MANKATO — An $800,000 study of the Highway 14 corridor through Mankato and North Mankato will examine the possible construction of a bike trail bridge over the Minnesota River, the addition of roundabouts at the ends of highway ramps and the potential need to boost the carrying capacity of Mankato’s busiest roadway.
The two-year Highway 14 study will scrutinize the corridor from Blue Earth County Road 12 on the far eastern edge of Mankato through the Lookout Drive interchange on North Mankato’s west side and will serve as a comprehensive document to be used in planning future projects along the highway and its intersections.
The Mankato-North Mankato Area Planning Organization will be seeking proposals starting next month from engineering firms interested in tackling that study, along with a smaller one examining Stoltzman Road in Mankato.
Area’s hardest-working highway
The Highway 14 study is the biggest undertaking by far and will be conducted in coordination with the Minnesota Department of Transportation along with the two cities and Blue Earth and Nicollet counties.
“The Mankato Area has continued to grow since the US 14 Mankato bypass was completed in 1976, especially with the proliferation of industrial and warehousing operations concentrating along the US 14 corridor since initial construction,” according to a draft request for proposals written by MAPO staff. “MnDOT anticipates needing to make bridge replacements in this corridor in the 2030s due to condition, and this corridor analysis will inform how this corridor should be rebuilt to position the highway and surrounding infrastructure to best support continued growth in the region’s future.”
The corridor now carries daily traffic ranging from 16,000 vehicles on North Mankato’s west side to 37,000 per day between Riverfront Drive and Victory Drive. A 25-year-transportation plan being finalized estimates the road will become much busier by 2050 — with numerous segments approaching or exceeding 40,000 vehicles per day from Lor Ray Drive to Victory Drive, with the area between Riverfront and Victory reaching 47,000.
The selected consultant will need to explore whether the highway should be expanded, whether its connections to other highways and streets are functioning, whether the corridor is serving bikers and pedestrians adequately and what changes will be needed to meet the growing traffic volumes.
The study will be taking another look at a possible redesign of the interchange with Highway 169, something that was previously analyzed as part of a Highway 169 corridor study completed in 2021. The consulting firm also will be tasked with exploring the extension of a bike trail over the Minnesota River along the Highway 14 corridor as part of next decade’s replacement of the roadway’s bridges.
“Contractor will develop a map that depicts existing and planned trails, along with proposed new trail connections, potential crossing locations, as well as identified gaps and suggested improvements to existing facilities,” according to the draft request for proposals.
And the study will explore in depth and make recommendations for how the entrance and exit ramps from the highway should connect with Highway 22, Victory Drive, Highway 169 and Lor Ray Drive.
The consultant will be expected to look at a full range of intersection options, specifically including the possibility of roundabouts at the ramps — a feature that’s already been put in place at Highway 14’s junctions with County Road 12, Riverfront Drive, Lookout Drive and Nicollet County Road 14/Rockford Road and is being planned at Third Avenue. Up to 10 design options are to be developed for the Highway 169-Highway 14 interchange alone.
In addition to those direct intersections with Highway 14, the consultant will be asked to do a full evaluation of the Victory Drive-Raintree Road intersection, which is less than 600 feet south of the eastbound Highway 14 ramps at Victory Drive.
The work — which will include detailed traffic counts and future traffic projections along with 10 years worth of crash data for each segment of the corridor and each intersection — is to be completed by December 2027.
Exam time for West High roadway
The Stoltzman Road study was requested by Blue Earth County, which owns the roadway that’s also known as County Road 16. The analysis will cover the road itself, from Riverfront Drive to 1,000 feet south of Pleasant Street, but will also include a detailed analysis of the Stoltzman-Pleasant Street intersection and will look at possible improvements along Pleasant Street through the Mankato West High School grounds.
“Contractor will develop a range of alternatives for the corridor and the intersections with West Pleasant Street, Van Brunt Street, and the access to West High School’s parking lot based on the issues identified and the evaluation criteria,” according to the request for proposals.
Among other things, the evaluation will cover delays and safety concerns — both for drivers and pedestrians — where the high school parking lot connects to Stoltzman.
“The Contractor will evaluate at least three alternative future scenarios for the Mankato West High School and Van Brunt Street accesses onto (Stoltzman),” the document states.
The $75,000 study is expected to start in March and be completed by the end of 2026.