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Council reviews Highway 75 reconstruction options, seeks public input before Jan. 6 decision
Summary
Le Mars council heard engineers present traffic and safety findings for the Business Highway 75 reconstruction, including hybrid, three-lane and four-lane options; consultants and staff urged more public comment before the council gives design direction at its Jan. 6 meeting.
Le Mars City Council on Dec. 16 heard a technical briefing on the proposed 2026 Business Highway 75 reconstruction project and agreed to delay design direction until a Jan. 6 meeting to allow more public input.
Bridal Wells, project manager for DGR Engineering, told the council the team began work in August, completed surveys, utility coordination and soil testing, televised the storm sewer system and held a public information meeting on Nov. 6. She said a written summary of outreach and findings has been provided to council members.
"We've been working on total survey, including in utility investigation and coordination with private utilities," Wells said during her overview, noting contractors and public meetings were part of the data collection effort. Wells introduced Adam Denney of FHU, who presented traffic and safety findings.
"You have about just under 10,000 cars a day on the highway," Denney said, summarizing existing volumes and noting higher crash concentrations north of 6th Street. FHU's analysis considered several cross sections: retaining the existing four lanes, converting to a three-lane section, or a hybrid approach that would keep four lanes south of 6th Street while converting the north half to three lanes. Denney said a three-lane section could handle roughly 18,000 cars per day, and the hybrid option would focus safety enhancements where crash rates and pedestrian volumes are higher.
Council members and public-safety personnel raised concerns about emergency response, left-turn conflict points and pedestrian crossings, citing trouble using turn lanes and the need for clearer markings or lighted crossings at problem intersections. One council member noted previous crash patterns and pointed to locations such as the Dairy Queen and Casey's corners as areas that have required treatments in the past.
City administration recommended taking no design direction at the Dec. 16 meeting to allow additional comment and to return with a recommendation on Jan. 6. "This next 2 to 3 weeks is really important for the public," a council member said, urging residents and businesses to weigh in before the next meeting.
Next steps: the council expects a decision or consensus about design direction at the Jan. 6 meeting after reviewing public comments and the consultants' final report. Consultants also flagged intersection work at 6th Street and potential signal rebuilds as likely components of any preferred alternative.
