Crow Wing Co. to Close Highway 6/210 at Intersection of CR 31 to Install Roundabout

Map of CSAH 31 detour (Credit: Crow Wing County)

Crow Wing County’s highway improvement plan is well under way with road construction already happening all over the county. Most improvements taking place are minor and closures are short, but next Monday, June 19th, the intersection at Highway 6/210 and County Road 31 in Crosby will be closed until almost mid-August.

“That intersection has been a concern for both our department, the local cities and townships and MnDOT for a number of years,” said Rob Hall, assistant county engineer. “It’s primarily due to the traffic levels and the existing skew at that intersection makes some of the slight line stops and some of the turning movement stuff.”

The addition of the Super One Foods grocery store on the corner only the compounded the problem, so the decision was made to turn the intersection into a roundabout. According to the Federal Highway Administration, roundabouts are safer than traditional intersections, with a 35% reduction in accidents, 76% reduction in injuries, and a more than 90% reduction in fatalities. Unfortunately, they take roughly 8 to 10 weeks to build.

The county doesn’t like to close roads, but they didn’t have much choice. “On the last roundabout we built, we had a little extra room we could put a bypass lane in very near to the intersection,” Hall pointed out. “We don’t have that luxury here, so we do have to utilize those detour routes to get around Serpent Lake and with that amount of traffic on 6 and 210, we really had to stick to county roads and state highways as much as possible as opposed to the local street system.”

The detour route will use Highway 210, CSAH 12, CSAH 28, 2nd Ave. and 8th Street. Businesses in the immediate area will be accessible via the detour route and as signed. There is a drop-dead date for the project at the end of August due to the start of school.

“It’s worth the pain once it’s done and we’re going to get that safety improvement we need at that intersection,” added Hall.

For additional information regarding the closure and construction, you can visit the Crow Wing County website.