The Gunflint Trail is not a safe road, according to County Engineer David Betts, but making is safer is looking impossible.
County State Aid Highway 12 has narrow lanes, a lack of shoulders, trees impeding visibility, a long season of ice and snow, and lots of people driving fast around blind corners. Part of the process of developing a better design for the road and getting some funding from the federal government, however, required a review by the Minnesota Department of Transportation Cultural Resources Unit. That review found that the Gunflint Trail is “culturally significant” in its current form, and that precludes it from being changed. In addition, the review recommended that speed limits be lowered.
“I completely disagree with this report,” Engineer Betts told the county board on September 11, 2012. “This basically leaves us having to leave a dangerous road dangerous.” No effective appeals process is available, he said.
The Gunflint Trail has been moved many times, Betts said. He didn’t know how its current course could be considered culturally significant with as much as it’s been changed over time.
Betts had been working on designs that called for 12-foot lanes, four-foot shoulders, and adequate drainage. Federal funding has been procured through the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for the project, which is slated to begin in 2014.
Betts said that the county could transfer the funding to a different road and use other available funding to do some of what he thinks needs to be done on the Gunflint Trail. That funding would cover the cost of replacing the bituminous surface, a solution that would last about 10 years. If they do any work that involves going down further than the bituminous surface, the state’s cultural significance rules would apply.
“I’m not feeling really good about that because the road’s in really rough shape,” Betts said.
The lack of shoulder is why ATVs are not allowed beyond the Golf Course Road, although he would prohibit bicycles on the Gunflint Trail before he would prohibit
ATVs because of the lack of safety, he said. He said he would like to see the road built so that it would be safe for multiple types of uses.
Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad said the section of Gunflint Trail between Cross River and Tucker Lake “has got to be one of the worst roads in the state.”
“We’re just trying to get a road that’s safe for everybody,” Engineer Betts said.
Supervisor Klegstad suggested trying to transfer this funding to the Sawbill Road in order to pave it up to The Grade, which he said is a “nightmare to maintain” because it was designed for pavement and not gravel. “Right now it’s a monstrosity of a road that’s really rough and really dusty,” he said. Restoring the Class 1 that was originally laid down on it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said he has seen people driving really fast on the Sawbill.
“When it is in good shape,” said Klegstad, “it is an Autobahn.”
The board took no action on this issue.
CR 7 improvements
The western portion of County Road 7 is slated for some improvements next year, but making it safer for bicycles will be difficult with the steep slopes on the south side that would preclude widening the whole road and the $1½ million that is available.
Engineer Betts said that the plan calls for completely resurfacing the portion between Highway 61 on the west and County Road 6 and making shoulders as wide as possible. The available funding will allow for four-foot shoulders along part of the roadway, he said.
There may be funding for rumble strips, Betts said, an option he will discuss with the board when the design work is done. “I know for sure that that improves safety,” he said, but he recognized that rumble strips create “quality of life” issues for some residents living along roads that have them.
Commissioner Jim Johnson asked how rumble strips would affect bicyclists, since he sees a lot of people biking on 7. Rumble strips are hard for bicyclists, Engineer Betts said, unless the shoulders are wide.
One improvement in road design is the installation of beveled edges instead of vertical drop-offs, which can cause rollovers, Betts said.
Maintenance
Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad reported on what his crew had been up to this summer. Brushing projects are still under way after equipment breakdowns caused some delays. Some of the other projects included repairing shoulders along the Gunflint Trail and applying 161,000 gallons of calcium chloride to gravel roads.
Ski Hill Road
County Engineer David Betts reported that reconstruction of the top portion of County Road 5, the Lutsen Ski Hill Road, has been “going slow.” The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Petrofund along with Lutsen Mountains Corporation would be paying an estimated total of $16,458.44 for removing some petroleum-contaminated soil along the roadway, the result of a spill many years ago. The Petrofund program partially reimburses the owner of a utility for the costs of cleanup when contamination is discovered during a utility construction project.
“Lutsen Mountain Corporation has been really, really, really good to work with on this,” said Engineer Betts.
Leftover construction materials
The board authorized Betts to negotiate an acceptable price with Ulland Brothers on construction materials left over from the reconstruction of County Road 8.
Hiring assistant engineer
The board authorized the hiring of Sam Muntean to fill the new assistant county engineer position. Offsetting the cost of this new position was the retirement of Engineering Technician Bill Parish last year, whose position was not replaced.
Engineer Betts said Muntean is coming from South Dakota with 14-15 years experience. He is looking for housing for his family, which includes four children. “He is excited about coming here,” Betts said.
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