Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation 371 Corridor topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
371 corridor study nears finish; MnDOT, cities and county weigh J-turns and longer-term interchanges
Summary
Project team described a multi-agency corridor study seeking safety and mobility improvements on Highway 371 between Baxter and Nisswa; near-term low-cost fixes and more transformational options were presented, and officials flagged business impacts and heavy-vehicle needs.
Project representatives told the Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners the Highway 371 corridor study from Baxter to County Road 18 in Nisswa is nearing completion and has produced implementation options ranging from low-cost access-management fixes to long-term grade-separated interchanges.
The multi-jurisdictional study—run jointly by the two cities (Baxter and Nisswa), Crow Wing County, MnDOT and Region 5—focused on safety and mobility after a review of crash data, including several recent fatalities. The project team emphasized safety improvements that reduce severe, right-angle crashes while maintaining business access and traffic flow.
Project participants described short- and medium-term measures that include J-turn (also called “restricted crossing U-turn”) conversions at selected intersections, left-in/left-out treatments and frontage or backage roads to move local traffic off the trunk highway. The presenters said J-turns can reduce total crashes by roughly 40% and fatal or injury crashes by larger percentages in case studies, and that signalized J-turns—an uncommon variant in Minnesota—are being considered for some locations where access and peak flows require signals.
Longer-term possibilities described included grade separation at high-growth nodes, expanded frontage roads in the first-assessment district, and lane reconfigurations. The study team said a federal RAISE (now BUILD/RAISE) grant application included a package of near-term improvements; the availability of federal funds remains uncertain.
Project staff noted ongoing coordination with utility and local partners to accommodate long vehicles used by Crow Wing Power and others, and said the county will likely be asked to cost-share medium- and long-term projects when they move toward construction. Commissioners emphasized the need to protect business access and minimize negative traffic impacts on small businesses; MnDOT and county staff said those concerns are central to the public outreach and design process.
The project team said draft one-page summaries explaining proposed improvements will be released publicly and additional stakeholder workshops scheduled in the coming weeks; Nisswa’s public meeting was moved to early April. No formal action was taken at this informational update.
