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by Sue Orsen

         State Highway 5 through Victoria is a killing field.  It has been a killing field for a very long time.  It’s killing mobility.  It’s killing safety.  It’s killing nerves.  It’s killing patience and sometimes courtesy.  It’s killing common sense.  It’s killing confidence.  It’s killing faith in the state’s ability to grasp realities about the situation.  It’s killing minutes and hours and days.  It’s killing the spirits of thousands of people who must drive Highway 5 every day but not killing enough bodies to warrant sorely needed improvements for yet another 20 years -- as if to say we need more killing on the killing field to halt the killing.

         It is insane to maneuver unnecessarily on Highway 5 during maximum congestion times each day, so I went out to snap these photos just before rush hour traffic on the afternoons of May 28th and May 29th.  It was still scary because there aren’t the proper lights and lanes and I was relieved to get back home without incident.

***

         “They’ll do what they want to do,” said Victoria City Councilmember Tim Amundsen at the May 22nd city council meeting, about MnDOT.  “I don’t get it.  They just shut down Highway 7 all the way from St. Boni to Silver Lake and all those cities asked them not to do that.  This MnDOT is going to do what it wants to do.”

         Replied Mayor Mary Thun, “You said it stronger than I would have.  The thing is, if we don’t go through the process, we don’t stand a chance.  When push comes to shove, MnDOT will decide when, where, why, and how.  It’s clear that Highway 5 needs work.  We also need intersection work.”

         Stated Councilmember Kim Roden, “We have two elected officials -- Paul Kohls and Julianne Ortman -- who have no interest in expediting this.”  Councilmember Amundsen suggested writing to Governor Tim Pawlenty.

***

After a Victoria City Workshop on Thursday, May 8th, the general consensus of Victoria city councilmembers was that a 150-foot right of way four-lane highway through downtown Victoria would be better than the other options of 120 feet or 130 feet wide.

         The 150-foot right of way allows for sidewalk on one side, trail on the other, with streetscaping, larger median and dual left turn lanes.  The 130-foot right of way allows for sidewalk on one side and limited streetscaping.  The 120-foot right of way means no sidewalks or trails or streetscaping; it’s the minimum width required for the expansion from two lanes to four lanes.

         Initiating the dialogue that evening, City Planner Holly Kreft stated, “What Victoria needs is a local preferred option and identifying which intersections get lighted.  Stakeholders said to do it right the first time, that if you want 150 feet, do it now and don’t come back to us later and ask for more.  And residents said they’d rather have you take their property than have a highway next to them.”

Click here to continue The Killing Field.

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June 2008

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The Victoria

GAZETTE

The Killing Field

The driver and her passengers below, waiting at the Park Drive stop sign to make a turn onto Hwy 5, are looking to their left at the traffic above, barreling in their direction.

This unlighted four-way intersection on Highway 5 (also called Arboretum Blvd.) has become the most dangerous intersection in Victoria if not in all of Minnesota.  Even with the right turn lane, it is dangerous to turn right because oncoming traffic isn’t visible below the hill (see above).  The three white cars in the background here are stationary, hoping to make a left turn onto Park Drive before they’re rear-ended by fast moving traffic behind them or front-ended by fast moving traffic coming toward them.  There are also cars waiting for access at this intersection from Kochia Lane, directly across from Park Drive.  It is extremely hazardous to the health and welfare of individuals and community.