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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Will cars be whizzing
in and out of Houston County communities at a higher rate of speed?
Probably not, but the Houston County Board requested Mn/DOT to conduct
speed studies on sections of 20 different county roads. The portions of
county roads that will be scrutinized by Mn/DOT lead in and out of
various cities in the county.
At the Dec. 18 county board
meeting, County Highway Department Engineer Marcus Evans explained that
the speed limit on all county roads are set at 55 miles per hour,
unless Mn/DOT conducts a study and officially changes the speed limit.
Mn/DOT had previously conducted studies in 1967 and again in 1973.
ìWhen
a county road is reconstructed, the old speed limit is nullified, and a
new study is required,î Evans told the board. ìIt is prudent for the
county to have Mn/DOT conduct new studies on a number of county roads.î
The
study records traffic speed on the sections of county roads in question
and set the speed limit at 85 percent of what the average speed is.
ìThatís
not to say if every car is going 85 miles an hour, theyíre going to set
the speed limit at 75,î Evans said with a smile. ìItís something Mn/DOT
needs to do. As our communities grow and urban areas at the edges of
cities grows, the speed limits need to be adjusted.î
The Mn/DOT
studies will be done at no cost to the county. All cities and townships
affected by the studies have been notified. The 20 studies will be
conducted on the following stretches of county roads:
ïCSAH 249 from the intersection of CSAH 5 and CSAH 249 to .616 miles east of CSAH 249 in Caledonia;
CSAH 1 from Beaver Creek Park to 1.54 miles east in Caledonia Township;
CSAH 2 from the intersection of State Highway 76 and CSAH 2 to .933 miles east of Eitzen;
CSAH 3 from the intersection of State Highway 44 and CSAH 3 to 1.56 miles east in Caledonia;
CSAH 3 from the intersection of State Highway 26 and CSAH 3 to .828 miles west of Brownsville;
CSAH 4 from .402 of a mile south of Blackhammer Drive to .402 of a mile north of Blackhammer Drive in Blackhammer Township;
CSAH 5 from the intersection of Main Street and CSAH 5 one mile south in Caledonia;
CSAH 6 from 5th Street South to 1.858 miles west in La Crescent;
CSAH 7 from State Highway 16 to .495 of a mile east of Hokah;
ïCSAH 10 from .277 of a mile south of CSAH 11 to .577 miles north of CSAH 11 in Sheldon Township;
CSAH 11 from intersection of CSAH 10 and CSAH 11 to .479 of a mile east in Sheldon Township;
CSAH 13 from the intersection of State Highway 16 and 76 to 1.031 miles west in Houston;
CSAH 16 from State Highway 44 to .948 of a mile south on CSAH 16 in Spring Grove;
CSAH 18 from CSAH 3 to .752 miles north on CSAH 18 in Brownsville;
CSAH 18 from State Highway 44 to .675 of a mile south on CSAH 18 in Hokah;
CSAH 24 from the intersection of CSAH 24 and CSAH 249 to .311 of a mile west of Freeburg;
CSAH 25 from the intersection of CSAH 6 and CSAH 25 to .739 of a mile east on CSAH 25 in La Crescent;
CSAH 26 from .860 miles to the west of State Highway 76 to .782 of a mile east of State Highway 76 in Money Creek Township;
ïCSAH 27 from State Highway 44 to .587 of a mile west on CSAH 27 in Spring Grove; and
CSAH 249 from the intersection of CSAH 249 and CSAH 24 to .406 of a mile west on CSAH 249 in Crooked Creek Township.
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