There is a lot of research and time being spent on figuring out how to make Highway 52 and Goodhue County Road 9 a safer intersection. The basic problem is that cars are crossing highway 52 and not making it across all four lanes without close calls or collision.
Mn/DOT and the University of Minnesota have been doing continued research on the area. They have installed colored lights that notify traveling cars what openings for crossing are available:
They've installed signs that have sensors which detect traffic speeds and tell drivers when it is not safe to cross.
"When that goes black, then that means there are no cars approaching. The yellow means a car is approaching, coming into your lane. Then it turns red, which is telling the stopped driver not to proceed," said Klema
The lights have reduced the number of collisions, but not the number of fatalities. Other suggestions have been to eliminate the crossover and to limit the crossover to certain times. Night time seems to be an especially dangerous time.
As one of Minnesota's most dangerous intersections, it is great to see what the continued research will do to make all Minnesota intersections safer.
