Hearings for Highway 14 this month

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

MANKATO -- Minnesota Department of Transportation staff are wasting no time in getting public input for the Environmental Impact Statement that will be completed for U.S. Highway 14 four-lane expansion between North Mankato and the State Highway 15 intersection north of New Ulm.

District 7 staff announced a series of four "informal open house" meetings which will take place along the Highway 14 corridor covered the the EIS during July.

"The earlier in the study we connect with residents, businesses and landowners and hear about concerns along the corridor the better," said Peter Harff, MnDOT project engineer for the EIS.

MnDOT's first informal meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 1, at the Courtland Community Center, 300 Railroad Street, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

This will be followed by a meeting at North Mankato Fire Station No. 2, 1825 Howard Drive, North Mankato, starting at 4:30 p.m. and continuing until 7 p.m..

The third meeting will be in New Ulm City Hall's first floor conference room Tuesday, July 20, from 4:30-630 p.m.

And the last meeting will be held in Nicollet at Inlaws Restaurant, 415 Highway 14, Wednesday July 21 from 4:30-6:30 p.m.

The Courtland, Nicollet and New Ulm meetings precede city council meetings while the North Mankato meeting immediately precedes the EIS meeting on the short segment of Highway 14 to be expanded within North Mankato's city limits.

The EIS study which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006 will result in the selection of a final alignment and identification of the environmental impacts, Harff said.

"The EIS consists of an in-depth study of traffic volumes, safety, route system and design continuity, community development and land use issues, property acquisition, costs, public comments and impacts to cultural resources, farmlands, wetlands and other natural resources," Harff explained.

MnDOT is quick in reminding that "no portion of the highway covered by the EIS has been identified for funding."

However, as MnDOT officials have said in the past, normally, some sort of action needs to be taken within three years of the EIS' completion. date That gives proponents hope that the corridor project would then soon show up on MnDOT's construction schedule, clearing the way for funding the expansion from North Mankato to New Ulm.

MnDOT completed work last summer on the required Corridor Management Plan and Scoping Document so the EIS is the final hurdle before the North Mankato-New Ulm corridor can become an active project. The CMP and the Scoping Document identified the Highway 14 alignment alternatives to be studied in the EIS.

The scoping document supported bypassing Nicollet and Courtland but not New Ulm because it determined New Ulm is a major destination for Highway 14 traffic, Harff said.