Rumble strips on roads have been a controversial topic at numerous meetings in Cook County over the past several months. On July 22, the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced that it would be filling in the centerline rumble strips along the North Shore. Work should begin July 28 or 29.
Speaking to the Cook County Board of Commissioners at the July 15, 2014 meeting, Chuck Flickinger of Hovland said he represented 200 families who were opposed to the sounds made by rumble strips installed by Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) on the east side of Cook County.
Flickinger said the mitigation done by MnDOT last fall, the partial filling of the offending strips, is ineffective. He said residents are still awakened at night and disturbed during the day. He said the 200 petitioners do not want more of the same. Flickinger asked the commissioners to send a letter to Representative David Dill and Senator Tom Bakk, requesting that MnDOT fill in all of the rumble strips.
Flickinger also shared two other concerns. First he said MnDOT is not in compliance with federal laws protecting scenic/recreational roadways. Second, he said MnDOT should find better, more economical, alternatives to rumble strips, namely those making two-lane rural roads non-passing highways.
“It is my opinion that rumble strips should never have been installed on Highway 61 without an environmental study and public hearings by MnDOT,” he said.
Before agreeing to send a letter, commissioners asked Flickinger to let them continue the dialogue they have established with MnDOT. West End Commissioner Bruce Martinson said MnDOT has had a complete reversal of its position on installing rumble strips since it received complaints about the noise from residents in Cook County and other places in Minnesota.
In the past, said Martinson, MnDOT’s plan was to include rumble strips anywhere there was an overlay or a highway reconstruction project. “But in the last year that has ended,” he said.
Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk cautioned against sending a letter to Bakk or Dill, and told the board that she had spoken to each of them about the matter. She said, “They are more than aware of the issues.”
She suggested the board work through the process it has begun and if it doesn’t work, then send out the letter.
Commissioner Sue Hakes had a different concern regarding “filling” the rumble strips. “There is no definition of what ‘fill’ means. Does fill mean half way? To the top? We have a huge definition problem, ”she said, adding that she doesn’t want to stop MnDOT from any progress they might make in even partially filling rumble strips in Cook County.
Martinson cautioned against pushing to have environmental studies done for Highway 61, which is designated as a Scenic Recreation Highway, as requested in Flickinger’s letter. “I don’t want to see projects stopped because of environmental historic reviews [like on the Gunflint Trail],” said Martinson. “I don’t want to get into that area.”
“In no way do I want to harm the community,” said Flickinger, who agreed to hold his letter and let the commissioners work out the problem of rumble strips with MnDOT.
Commissioner Garry Gamble called for a meeting to discuss rumble strips with a MnDOT official who “is knowledgeable and in a position of authority” He noted that a previous MnDOT official told the board that rumble strips were going to be ground down and filled; that person apparently had no authority to carry out what he had promised.
For its part MnDOT appears to have listened to the grumbling about the noise created by rumble strips throughout Cook and Lake counties on Highway 61 and have responded by announcing they are filling in some of them.
Work will begin either Monday, July 28 or Tuesday, July 29. The work is expected to take about one month to complete. MnDOT said motorists may encounter temporary, single lane closures while the work is being completed.
In the July 22 announcement, the transportation department stated, “MnDOT is reviewing its centerline rumble strip policy, including criteria on where centerline rumble strips should be or should not be installed and is researching the effectiveness of alternative rumble strip designs that maintain safety measures for drivers while reducing the noise impact to the surrounding areas.”
MnDOT said the centerline rumble strips will be filled because they created higher than expected noise levels in populated areas along the North Shore.
For Flickinger this is a start, but he would like to see rumble strips disappear from all roadways unless they are on long, long stretches of straight highway where it has been proven they keep truck drivers awake.
He told the board he would let the progress they have made with the state continue but added that if in the end MnDOT refused to listen, he would take the matter all the way to Washington, D.C.
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