TOWER— Engineers with the Minnesota Department of Transportation are back at the drawing board exploring ways to further improve traffic safety at “the Y” intersection on Hwy. 169, about four and a half miles west of Tower.
On Thursday, they held a public meeting at the civic center here to take input from local residents who drive through the complicated intersection on a regular basis. About 30 area residents turned out and more than a dozen offered a variety of suggestions, complaints, and insights on the subject.
Mike Martinez, a consultant with HDR Engineering, which is assisting MnDOT on the potential project, said the project team is weighing several options, but he offered no details on any of them. “We don’t have an alternative picked yet,” he said.
Martinez said they plan to decide on the need for and the scope of a project by the end of November, prepare a number of options in December and January, and make a decision on their preferred alternative by March. “Then, hopefully, construction,” said Martinez.
Martinez said a number of factors make the Y intersection unusually hazardous. “There are some common factors that increase safety risk,” he said. Those include an intersection with high traffic volume, that’s located on a skewed angle and on a curve, with adjacent development that attracts travelers, and a previous stop that is more than five miles away in many cases.
Those factors have likely contributed to the 18 reported crashes at the intersection between 2011-2020, according to Martinez. That crash rate is well above the “critical” level, he said.
Local resident Corky Eloranta asked if MnDOT had crash data that might show the impact of changes made at the intersection in 2014. “That’s one of the things we’ll be looking into,” said Martinez.
Martinez said that MnDOT had been targeting the intersection for improvements since 2000, but said the changes haven’t reduced crashes to the extent that MnDOT would like.
From the comments, it seems those who turned out for Thursday’s meeting largely agreed that improvements were in order, although there was less consensus on what those changes should look like.
Greenwood resident Marilyn Mueller suggested the entrances of both Hwy. 1 and County Rd. 77 be moved apart, to reduce driver confusion. Former Bois Forte tribal council member Ray Toutloff agreed that the entrances are too close, but argued for the entrances to be combined into one. “People are confused at the intersection,” said Toutloff. “You see a lot of weaving back and forth.”
Julie Horihan said the cross traffic going in and out of the two Y Store entrances is another contributing factor and she encouraged eliminating one of the store entrances. She also asked about the criteria for installing a traffic light.
“We would look at a number of criteria and would have to meet them before we put a light in,” responded project manager Alex Peritz, with MnDOT.
Bill Erzar, of Ely, who helped lead the longstanding effort to improve safety on Hwy. 169, noted that the turn lanes that were installed in 2014 had marked an improvement. “We were having a lot of fatalities before the turn lanes. They’ve alleviated some of the problem, but not all of it.” Erzar suggested installing raised medians to help further direct traffic in the right directions.
Greg Dostert suggested that a beltline directing through traffic along the backside of the Y Store would ease congestion and reduce speeds at the existing intersection. Lee Peterson agreed, calling that option “the only true solution.”
Horihan asked about the possibility of an overpass, which would send through traffic up and over the existing roadway, with exits for Hwy. 1 and Cty. Rd. 77 and the Y Store. “That would solve the problem,” said Martinez, “but we’d have to decide if it’s the right approach for the location.”
Several others talked about the need to reduce speed, but Peritz noted that doing so isn’t as easy as posting a sign. “With most drivers, they drive at the speed they’re used to along the stretch. Even lowering the speed limit would not slow people down.”
Bob Pratt argued that sight lines from Cty. Rd. 77 are blocked at times from the intersection when larger vehicles are in the right turn lane coming from the east and that any changes at the location should address that problem. That’s an issue that others have raised with MnDOT in the past.
The one option that didn’t seem to have support was a roundabout, which has been rumored as one of the options that MnDOT was considering at the intersection. But those who spoke on that subject seemed to agree that a roundabout would be unworkable and potentially dangerous.
Whichever direction the project heads, Toutloff urged them to reach out early and often to Bois Forte officials, given that the band is the primary landowner surrounding the intersection. “They should be brought in early,” said Toutloff.