Stopped-up Scott tries to get moving

The mad morning rush to leave Scott County is creating so much congestion that it's becoming urgent to upgrade roads and plan for a series of new bridges from Savage to Jordan, a group of top officials from throughout the county recommended Friday.

They also said that the county is in line for millions of federal dollars to help ease some of those problems. One solution might be an unusual "flyover" bridge that would carry cars over the top of one of the most vexing and dangerous intersections: Hwys. 13 and 101.

About 30 mayors, city administrators, legislators and other civic leaders from throughout the county heard a summary of the final report of a task force on transportation. The group began by compiling a list of 80 projects that should be done by 2030, then narrowed the list down to ones deemed to be the most urgent. "You need to be able to stay ahead of the tremendous growth you're facing," consultant Fred Corrigan said of the county, which is expecting another 100,000 residents by 2030 after a huge growth spurt over the past decade.

A 2006 U.S. Census survey found that Scott County is one of the top 15 counties in the nation when it comes to the share of workers -- nearly 70 percent -- who leave its borders to go to work.

At the top of the list of needs is the smoothing of stoppages along heavily traveled Hwy. 13, which runs parallel to the Minnesota River along the county's northern border.

Traffic on that highway exceeds the capacity of a four-lane divided highway by 180 percent, county officials say. It has the highest proportion of truck traffic of any highway of its type in the state.

Officials are proposing a new intersection at the increasingly crash-beset T where 13 meets Hwy. 101. That would allow most motorists to proceed without interruption instead of stopping at lights. Some would zip over the top, while right turns would take the form of an easy sweep rather than a conventional intersection. Only left turns would be subject to signals.

With the bridge over Hwy. 169 that helped ignite Scott County's growth spurt in the 1990s starting to near gridlock at rush hour, the task force is recommending that plans for a new bridge to Carver County be accelerated.

The group wants to aim for 2015, a goal that state Sen. Claire Robling, R-Jordan, described as "very optimistic," if perhaps not downright unrealistic. "It took many, many years to get the 169 bridge," she said.

Another key to keep costs down in the future, Corrigan said, will be to start setting aside land in the more rural parts of the county for future roads, before growth occurs. "We estimate that $50 million can be saved by securing right of way predevelopment," he said. Officials plan to take the new list of priorities to Washington next week for discussions with members of Congress. But they also face a new obstacle there: Second District Rep. John Kline has decided he will no longer seek "earmarks" for high-priority projects such as roads. He argues the current system is irrational and corrupt, and it needs to be resisted in the long-term interest of counties such as Scott.

But officials in Scott are worried.

"The congressman has to do what he thinks is right, and we respect that," said county Administrator Dave Unmacht. "But how effective can he be in changing the process? If [his refusal] makes no lasting change or impact, that's a different story."