He offers empathy with frustration, thoughts on road projects

To the editor
Kudos and thanks to Commissioner Doug Krueger for speaking up regarding the money pit that the Morningside Drive project has become. TC&W Railroad has apparently also realized the minimal, if any, value that a Morningside crossing has for them.
Eliminating the existing railroad crossing and moving it to Morningside will be a major inconvenience for anyone trying to get to the high school, to say nothing of the cost. As for the intersection of Morningside and Highway 212, a roundabout would be a great improvement.
The Highway 22 reroute: Option 2 is not much of an improvement. You will have semis traveling east on County Road 3, two stops, then the Morningside roundabouts (two of them), to get on Highway 212. Do you really think those truck drivers are going to do that? They would likely choose Option 3 to Dairy Avenue, then south to 212 (another roundabout?) to avoid all the city traffic. Plus, the intersection of County Road 3 and Highway 22, by Neubarth’s, is a bad intersection and needs to be changed.
Option 7: Highway 22 to Chandler? Should have been done years ago and we wouldn’t be having this discussion. But to do that, you have to deal with the DQ intersection, as well as needing a roundabout at 212. A J-turn there will not make happy truckers, as well as all the rest of the eastbound traffic.
Highway 22 from Miller Manufacturing (Option 5) straight south to Hwy. 212 is an amazingly simple way to get the trucks and everybody else to Hwy. 212. Yes, it would cost some money. All the money invested so far in the Morningside idea could have been put toward this new road. Write it off as a bad investment and move on.
So, options 3 or 5, forget the Morningside RR crossing and we won’t still be talking about this debacle and preparing to throw more good money after bad.
Also, all the goals itemized by MnDOT will have been realized.
Sincerely,
Curt Carrigan,
Brownton

Carrigan is a member of the Brownton City Council.