|
|
Many, many years ago, when I worked part-time for the Cook County News-Herald, I attended meetings of the Highway 61 Citizens Advisory Committee. The mission of the group that met monthly with Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) officials was to decide which sections of the Highway 61 corridor most needed reconstruction and enhancement.
There were meetings at the Birch Grove Community Center, Cascade Lodge, and the AmericInn in Tofte. A committed group of West End citizens attended the meetings in the mid-1990s, working with Mn/DOT engineers and landscape planners and trafficcalming specialists. Participants reviewed and commented on plans for highway reconstruction at Cut Face Creek, through Lutsen, through Tofte, and through Schroeder.
Unfortunately only a few of those projects have been completed. We have a few nice wide sections of road—the highway that passes by Cutface Creek in Grand Marais, the section leaving the township of Tofte heading north, and through the town of Schroeder. After years of waiting, the highway from the Onion River in Tofte to County Road 34 in Lutsen is finally being worked on.
But despite the best efforts of the West End townships and the Cook County Commissioners, there are glaringly dangerous sections left in disrepair.
One such section is at the end of the current construction project.
I am concerned that Mn/ DOT is setting the stage for disaster by ending reconstruction so abruptly at one of the busiest segments of Highway 61.
It is good that the reconstructed Tofte section is being extended. But it is going to be a shock to drivers who leave Tofte, heading toward Lutsen on the nice wide highway with 12-foot driving lanes and 10-foot shoulders to suddenly hit a bumpy, narrow section of road with no shoulders as they pass the project terminus at County Road 34.
Add to that the almost immediate turnoffs for the Lutsen Sea Villas, Superior National at Lutsen, Lutsen Resort, and Lutsen Mountains—with no turn lanes—and this seems like a recipe for disaster.
I know the Cook County Commissioners, spearheaded by West End representative Bruce Martinson, are pushing for funding to continue the reconstruction of Highway 61. I know the Lutsen section is one of the county’s top priorities. But I also know it has been for more than a decade.
Commissioner Martinson has been working with Mn/DOT to obtain some of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for the project. I hope the powers-that-be listen to Cook County. I can’t think of a better way to spend "economic stimulus" money than by bringing in a new road project which will also make Highway 61 safer for all of us.
Still round the corner there may wait, a new road or a secret gate.
J. R. R. Tolkien
Leave a Reply