MANKATO — A study kicking off next month will assess the Mankato area’s transportation network, identify the most dangerous intersections, pinpoint congested roadways, predict future traffic growth and recommend how hundreds of millions of dollars of construction spending should be prioritized over the next 25 years.
It’s a big enough assignment that the work is expected to take 18 months and cost $290,000.
The firm Transportation Collaborative & Consultants, working with Bolton & Menk, has been awarded the contract to conduct the study for the Mankato-North Mankato Area Planning Organization.
The federal government mandates metro areas to update their plans every five years, but it’s not just a bureaucratic exercise, said Paul Vogel, who serves as executive director of MAPO as well as the community development director for the city of Mankato.
“The five-year (update) allows us to take a look at some of the trends we’re seeing, assess some of the improvements we’ve done,” Vogel said.
Residents of the planning area — which includes Mankato, North Mankato, Skyline, Eagle Lake and adjacent townships — will have a chance to offer their thoughts on roads, trails, railways, transit and other elements of the transportation network starting this spring and summer. Surveys will begin in April, and pop-up meetings at community events are planned for June. An open house is also slated for June to hear the concerns and opinions of anyone who shows up.
Beginning in April and continuing through August, Transportation Collaborative & Consultants (TC2) will be analyzing the existing system. That will include a look at traffic volumes, congestion, pavement condition and areas where crashes are most common, as well as construction and other planned fixes in the coming years.
TC2 will examine how the community is changing — completing forecasts of future population growth, the percentage of people with disabilities, the number relying on transit, the needs of freight haulers and more.
“This will allow us to identify gaps in the existing system, projected volumes, safety conditions, and expected conditions of roadways, trails, and bridges,” according to TC2’s winning application.
And the study will assess the funding likely to be available to address problems and expand the transportation system’s capacity.
The final plan will include a list of projects recommended to be completed in the short-term (2025-2030), mid-term (2031-2040) and long-term (2041-2050). Other work will be categorized as “illustrative” — improvements that have merit but don’t currently fit into the budgets of the cities, counties and townships.
“The financial forecasting elements are overlaid and integrated into this process to ensure the project list is financially feasible or realistic,” the TC2 proposal states.
A second public open house will be held a year from now to allow area residents to review a report on the existing transportation system and the issues that have been identified. After a range of alternatives to address those issues is completed, a third open house is expected in June of 2025. And a final public review will come in September of 2025 after a draft final report, featuring the recommended future transportation network, is completed. Approval of the final plan by the MAPO Policy Board is to occur in November of that year.
While TC2 is a relatively new firm, its founder — Craig Vaughn — worked on both of MAPO’s previous long-range transportation plans in 2020 and 2015 while employed by SRF Consulting Group, Vogel told the MAPO board shortly before it awarded the contract last week.