The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

October 5, 2012

Highway 14 safety project begins Monday

Safety project to reduce head-on crashes.

MANKATO — Motorists can expect delays on Highway 14 from Nicollet to North Mankato as construction begins Monday on an interim safety project to reduce head-on crashes.

The project will restripe the road surface and includes an 8-foot median with tube delineators that will make motorists more aware of the center of the roadway. Rumble strips will be placed on both the outside shoulder and

the inside median to further alert drivers. The added buffer zone will result in no passing on the six-mile segment, but

full access will remain at all existing entrances and crossroads.

 The project is expected to be complete in November.

A road safety audit determined that head-on crashes on Highway 14 from Nicollet to North Mankato are three times the state average for a similar roadway. It also determined that many motorists were driving well above the speed limit and were not buckled up.

Extra enforcement by State Patrol has been part of the strategy to immediately improve safety on the corridor.

The next step is to expand Highway 14 to four lanes from Nicollet to North Mankato in 2017-18, as announced by Gov. Mark Dayton in June.

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