Detour Along Highway 23 Raises Concern
Posted at: 07/28/2010 9:11 AM
| Updated at: 07/28/2010 10:20 AM
By: Samantha Mehrotra
Bill Martz wakes up to the sound of loud trucks every morning. "I have a front bedroom on the house," says Martz, who lives on Grand Avenue in West Duluth. "It's impossible to open the windows without hearing what you're hearing now."
He's sick of the noise, which has gotten worse since the I-35 mega project has detoured traffic onto Highway 23. Martz is also tired of the volume of traffic and cars and trucks driving too fast in a low speed zone. "They're driving in the 50 range, instead of the 35 range. A lot of them are above the 50 mph range and nobody can pull out."
Now he's taking matters into his own hands, hanging up the signs he's made to warn motorists. But MnDOT says he's probably exaggerating the problem. The data they've collected reveal different numbers. "The average speed is between 45 and 47 miles per hour," says Robert Ege, a District Traffic Engineer with MnDOT. "We know there's some people going faster, some going slower. But that's the average we've seen for thousands of cars over the past 45 days."
That's the average gauged by a speed monitor near Riverside Drive. Another sensor collecting information near Ikonics on Grand Avenue has measured the average speed there at 30.3 milers per hour--well within the designated speed limit. Ege says these numbers, though, can only serve as a snapshot.
MnDOT's figures may tell a different story, but Martz is sticking to his guns, saying he'll continue to talk to MnDOT and the police for as long as it takes until the speed limit is enforced and people start slowing down. "The signs along the road are going to get larger, definitely," says Martz. "Any paint that wants to come my way: it's 8315 Grand."
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