In 2012 the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), the Federal Highway Administration and County Engineers developed
a state-wide County Road Safety Plan (CRSP) aimed at improving safety on roadways outside the seven-county metro area. More than 90 percent of roadways in the state are managed by local, county and city agencies while prior to the program many of the funds to improve safety were directed to the state-managed roadways. The goal of the safety plan was to shift focus from reacting to severe crashes to being proactive in identifying common infrastructure in severe and fatal crashes and working to mitigate those factors on roadways throughout the state.
The CRSP is one of several programs that have been put in place by Minnesota since the early 2000s aimed at reducing fatalities on Minnesota Roads. Other programs have included Towards Zero Deaths (TZD) and the Minnesota Statewide Communication Interoperability Plan (SCIP).
Since the initial launch of the program, more than $12 million have been spent in northwest Minnesota on better striping, increased rumble strips, sign installation including chevrons around curves, lighting, dynamic warning systems and geometric changes to intersections. Geometric changes include moving intersections that were skewed into the center of a curve to allow for better sight lines for a driver to see oncoming traffic. Polk County Engineer Rich Sanders described some of the projects that have taken place in Polk County. “In Polk County, we have six-inch edge lines to enhance run off the road safety making people drive more towards the center of the lane,” said Sanders. “We do rumble strips and strips, intersection lighting which increase driver safety through visual through intersections.”
While the county has made many of the upgrades presented in the original plan, the workshop dealt with updating those plans for Polk County and discussing safety in different locations. “We had some of the residents of Polk County join us to get a broader view of safety on our county roads,” said Sanders. “Now we are updating that plan with further steps we can take.”
The workshop included several different ideas for enhancing road safety in Polk County. Two specific projects were discussed, installing Restricted Crossing U-Turns (RCUT) or reduced conflict intersections at points along Highway 2 and the urbanization of County Road 11/Fisher Avenue into Crookston. RCUTs are a new type of interchange that MnDOT has been installing on some of the most dangerous or potentially dangerous four-lane intersections in the state as Sanders explains. “RCUTS are basically an intersection where you close off the center median,” said Sanders. “You take a right-hand turn, merge over to the left lane, get in a turn lane, make a U-Turn, merge over to the right lane, make the right turn and continue on.” The U-Turns happen about a quarter-mile up from the intersection and is not only safer but generally will take less time. Sanders added that RCUTs are put at intersections with a high risk of broadside crashes and federal data shows that these reduced conflict intersections significantly decrease both injury and fatal crashes at those intersections. The proposed intersections for RCUTs in Polk County include U.S. Highway 2/Business 2 in East Grand Forks, U.S. Highway 2/U.S. Hwy 75 North by the University of Minnesota Crookston and U.S. Highway 2/U.S. Highway 32 between Fertile and Red Lake Falls (or16 miles east of Crookston).
The other major proposal for Polk County is on Fisher Avenue/County Road 11 coming into Crookston. Discussion during the workshop indicated that roads that appear rural lead to higher speeds, while County Road 11 still looks rural while vehicle and pedestrian traffic to the increased housing, the Crookston Sports Center, Drafts Sports Bar and Grill and Crookston High School have taken on a more urban feel. The proposed changes would make Fisher Avenue feel more like a residential street than a county road. “The road from the railroad tracks to the east of Sports Center would be reconstructed in 2020 with curb and gutter, three lanes of traffic one each direction and a center turn lane,” Sanders added they would have sidewalks on both sides of the road and described new safer pedestrian crossings utilizing rapid flash beacons. “We are going to add rapid flash beacons at North Broadway and Barrette Street. Because of the strobe, they are more effective at getting people to slow down and stop.”
The additional benefit according to Sanders is that once the update is complete he will have a packet of all the proposed projects for Polk County that have been approved as part of the plan. He will be able to pull a proposed project from his packet and use it as the submission for state or federal funds. In the old system, the county would’ve had to compile the data at the time they started considering a project adding to their use of time and resources. Under the CRSP, all the county needs to do is submit a pre-approved strategy from their packet for review.
TO SEE A VIDEO EXPLANATION OF RCUT’s CLICK ON THE VIDEO ABOVE
