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Overview
Status
- Preferred route selected
- Preparing final environmental document
Location
- From New Ulm to North Mankato map (PDF 2.2 MB)
Schedule
- Safety Audit 2012
- New Ulm Minnesota River Bridge in 2018
- Remaining unscheduled/unfunded
Description
- Four-lane expansion
- Bridge replacement
- City Bypasses
Final Environmental Impact Statement available for review
Comments can be submitted until March 12
The complete Final Environmental Impact Statement including the Summary has been reviewed by MnDOT and Federal Highway Administration. It documents the proposed project, potential environmental impacts, proposed mitigation and provides responses to comments in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
Safety Audit to help determine next improvements
MnDOT is conducting a Road Safety Audit (RSA) for the portion of US 14 between North Mankato and New Ulm.
The goal of a RSA is to improve the safety of the subject roadway through a comprehensive review of the corridor. This review is completed by an independent, interdisciplinary team that reviews the crash history of the roadway, as well as the corridor itself. The RSA team conducts its field review of the corridor to evaluate design features, as well as to consider all factors that may contribute to crashes.
For the US 14 RSA, the goals are three-fold:
- Ensure that all low-cost, proactive safety improvements have been implemented. If not, identify those that could be implemented now to improve safety.
- Identify smaller-scale improvements along the corridor that could be implemented within the next few years to enhance safety (e.g.: an intersection revision)
- Determine where the next four-lane expansion project should continue from (New Ulm or North Mankato), when the time for expansion comes.
Upon completion of the review team’s work, the RSA findings will be summarized and shared.
To date, the replacement of the Highway 14 bridge over the Minnesota River at New Ulm is the only portion of the project that is funded (2018).
Preferred Route (W1 and E1)
Staying on the existing alignment, except for the expected north bypass of Courtland and a close south bypass of Nicollet is the preferred alignment for an expansion of Highway 14 to four-lanes from New Ulm to North Mankato.
Building four-lanes on the existing alignment west of Courtland (W1) creates some challenges, but the option of a new roadway on top of the bluff would be very costly to construct and maintain as well as cause significant impacts to farmland.
The north bypass of Courtland is the route the city has planned for several years.
The preferred route east of Courtland (E1) will require Mn/DOT to account for wetlands and coordinate with Swan Lake Wildlife Management Area, but dramatically reduces farmland impacts and better serves the city of Nicollet.
The preferred alignment is a consistent design (four lanes with limited access) with Highway 14 east of Mankato, improves travel safety by making the intersection with Highway 15 near New Ulm safer (a full interchange) and improves entrances to Courtland and Nicollet, and improves mobility to better serve increased traffic and the high truck count on Highway 14. Staying on the existing alignment minimizes impacts and reduces costs to maintain parallel routes.