Highway 61/County 4 Top Priority For Safety Improvement Funding
County Adjusts Intersection's Ranking As Severe Accidents Increase
HUGO - In the wake of a recent wave of accidents, two of which resulted in fatalities, the junction of Highway 61 and County Road 4 (170th Street) now tops Washington County's list of intersections that are most in need of county funding for safety improvements.
"The intersection, for better or worse, has moved up unfortunately because of crashes," said Washington County Transportation Planner Mike Rogers at the Hugo City Council meeting on Feb. 4.
Each year, Washington County ranks intersections that aren't controlled by traffic signals, with intersections higher on the list getting top priority for any county funds that might become available.
Washington County Traffic Engineer Ted Schoenecker said that the rise of the Highway 61/County 4 intersection in the ranking has been the result of both an increase in the number of accidents and also in the severity of those accidents.
"This intersection, last year, was probably about number ten in the county," Schoenecker said. He went on to state that increased traffic volumes, longer delays, and an increase in crashes and their severity have catapulted it to the top.
In 2006, the last year for which data are available, there were seven accidents at the intersection, three of which resulted in injury. These numbers represent an increase from 2004, when there were four crashes, two of which resulted in injury.
Accident data for 2007 has yet to be compiled and released by MnDOT and the Department of Public Safety.
City Administrator Mike Ericson confirmed that there were two fatalities as a result of accidents at the intersection last year, adding that the city has been supportive of improvements at that location.
"We've been encouraging [the county] to continue to work on it for the past three years, but particularly this past year," he said. "It's just a funky intersection."
While the intersection's bolstered ranking means that it is now the top priority for county funding, this doesn't mean that improvements are imminent.
"The next thing we need to do is to coordinate with MnDOT, and then we need to come up with a design plan and find a way to fund the improvements," Schoenecker said. He added that the preliminary estimate for completing improvements at the intersection is approximately $1 million.
At the council meeting, Rogers said that a study investigating what type or types of improvements are needed at the intersection would likely take about six months.
Improvements would likely involve the installation of a traffic signal, but could also involve measures intended to improve sightlines or some type of road restriping at the intersection.
Schoenecker said that it could be three to four years before improvements are actually implemented.
"That's probably the longest time frame, but we would hope we could do something sooner," he said, noting that county dollars are usually in short supply and some type of federal supplemental funding might be needed in order to complete the project.
Schoenecker said that securing state funding could be one way to expedite the process, but didn't sound particularly hopeful about the prospect.
"Right now, this intersection isn't included in the state's five-year Capital Improvement Plan," he said.
In any event, the word that the intersection had moved to the top of the county's rankings was bittersweet news to council - sweet, because it means that funding for safety improvements will at some point be on the way, but recognizing that the situation reflects an increasing number of severe accidents within the city.
"It's unfortunate with our ranking system and our funding that we need to have accidents [to secure funding for improvements], but that's the reality with all the funding needs for transportation that are out there," said Mayor Fran Miron after Roger's presentation.