NORTH MANKATO — For residents on or near the Judson Bottom Road — and for many who don’t live close to it — the message to the North Mankato City Council was unanimous: reopen and save the Judson Bottom Road.
“Everyone knows the Bottom Road and has a memory about it,” said Linda Johnson during a council work session Monday evening.
She, like many others, said the road is a beautiful, rustic, natural area that is enjoyed by walkers, bikers and those in vehicles.
The Bottom Road has been closed since early July after heavy rains caused rock slides to cover parts of the road. Similar slides in 2019 led the city to consider permanently closing the road, but it was kept open.
Public Works Director Luke Arnold told the council it can consider permanently closing the road, clearing and reopening it, reopening it and looking for ways to limit future rock slides, or completely rebuilding the road.
Rebuilding the road, he said, would cost many millions of dollars and may not be feasible because of numerous environmental studies and restrictions the city would face.
Area residents all told the council they want the road reopened soon.
Some chastised the city for installing signs on the road marking it as a “Minimum Maintenance Road, Travel at Your Own Risk,” saying that simply lets the city off the hook for its failure to properly maintain the road.
Craig Smith, of Belgrade Township, said his family has had six generations who’ve used the road.
“I would tell you to open it up as is.”
Like others, he said those who live on the road or use it frequently to commute, know there can be rock slides or trees on the road after rains and storms.
“We are used to driving that road and we know what to look out for.”
Others said that they move rocks off the road if they can or call the city to close the road temporarily if there are larger rocks or trees blocking it.
Bottom Road resident Ruth Craig was one of several who said the city has failed to maintain the road.
They said that when the city took over the stretch of Bottom Road closest to the city 25 years ago there was funding in place for the city to maintain it. But that money, they said, was transferred to upgrading the nearby Rockford Road (County 41) instead.
“I want to see it stay open. I don’t care if it’s a gravel road as long as it’s maintained,” Craig said. She said the city doesn’t plow the road well in the winter, has failed to patch potholes and has ignored basic maintenance.
Several people said that in bad winter storms they can’t get up Rockford Road but they can get to North Mankato on the Bottom Road.