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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

New options weighed for Highway 169

Road alignment selection expected by end of year

Keith Vandervort
Posted 7/17/14

EAGLES NEST – “Fixing this road is not going to change human behavior,” said one Eagles Nest Township resident Tuesday afternoon as the six-mile Highway 1/169 reconstruction project was …

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New options weighed for Highway 169

Road alignment selection expected by end of year

Posted

EAGLES NEST – “Fixing this road is not going to change human behavior,” said one Eagles Nest Township resident Tuesday afternoon as the six-mile Highway 1/169 reconstruction project was discussed.

Minnesota Department of Transportation District 1 Project Manager Michael Kalnbach held a project status meeting to discuss the roadwork, currently scheduled to begin in 2017, then he answered questions and listened to comments from some of the 80-plus residents who attended.

Three main alternatives, and a combination of these alternatives, are under scrutiny by officials for the portion of Highway 1/169 between Six Mile Lake and Bradach roads.

“We have some alternative analysis and additional information that we have compiled since the last few meetings,” Kalnbach said.

While MnDOT officials had previously agreed to explore upgrades without the use of a detour, Kalnbach said that last spring federal highway officials, insisted that MnDOT include that possibility as part of its environmental analysis.

Local officials in both Ely and Tower have strongly objected to the proposed detour, out of concern for the economic impact and inconvenience to residents.

Kalnbach said federal officials believe that a detour-free upgrade within the existing alignment would cost more and result in greater environmental impact.

The planned upgrade is financed primarily with federal dollars. The $19.2 million-project will include $15 million from the feds and about $4 million from the state.

The detour option is one of the alternatives being examined as part of the environmental analysis. This “blue” option will cost approximately $18.5 million. The wetland impact will be about 3.8 acres and will require about 11,000 cubic yards of rock excavation.

A “pink” route, following the existing alignment, similar to the “blue” option, would not require a detour. That cost is estimated at $17.3 million, according to Kalnbach. Wetland impact would almost double at 6.1 acres and rock excavation is estimated at 38,000 cubic yards.

The “orange” or southern route realignment alternative, with no detour, would exceed the cost estimate at $21.6 million, have less wetland impact at 3.8 acres, but would require an enormous amount of rock excavation, estimated at 132,000 cubic yards.

Kalnbach added two hybrid alternatives where the road work would be divided into an east and west segment where a combination of the three main alternatives would be used, called 2A hybrid and 3A hybrid.

The 2A hybrid alternative would use the “orange” option on the west segment and the “blue” option on the east segment. A detour would be required. Kalnbach estimated the cost of this option at $20 million, impacting 6.5 acres of wetland and would require 248,000 cubic yards of rock excavation.

The 3A hybrid alternative would use the “orange” option on the west segment and the “pink” option on the east segment. No detour would be required. The cost of this option is estimated to be about $19.5 million. Almost 11 acres of wetland would be impacted and as much 163,000 cubic yards of rock excavation would be required.

Officials met with representatives from the Bois Forte tribe a couple of weeks ago. “A couple of takeaways from that meeting is that they are interested in safety along the route and concerned with shading,” he said. “Equally if not more important, is what kind of economic impact any detour up here would or could have on their operations and the casino and at the Y Store intersection.”

He said tribal members were in support of the “orange” or southern realignment.

MnDOT officials also met with Federal Highway Administration about a month ago and reviewed the purpose and need for the project including the need for safety improvements, wider shoulders, wider clear zones, curve corrections, and long-term maintenance of the highway as well, Kalnbach said.

Last week, MnDOT officials met with the Corps of Engineers. We discussed the alternatives and the possibility of mixing and matching east and west segments,” he said.

”So we started with the three main alternatives,” Kalnbach said. “And as we were pulling the environmental document together we identified a line (about halfway in the six-mile segment) where, as we moved to the east, we had more environmental impacts the further we moved off the existing roadway. We looked at mixing and matching these alternatives.”

Long-eared bats, project schedule

Kalnbach updated the group on some other project issues, including northern long-eared bats, which reside in the Soudan mine.

“This is something that affects some 39 states and involves any MnDOT projects that involves tree clearing,” he said. “It is proposed right now as an endangered species by the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service. It is not officially on their list yet but is likely to be on their list in about one year. So in the spring of 2015 this little critter is likely to be listed as an endangered species,” he said.

That designation will impact the Hwy 1/169 project by requiring winter tree clearing, regardless of which alternative is selected.

“In the next few weeks we will be looking to limit the number of build alternatives in our environmental document,” he said.

The public comment period is still scheduled to be in late fall. “Each of you will have the opportunity to review that document and provide comments back on route selection or other information on those routes. Following that, we would move to our alignment selection. We are hoping to do that in December of this year.”

Once the alignment is selected, he said, officials would proceed with right or way acquisition and environmental permitting. “Final plans would be in place about two years after that, in the fall of 2016, and construction in 2017,” he said.

Many Eagles Nest residents commented on their personal feelings about traveling on the road between Tower and Ely, and most agreed that drivers, not road design, makes the road unsafe.

“We need enforcement,” said one area woman, as she cited DOT figures and stated that last year there was not a single death in the Ely area and only six injuries. “To me this seems like an awful lot of dear taxpayer dollar for those six injuries.” She said most of the contributing factors in the crashes were speed, distractions and impaired driving. “We’re not going to change human behavior. All of this taxpayer money for little benefit I do not understand.”

More information on the project can be found at http://www.dot.state.mn.us/d1/projects/Hwy169eagles/index.html.