Safety improvements have been expected at the Highway 55 and CSAH 3 intersection since early this year, but last week it became apparent that more extensive improvements than originally anticipated will be undertaken in the summer of 2016.
Tom Dumont, a district traffic engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, explained last week that MnDOT has obtained an unspecified amount of additional funding that will allow traffic lights to be installed along with the left turn lanes on Highway 55 that were previously planned for.
"In the last 12 months there were eight crashes at this intersection, five of which are correctable (right angle-left turn crashes) with a traffic signal installation," said Dumont. "Once there are five or more correctable crashes at an intersection in a year a traffic signal may provide some additional safety benefits."
Though traffic lights can create some hazards of their own, particularly in high-speed rural areas, Dumont said he believed the lights and turn lanes offered the best solution in this case.
"Considering the difficulties of realigning the skew on (CSAH 3) due to cemetery in the northeast quadrant and the recent number of correctable crashes in the past year, we feel a signal and left turn lane is the best course of action at this time," he said.
Safety improvement efforts were sparked by a rash of crashes last fall, one resulting in the death of Sue Williams, 52, of Annandale. In January, MnDOT received $400,000 in federal safety funds for the turn lanes.