The left-turn lanes will be constructed at Midway Road intersections with North Cloquet, Stark and Arrowhead roads. The county received $1 million in federal funding through the Highway Safety Improvement Program to build the lanes.
The St. Louis County Board is in the process of authorizing a professional services agreement with Bolton and Menk, Inc., of Hermantown, to design the turn lanes.
The safety measures come after a well-received roundabout was installed at the intersection of Midway and Maple Grove roads in 2018.
“These other intersections don’t fit a roundabout, but they’re also deficient from a traffic-safety perspective,” St. Louis County traffic engineer Vic Lund said. “Turn lanes were the next best thing we could do to make the Midway Road corridor itself fully treated.”
The public works staff used crash data and risk analysis on Midway Road between Interstate 35 and Minnesota Highway 194 to determine the need.
“When you look at serious crashes, total crashes and crash rate, the top three intersections are the ones that are in this project,” Lund said.
In its most recent safety plan for county roads in 2018, the Midway-North Cloquet intersection rated as the fifth-riskiest in the county, followed by the Midway-Stark intersection at 41st and Midway-Arrowhead at 117th out of 255 road crossings measured as “top risk.”
Midway Road sees an average of 7,000 to 9,000 motorists per day, making it one of the higher volume roads in the area.
The left-turn lanes will require the roadways to be widened by 12 feet at each intersection. The central-turn lanes will have the effect of taking turning vehicles out of the way of oncoming traffic.
Lund said it will eliminate the feeling of high-speed traffic barreling down on a turning driver.
A vehicle on Midway Road approaches the intersection with Stark Road, one of three intersections along Midway Road slated to receive left-turn lanes. (Steve Kuchera / skuchera@duluthnews.com)
“When you have the kind of traffic volume that Midway Road has it becomes problematic to make that left turn,” he said. “More often than not, there’s opposing traffic. It’s always in the back of your mind, ‘Is that car coming up behind me going to stop?'”
The turn lanes will allow flowing traffic to drive by turning cars, and eliminate illegal bypass maneuvers, namely vehicles using the shoulder to drive around a turning automobile.
“We believe it’s going to be a very positive thing,” Lund said.
St. Louis County is expected to provide a 10% local match and be responsible for all additional costs required for construction.