FOREST LAKE, Minn. — Washington County is growing – traffic data proves it.
In the late 90's, County Road 50 saw about 340 cars a day. Now, it sees more than 2,000.
"The solutions we built in 2015, 2016 were the right solutions then, today, we need different solutions out here," Wayne Sandberg, the county's public works director, said.
The intersection of County Road 50 and Highway 61 has always been a topic of discussion for the county.
"Some of it's affordable housing, workforce housing, but it demonstrates the growth that we've seen in this area," County Commissioner Fran Miron said.
It's also top of mind after two Forest Lake High School students were hit crossing the road earlier this week.
"My daughter and son both teach at the high school here," Miron said. "These kids and their families are students of theirs and so it kind of hits home."
Both students are expected to recover.
Still, both Miron and Sandberg say the area needs updating.
"Was there anything we can be looking at down the line in the future to try to improve the situation?" said Sandberg.
There are some challenges in doing that, especially when there's three separate jurisdictions within this intersection.
"Highway 61 north and south is State of Minnesota," Sandberg said. "The east side is County Highway 50, and the west side is City of Forest Lake 202nd Street."
Still, both say all three groups are committed to improving the area. Sandberg says they had a study of the intersection done recently, and with that, have applied for federal dollars to help with improvements.
"We had an opportunity late in 2023 to apply for some federal dollars to help us build that stoplight," he said.
That project would cost about $2.1 million.
The money, if approved, wouldn't arrive until 2029 – longer than many would like. Miron says they can't pull money from other projects as it's already allocated, and they don't want to run the risk of solving one problem while creating another.
If they're approved, both say they'd like to see if there's any way to move up the disbursement of that money.
"Safety is our highest priority," Miron said. "We'll continue to work toward that end."
Approval of the application for those funds is expected sometime later this year.
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