,” said Rasmussen. “I don’t like sitting in traffic, either. But it’s not our road. We don’t control when it gets expanded or how. We are at the table, though, talking with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.” MnDOT estimates it would cost $44 million to widen the bridge and its approaches. It can’t simply make the temporary restriping of lanes used during spring flooding permanent, because it doesn’t meet federal highway standards.
RIVER CROSSING STUDY
Chaska, Scott County favor 101 BY SHANNON FIECKE AND MOLLEE FRANCISCO sfiecke@swpub.com mfrancisco@swpub.com
Support is lining up on both sides of the Minnesota River for raising the County Road 101 crossing in Shakopee instead of Highway 41 in Chaska. The Scott County Board on Tuesday voted to recommend the state construct a 3,080-foot land bridge on 101 that would provide 100-year flood protection. It is estimated to cost $31 million — more dollars than the state has left for flood mitigation; however, turn-back dollars could become available if the state relinquishes control of its portion of the crossing to Carver County. The Chaska City Council voiced support for an upgrade to the 101 crossing last week. That support will be included in a letter to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, which is studying lower cost, shorterterm ways to improve mobility during seasonal floods. Existing funding for river crossing improvements can only fund work on either County Road 101 or Highway 41. But given the option, the Chaska City Council would prefer to see 101 improved over 41 — largely because improvements made to 41 could not withstand the majority of seasonal flooding events. “The benefits to 41 would be to shorten the closure,” said Chaska City Engineer Bill Monk. “That’s it.” Monk noted that due to struc-
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tural limitations on the river bridge, the proposed corridor improvements to 41 would only have been able to avoid half of the flood events that have occurred since 1993. The County Road 101 crossing could be raised to a point that would be able to stay open for all but floods reaching the level of the record 1965 flood. Unlike the 41 crossing — which could carry four lanes of traffic during a flood — the 101 crossing would only have two lanes, under the current proposal. The project timing is yet to be determined, but would be sometime between 2013 and 2108. The state’s flood-mitigation study also looked at improvements to the Bloomington Ferry Bridge. Temporary capacity improvements, such as the restriping implemented during the 2011 spring flood, were identified along with additional improvements to reduce pavement damage and fix the constrictions at Old Shakopee Road. The state can’t simply make the temporary capacity improvements permanent be cause they wouldn’t meet the federal government standards for highways. (The state was required to remove the restriping after the spring flood.) A more permanent capacity improvement is also identified in the study. It would add a full lane of capacity to the bridge in both directions for an estimated cost of $44 million. The work would involve widening the two main spans of the bridge, the approaches and nine smaller bridges in the vicinity. Although the cost is outside of available f lood mitigation bonding dollars, the county hopes the state will consider permanently widening the bridge in the future. But officials say even the temporary restriping of the ferry bridge would still be helpful for floods or during the anticipated reconstruction of the Highway 35W Minnesota River Bridge within the next decade.
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