Morrie Luke MnDOT assistant traffic engineer told county commissioners that shoulder rumble strips would be installed on Highway 61 in August; when asked if MnDOT would hold public meetings he said no!
MnDOT press release of May 6, 2014: “We will defer installation of centerline rumble strips on new projects in District 1 until all research is complete, said Duane Hill, MnDOT District 1 engineer; however, we firmly believe in the safety benefits of centerline rumble strips and if a product becomes available that we believe meets our safety criteria and has acceptable noise levels we will begin installing them.”
If MnDOT’s position in 2014 was that centerline rumble strips provided safety benefits to Cook County residents, then why are they advocating shoulder strips for Cook County now?
In the ’60s straight-level-long stretches of highway were experiencing single vehicle accidents of drivers falling asleep and drifting their cars and trucks off the right side of the roadway at high speeds. Shoulder rumble strips eliminated these type of accidents for highway stretches of three-plus miles. But, a cost-benefit analysis would show that shoulder rumble strips should not be on Cook County Highway 61.
Highway 61 in Cook County is a winding scenic road with only a few stretches a mile or more long. I would expect most of the noise would be from cars pulling off the road to stop, which seldom happens at night. These shoulder strips will not cause the outcry of 2013 when Center Line Rumble Strips were installed resulting in a petition to remove them, which had 256 names representing 150 families. MnDOT will then take the position that this installation proves that “mumble” strips are significantly quieter and have not adversely affected the families living along the half-mile corridor of Highway 61.
Next year MnDOT will install 42 miles of centerline “mumble strips,” which will still awaken the sick and elderly at night, and cause drivers who have never experienced the center rumble strip to “panic” and go off the road in winter, and a host of other problems identified in the 2013 petition.
The half-mile corridor around Highway 61 is estimated to have 900 families in the 55 mph sections which are 20 percent (1800) of Cook County’s residents living outside of our city and towns. In 2014 the commissioners supported this petition, and most of the rumble strips were filled in. This MnDOT project has to be stopped now.
Contact your commissioner,
it worked last time:
. District 1—
Commissioner Robert Deschampe
218-370-1181
. District 2—
Commissioner Myron Bursheim
218-387-9220
. District 3—
Commissioner David Mills
. District 4—
Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk
218-387-2928
. District 5—
Commissioner Ginny Storlie
218-663-7092
Chuck Flickinger
Hovland
PS While mumble strips record a lower noise level they cannot remove the abrupt beginning of the noise— this is what awakens and disturbs people and animals the most.
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