Wider, traditional intersection-types will be built
According to Peter Harff, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Project Manager for the Highway #60 Four-Lane Project, MnDOT has decided to use a wider, traditional intersection-type at intersections. Harff is slated to present the reasons for the decision at tonight’s (Wednesday, November 19) Bingham Lake City Council meeting.
Those reasons for eliminating RCUTs include the proximity of the intersection of Highway #60 with Cottonwood County Road #2 to a curve, as well as the fact that the traffic volume in the Bingham Lake area does not quite meet the minimum required.
The Bingham Lake City Council, though, is pushing for 150 feet between the roads, while MnDOT is considering a 125-foot space.
MnDOT had been considering a restricted crossing U-turn intersection (RCUT) where Cottonwood County Road #2 crosses Highway #60 on the west edge of the city, and the intersection with Cottonwood County Road #44 at the east edge. (In some parts of the country, RCUTs are sometimes referred to as reduced conflict intersections – RCIs – or J-turns.) At a traditional intersection with a four-lane divided highway, motorists from the side road need to look in both directions in order to cross. Left turns require the same level of attention. With an RCUT, drivers from the side road only have to be concerned with one direction of traffic on the highway at a time. Motorists approaching a four-lane divided highway from a side road cannot make a left turn or cross the lanes of traffic. Instead, motorists are required to turn right onto the highway, then make a U-turn at a designated median opening. In an RCUT, drivers always make a right turn – followed by a U-turn.
The entire West Gap (Mountain Lake-to-Windom) Highway 60 Four-Lane Project calls for two new existing west-bound lanes be built to the north of the existing two-lane section and realignment of three Cottonwood County roads to lessen skew between roadways. Work on this section of the project is slated for 2017.
