Mankato,
Minn. - Starting July 1, the Mankato office (District 7)
of the Minnesota Department of Transportation will take
full roadway responsibility for State Highway 19 from U.S.
Highway 169 to the east junction of State Highway 13 at
New Prague. And the Metro Mn/DOT District will take responsibility
for State Highway 25 from State Highway 5 to Highway 169
at Belle Plaine.
The
decision was based on public service. The cities of Belle
Plaine and New Prague will have clearer lines of communication
and resolution of issues if they only have one district
as their primary point of contact, according to Transportation
District Engineers Pat Hughes and Jim Swanson.
Previously,
Belle Plaine and New Prague need to work with multiple districts
depending on which state highway they had concerns about.
Determining
factors included; the most effective way of doing the maintenance
and snowplowing for each highway segment (that has been
done by an agreement since 1997); Belle Plaine falls mostly
within the Metro District; and New Prague became more aligned
with District 7 when the population went over 5,000 and
the city qualified for state-aid.
Repair
work and construction projects that were previously planned
by the districts will be completed by the district that
initiated them. For example, District 7 will fund and perform
the Minnesota River bridge replacement on Highway 25 in
2005 and the Metro District will complete signal and channelization
work on Highway 19 in 2006.
