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Saint Louis County, MnDOT win Hibbing council OK to reconfigure high-risk Town Line Road–Highway 73 intersection
Summary
The Hibbing City Council voted to concur with a Saint Louis County/MnDOT layout to realign and add turn lanes and lighting at the skewed Town Line Road intersection on Highway 73, a project the county says ranks in the top 3% of intersection risk locally and will use state Local Partnership Program funding.
Saint Louis County and the Minnesota Department of Transportation on Wednesday won Hibbing City Council concurrence for a preliminary layout that would realign the skewed intersection of Town Line Road and Trunk Highway 73, add left- and right-turn lanes and install intersection lighting.
Vic Lund, traffic engineer for Saint Louis County, told the council the intersection ranks in the top 3% of county intersections for crash risk and said the project is a data-driven safety effort. “Safety of the traveling public is our number one priority,” Lund said, describing the county’s goal of reducing traffic fatalities.
The county and MnDOT presented a “safe system” approach of engineering, lighting and turn-lane changes intended to reduce severe crashes. Lund said left-turn lanes can reduce the probability of future crashes by about 48 percent and that correcting the intersection’s roughly 35-degree skew could cut crash risk by an estimated 15–20 percent. Alex Peritz, a MnDOT representative, described access adjustments for the adjacent Maple Hill Community Club and said the county is working through septic and overflow-parking impacts with the club.
Why it matters: County staff said the site’s high statistical risk and a small cluster of recent collisions make it a priority safety candidate. Saint Louis County secured $1.7 million in state trunk‑highway Local Partnership Program (LPP) funds for the project and expects to use about $750,000 in county state‑aid dollars for a total preliminary estimate near $2.5 million. County staff said construction is tentatively scheduled for 2027 and that municipal consent is required because the county state highway lies inside the city limits.
Council members asked about property and access impacts, drainage and cost sharing. Jesse Storey, Hibbing city engineer, said he drives the corridor regularly and offered the city’s support. Lund said the county will pursue a state-aid design variance for substandard side-street curves and will work through right-of-way and municipal-consent steps before design and formal acquisition.
The council approved resolution 25‑05‑09, giving concurrence to the layout so the county may proceed into design and municipal‑consent steps. Councilor Hoffman moved the resolution; Councilor Bayless seconded. The motion carried on a voice vote.
Next steps: county staff said they will present a request to the state aid design-variance committee in June, complete design and formal right-of-way work in 2026, then advertise for bids in late 2026 or early 2027. County and MnDOT staff encouraged the public to monitor the project website for updates.
