Findings of the County Road 34 and County Road 29 Intersection Control Evaluation Released Today
Tue 9-7-2021
(Jackson) The findings of the Intersection Control Evaluation study for Jackson County Roads 29 and 34 were presented to the Jackson County Board of Commissioners today (Tuesday). Scott Thompson, who is the Traffic Engineer for the MN Department of Transportation, outlined 3 options.
"So there were three viable alternatives that were considered as part of the intersection control evaluation. The first is an enhanced through/stop. So you would maintain the exisiting traffic control that is present at the intersection today. So CSAH 29 motorists having to stop, CSAH 34 having the right of way BUT you would expand the level of safety treatments that are present at the intersection. The other alternative that was considered was a multi-way stop, also referred to as an all way stop. And then the third alternative was a single lane round about."
Thompson recommended option one which is the enhanced through/stop control or two way stop.
"Given the current traffic volumes as well as projected traffic volumes, it would be the most appropriate traffic control solution. It would offer the second lowest amount of intersection delay at 6.2 seconds per vehicle. That said we fully recognize with the existing performance of the intersection from a safety perspective that additional treatments are needed. So the LED stop signs are the very first step in that process and again those have already been deployed. There are another dozen safety enhancements that could be deployed to help improve the safety performance of this alternative."
Some of the other enhancements will include re-cutting the rumble strips, adding stop ahead pavement messages, targeted enforcement by local law enforcement as well as signage on county road 34 alerting motorists of the upcoming intersection. Based on the study the enhanced/through stop control is anticipated to decrease fatal, injury and possible injury crashes by 70% while the multi way stop control or 4 way stop option is estimated to only decrease these crashes by 40%. The board voted unanimously to move forward with option 1, which is the enhanced through/stop control and the board will continuously evaluate this intersection.