Good Question: Why Does MnDOT Close So Much Roadway?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - This weekend, MnDOT will close the six miles of Highway 100 between Highway 62 and I-394 as part of a larger project to widen the road.
It is the second of eight Highway 100 summer weekend closures. But crews will only work on a 1.2-mile stretch of Highway 100, between Barry Street and 36th Street.
So, why does MnDOT close such a big part of the road? Good Question.
"One, it's for safety, and, two, it keeps them on that mainline traffic and gives them the fastest and most direct route," said Bobbie Dahlke, a spokesperson with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Dahlke said MnDOT gets calls and complaints every summer about how, why, when and where they shut down roads.
She said the primary reason is to keep highway traffic on the highways instead of having it filter into the neighborhoods.
"The streets cannot handle it, in residential neighborhoods, in front of schools and churches and kids playing," Dahlke said. "It's just not a good idea to take highway traffic and put it in front of neighborhoods."
She said another reason is that people will continue to drive until they are forced to exit. That creates confusion, slow-downs and, potentially, accidents, especially for people who are not familiar with the area.
"They'll take that exit and there'll be high congestion right at that area -- people not knowing where to go," she said.
Finally, there are those people who drive around to cones to get to the closed road.
"So, in spite of having those [cones and signs] there, people will still ignore them and go into the neighborhoods, but we try to mitigate that as much as we possibly can," Dahlke said.
