The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

July 24, 2012

Blue Earth County approves two-lane roundabout

By Dan Linehan The Free Press

MANKATO — The Blue Earth County Board gave its approval Tuesday to a two-lane roundabout at Madison Avenue and Highway 22 after tabling the issue in April.

Nothing has changed with the intersection itself; the board had been waiting for a plan for the nearby intersection of Madison Avenue and Haefner Drive. Nearby business owners had previously complained they weren’t involved in road access planning.

The Haefner plan, developed by a consultant, is a compromise between safety and access.

It is a so-called “three-quarters” intersection. It’s difficult to imagine without a picture, but it means traffic can take three movements — right onto Madison Avenue, right onto Haefner Drive and left onto Haefner. Islands in the middle of the road will prevent through traffic and left turns onto Madison Avenue.

The idea is to eliminate the most dangerous turning movements. The intersection was the site of a three-car crash earlier this month, when a vehicle going south on Haefner collided with one eastbound on Madison.

County Administrator Bob Meyer said businesses preferred full access, but given the costs they’d be assessed to build a smaller roundabout at Haefner they accepted the three-quarters solution.

The city of Mankato had previously approved the roundabout at Highway 22 and Madison Avenue, which would be the region’s first two-lane traffic circle. The county and city are each responsible for one-fourth of the $1.4 million project; the state will pay the rest.

It appears both the roundabout and the modifications at Haefner will wait for 2014. But plans call for Madison Avenue to have four roundabouts added next year to the rural section between Mankato and Eagle Lake.

“They really aren’t that difficult to drive,” County Engineer Al Forsberg said, as long as a few rules — like not passing in the roundabout and watching for pedestrians as you enter and leave — are followed.

The state decided to upgrade the intersection at Highway 22 and Madison because projections showed wait times and accidents increasing.

The roundabout option was the clear winner in a comparison with an expanded lighted intersection.

 

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local News