Overpass could fix perilous Hwy. 36 intersection

Two years ago, Kay Day was driving to work when a truck ran a red light and crashed into her car at the intersection of Lake Elmo Avenue and Hwy. 36 in Lake Elmo.

Day was killed instantly.

Her daughter, Lisa Day, says that intersection has been trouble for years.

Washington County officials agree, and they are targeting the dangerous intersection between Lake Elmo and Grant for a major overhaul that could include an overpass.

Between 2004 and 2006, the crossing had crash rates higher than the metro average, said Jacob Gave, a design engineer for Washington County's public works department.

"That tells us right there that there is a problem here," he said.

According to statistics from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, there were 46 crashes at the intersection -- including one fatal accident -- between 2005 and 2007.

The firm is working on options to remake the intersection, and county officials say they expect to present the alternatives to the public at an open house sometime after the elections.

"We don't really have a proposed solution yet," Gave said, adding that county officials are aiming for 2011 to begin construction.

The overpass option was first identified in a 2001 Minnesota Department of Transportation study of a segment of the Hwy. 36 corridor, from Interstate 694 in Oakdale to Stillwater and Oak Park Heights. "They went through and defined how each intersection would be treated along Hwy. 36," Gave said.

At the time, city leaders from Grant and Lake Elmo said they did not want direct access from Hwy. 36 to their communities, he said. But more recently, the cities told county officials that they don't want to cut off access to their cities.

So the county is taking a fresh look at the project and considering a grade-separated intersection treatment that maintains access to Hwy. 36. It means Lake Elmo Avenue would be on a different level than Hwy. 36, Gave explained.

The city of Grant is very interested in an overpass at that intersection, said Brad Hinseth, a member of the Grant City Council and the city's road commissioner. He added that his impression is based on what he's heard so far from Grant residents and what he's learned as a member of the project's Design Review Committee, an advisory body. "We'd like Lake Elmo [Avenue] to go over Hwy. 36 and for [Hwy.] 36 to be depressed a few feet into the ground, lower than it is," he said.

Lisa Day said the overpass idea could make the intersection safer, but she cautioned that it could just move the problem down to the next street crossing since drivers would no longer have to stop at Lake Elmo Avenue.

She said she wants the speed limit reduced from 65 miles per hour on that stretch of Hwy. 36 and wants warning lights added to alert drivers that the traffic signal is about to change.

Public input received at the open house will be presented to the Design Review Committee for consideration, Gave said. The committee will then determine which reconstruction option to recommend. That recommendation will then be presented to the city councils in Grant and Lake Elmo for their approval.