Backlash is strong, unrelenting on Hwy. 33 intersection plans

Cloquet residents converged at the public library Feb. 1 to address the future of what one resident called "the superhighway" through town. The resounding message: no more roundabouts on Minnesota Highway 33.

"A roundabout, in my opinion, on Cloquet Avenue would kill my business in Dunlap Island," said NorthEastern Saloon and Grill owner Bert Whittington, citing the parade of industrial truck traffic through the neighborhood on the way to USG, Upper Lakes Foods and Sappi paper mill.

"If you did a double roundabout you'd make it impossible for anyone to get to Dunlap Island," he said.

He was reflecting on roundabout proposals for the Highway 33 intersections with Cloquet and Carlton avenues during a public meeting presented by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

MnDOT proposed another, seemingly more palatable, option for the two intersections: replacement signaling.

The two intersections both registered as good, according to the officials conducting the meeting, but both figured to degrade between now and 2048 - a seemingly arbitrary year representing the future.

A 1 percent increase in traffic forecast annually through Cloquet's main artery figured to impact the effectiveness of the signaled intersections over time, officials said.

More than 50 residents arrived at the meeting, most of them balking at significant changes to the two intersections that front the city's Veterans and Pinehurst parks.

"On Carlton Avenue you have a severe incline," said Russ Young, of Esko. "What is that going to do to your potential for accidents - people just sliding into the roundabout?"

The state's transportation officials wanted to conduct one-on-one conversations at the meeting while residents preferred to raise their hands and voices to speak out as a group.

MnDOT officials rolled with the punches and seemed to take residents' concerns with good faith.

"It's wonderful feedback," Duluth-based MnDOT project manager Josie Olson said. "It allows us to be like, 'OK, you're heard. We're going in the wrong direction with the roundabouts.'"

Neither Highway 33 intersection at Carlton or Cloquet avenues was registered as a major crash site, further validating resident claims. Olson said the Highway 33 roundabout at the intersection of Interstate 35 was put in to resolve safety hazards.

Many voices

The concerns were many at the meeting.

"The proposal for 20 years has been a 10-foot motorized corridor and a 10-foot non-motorized corridor [along Highway 33] and I see all these designs that include none of that," said Chris Rokke, president of the Wood City Riders, a snowmobile group trying to get a dedicated trail along the west side of Highway 33.

Vittoria Johnson, owner of Silver Rose Fashions across from Pinehurst Park, wondered why MnDOT would want to whisk travelers through town without allowing them to look around. "Jeopardizing small businesses that pay the tax base doesn't make sense," she said.

Eric Senarighi, president of the Carlton County Riders club, wondered how legal ATV riders as young as 12 years old would be able to contend with roundabouts through town.

"Now you're going to put an 800-pound ATV in the same circle with an 80,000-pound semi? Without a signal stop?" he told the Pine Knot. "I wouldn't want to do it. That's scary. You're not just accommodating for me, you're accommodating for everybody under the law."

MnDOT officials presented their options, including updating signals, along with the international design firm Stantec, with a half-dozen offices in Minnesota. Stantec conducted the analysis that brought up the possibility of roundabouts.

"We want to collect your feedback on the concepts that we've developed," said Angie Bolstad, transportation engineer for the Stantec office in Minneapolis. "No decisions have been made yet, so we're really glad to have such a great turnout."

Other plans

The two intersections, at Carlton and Cloquet avenues, were the sole focus of last week's public meeting. But the prospective work is also part of a planned $3.2 million full roadway reconstruction in 2028 of Highway 33 between Big Lake Road/Doddridge Avenue and the northern end of the bridges over St. Louis River.

That project has long been aimed at making for better pedestrian, bicycle and ATV traffic. Today, pedestrians and snowmobile/ATV users carve a dirt path along the western roadside fronting Pinehurst. Many folks have wanted a dedicated pathway and sidewalk.

"We've been talking for 25 years about moving Highway 33 over to the east 20 feet to straighten that out to allow better sightlines and to allow multi-use trails on the west side," Rokke said. "It seems after 25 years of talking about it, here we are at the goalline and there's not even a discussion."

MnDOT officials assured Rokke that the big picture wasn't yet in place, and that the public meeting was restricted to the two intersections in question. The intersection at Highway 33 and Big Lake Road/Doddridge Avenue farther south has already been realigned and its signals replaced within the past few years.

"That's staying as is," Olson, the MnDOT project manager, said. "We replaced that signal recently."

Roundabout opinions

Carlton County commissioner Tom Proulx, who represents most of Cloquet, attended the meeting. He was surprised, but understanding, of the outcry, he said. Generally, he approved of roundabouts.

"I'm a fan of how they move traffic," he said.

One resident wondered how roundabout traffic would impact the Sunnyside neighborhood north of the river and the ability for travelers on side streets to turn onto the highway.

"With a signal, that's when you can get out on a busy time," the unidentified person said. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to get out."

"Damn roundabouts," said another attendee.

The prevailing opinion was about why roundabouts would replace existing signals.

"It's a terrible idea," the saloon and hotel owner, Whittington, said. "The faster you get in, the faster you get out and it's terrible for the community and businesses that are involved in the Highway 33 corridor."

"People aren't sharing the feeling that this is appropriate," MnDOT's Olson said. "If the signal is working fine from a community perspective, that's awesome."

Public comment remains ongoing for the future of Highway 33.

To weigh in with MnDOT about the Highway 33 intersections at Carlton and Cloquet avenues, visit: http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L29VTG3.