City representatives and a district traffic engineer from the state Department of Transportation met May 21 to discuss some of the ongoing traffic and pedestrian problems along Highway 61 through Grand Marais.
The meeting was organized by Mayor Sue Hakes, and was attended by City Councilors Tim Kennedy and Kay Costello, City Administrator Mike Roth, and three citizens who offered their input. MnDOT engineer Robert Ege said he appreciated the comments and was hopeful something could be done to improve safety along the highway corridor, particularly during special events when the city has a lot of visitors and increased pedestrian traffic.
The first discussion topic centered on the speed limit. Ege said he had hoped the recent improvements made to the highway at the western end of Grand Marais would have slowed down traffic, but that apparently hasn’t been the case. Those improvements included the addition of curb and gutter, sidewalks and new lights. Ege said such things usually do make a difference and encourage compliance with the speed limit.
Ege said state Transportation Department engineers come to Grand Marais once every summer to do a speed study. Their goal is to get 85 percent compliance with the speed limit, said Ege. “We know there’s about 15 percent who won’t follow it,” he said. “If we can put the speed limit at what 85 percent of the people drive, we’ll have the safest speed possible.”
Councilor Kennedy pointed out that a big part of the problem is the hill leading out of town: Motorists entering the city don’t slow down from the 40 mph limit at the top of the hill to 30 mph at the bottom, and vehicles leaving town, especially trucks and larger vehicles, are increasing their speed in order to make it up the incline. Kennedy asked if the speed limit change to 30 mph could be moved farther west — at least to the top of the hill, rather than at the bottom. Ege said he would look into it, but as of now the top of the hill is the soonest a speed limit change could be justified.
Other possibilities Ege suggested to slow traffic include placement of temporary signs reading “Event Congestion Ahead” during special activities such as Fisherman’s Picnic; and purchase and installation of permanent “Your Speed Is” signs, which would also warn speeders to slow down.
Ege said the signs marking special events are effective but lose their impact if put in place too often. He said MnDOT has signs it lends to cities for special events, or the city may purchase its own for about $500 or less. A specific “event area” would need to be defined (the signs couldn’t be placed at each end of town to include the whole city, for instance), and Ege stressed that the signs couldn’t be abused by using them all summer. The councilors said that that may be a problem due to the large number of events held throughout the summer and fall, but if they decided to use the signs, the rules would be obeyed. “We won’t abuse it .. we want them to work,” said Hakes.
Ege said the electronic signs that flash the speed of passing vehicles are also effective, and said it is a simple process for the city to apply for one. The engineer said the easiest way for the city to install such a sign would be to mount it on an existing utility pole — that way, the power supply is already there — and the best location for the speed sign would be on a pole where the 30 mph zone begins, such as near the campground.
Asked about the cost for such a sign, Ege said the city of Biwabik has had an experimental programmable speed message sign in place for about three or four years, and it has proven very effective and trouble-free. The sign costs about $7,000, and Ege said there may be state safety funds available to help the city if it decides to purchase one — possibly enough to pay for up to 80 percent of the cost.
Other topics of discussion included the lack of crosswalks at key intersections, the dangerous pedestrian crossing area near North House Folk School, signs in the school zone and near the hospital on County Road 7, and installation of special pedestrian-activated warning lights near crosswalks.
Ege concluded his visit with a walking tour of “trouble areas” with the city officials, and promised to send information about possible solutions and available funding. Hakes said the information would be shared with the entire city council at its next meeting, May 27.
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