Q: Dear Ask Us Guy,
Before I pose my question, I just want to offer my opinion on all the roundabouts that have made Mankato the obvious roundabout capital of the world. Personally. I think they’re wonderful. They move traffic so much more efficiently and safely than any other intersection design can.
But I do know they confuse some drivers, and messed up signage in the intersection doesn’t help. The most glaring example of this can be seen when traveling south on Blue Earth County Road 12 on the east side of town. You’ll see that the County Road 12 marker at the intersections with the Highway 14 ramps (and every other intersection) directs drivers with an arrow pointing up and to the right — or the upper right hand corner. But the County Road 12 sign at the intersection with Adams Street has the arrow pointing down and to the left — or the lower left hand corner — which is obviously wrong.
Has anyone to your vast trove of knowledge asked why this obvious error has gone uncorrected for what I assume is a long, long time?
Signed,
A Curious Driver.
A: Curious Driver is the first person to ask about the sign, and he or she can take credit for getting it fixed.
Ask Us Guy is among those who had driven by that sign multiple times in the past five years without noticing the problem Curious Driver spotted. But, yeah, the “County Road 12” sign in the roundabout pointed people directly toward the storm sewer.
It almost looks like the sign might have been installed by that dastardly Stephen King clown “Pennywise,” who lures children into the storm drains where he feeds off their terror before killing them.
In actuality, though, the sign was placed not by a murderous dancing clown but by a contractor working for the city of Mankato in 2021.
“It appears that the arrow was installed incorrectly by the contractor when the intersection was built (under a city-led contract a few years ago),” Blue Earth County Public Works Director Ryan Thilges said. “Our staff will look at it and correct it this week.”
Thilges, by the way, also followed the lead of former Mankato City Manager Pat Hentges, who regularly suggested that people cut out the middle man (Ask Us Guy) when they have questions about local governmental units.
“Please thank the reader for bringing this up,” Thilges said. “This may be an opportunity to remind the public that these types of inquiries can be brought directly to us by calling our main line at 507-304-4025.”
Ask Us Guy, who doesn’t necessarily agree with that sentiment, drove the Adams Street/County Road 12 roundabout shortly after Thilges’ response and the county engineer was not kidding about getting the sign fixed. Within days, the old sign was gone, which was probably a relief to Curious Driver and potentially a source of deep anger for Pennywise.
Q: Hello,
I am writing to ask why, at one of the busiest intersections in Mankato, is the left-turn signal always flashing yellow. It makes it extremely difficult to turn onto Adams Street coming from the south on Victory Drive. I am surprised there are not more accidents at that intersection as people can not get a clear view of traffic coming south on Victory and usually at high speeds. It is a very dangerous intersection!
So … I am writing to you to ask if there is a way to get this changed for safety reasons.
Thank you for any assistance you can provide.
A: Like the first question this week, this one also illustrates the intersection of county and city public works departments when it comes to Mankato intersections.
Since Victory Drive, aka Blue Earth County Road 82, is under the county’s ownership and jurisdiction, Ask Us Guy tossed this question to Thilges. But the county contracts with the city of Mankato when it comes to signal lights, which are pretty rare in Blue Earth County other than within Mankato city limits.
So Thilges passed the question on to City Engineer Cory Bienfang for a response.
Bienfang promised to take a look at the intersection and the reader’s request for a dedicated left-turn arrow in a planned semaphore study in the second half of 2026. But he also looked at the crash history of the Victory-Adams intersection and didn’t find any evidence of crashes involving the turning movement that concerns the reader.
“A five-year intersection safety screening indicates that current safety operations are performing within an expected, normal range (for the entire intersection),” Bienfang said in a written response. “In addition, there have been no northbound-to-westbound crash conflicts with southbound through movements over the past 10 years at this intersection.”
Making changes to signal functions is best done as part of a broader analysis that includes related nearby signalized intersections, according to Bienfang, and that’s what’s coming soon for Victory Drive. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has worksheet that guides appropriate use of flashing yellow arrows versus when it make sense — during certain heavy-traffic periods — to utilize a green left-turn arrow, which traffic engineers refer to as a “protected phase.”
“The city is currently scoping a signal optimization project for the Victory Drive corridor, anticipated to be completed later this year,” Bienfang said. “This work will provide the appropriate framework to review and refine (the traffic signals).”
Contact Ask Us at The Free Press, 418 S. Second St., Mankato, MN 56001. Call Mark Fischenich at 344-6321 or email your question to mfischenich@mankatofreepress.com; put Ask Us in the subject line.