The Princeton and Milaca areas have been surrounded by road construction this summer, but perhaps one of the most affected cities in the area is Pease.
With the installation of a new J-turn at the intersection of Highway 169 and County Road 8 — the main road running through Pease — and the resurfacing of Highway 169 between Princeton and Milaca, Pease has essentially been cut off from its normal summer traffic.
Since early July, both southbound lanes of Highway 169 have been closed and all traffic was directed to a detour on County Road 5 from Milaca to County Road 13 in Long Siding, which makes it more difficult to access Pease unless drivers pay close attention to the road signs on the detour.
The construction and detour have caused a significant dip in traffic in the small town, which means many of the local businesses have taken a big hit.
“It’s awful. It’s so slow compared to where it was,” said Pease Cafe owner Jaime Lawrence. “Ask any Pease business how slow it has got. It cut down business in half, and we’re not getting any of the city traffic. Nobody can get into town unless they take the back way. If you can’t get to Pease from the highway, most people don’t want to take the back way.”
The detour also adds up to 10 minutes of drive time for those that live across the highway from Pease which further deters them from coming into town.
“The detour from Long Siding to Milaca is a huge detour, so people who live across the road a mile away are not going to take a 10-minute detour to come here,” Lawrence said. “It’s bad.”
The Pease Mercantile, which neighbors the cafe, has seen some big losses since the construction began, with sales down more than 60% the past two months.
“It’s slowed way down, we’ve taken a hit here,” said Jeff Hanson, owner of Pease Mercantile. “I know my sales fell off last month by 62% and this month they’re over 65% down. We don’t get the customers coming in like we should. June, July, August and September are some of my biggest months for the season. Compared to last year, I’m way down.”
Despite the shutdown of southbound Highway 169 in the first half of the construction project and the second half on the northbound lanes beginning Monday, Aug. 19, including single-lane closures, businesses visible from the highway appear to have maintained better customer traffic levels.
“We haven’t seen a tremendous impact because a lot of people that come here are coming here directly, not just stopping by,” said Tom Roelofs from Hi-Way Auto Sales. “There’s been a little decline I think, but nothing drastic.”
Braun’s Market, however, echoed the sentiments of its neighbors at the Pease Mercantile and Pease Cafe. Owner Tim Braun said the lack of foot traffic for the market has significantly impacted and hurt business. Braun also said the detour has also raised some major safety concerns for him as he operates a farm in that area.
“It’s challenging for people to get to town with all the traffic, it makes it tougher to operate a business,” Braun said. “From the farm side, too, it makes it hard to move farm equipment around the back roads with as busy as they are, it’s dangerous really. There’s too much traffic for that road. There’s a lot of houses close there, there’s a lot of livestock and pets, and it’s just not built for that kind of traffic.”
According to Braun, the added traffic on the detour has made it extremely difficult to move farm machinery since they are not allowed to cross Highway 169 from County Road 12 — where Braun’s farm is located — and driving on County Road 5 going 20 miles an hour in farm equipment while other are driving upwards of 80 miles an hour creates a very dangerous situation.
“I think this was very poor planning on MnDOT’s part,” Braun said. “Everywhere else when they put J-turns in to do resurfacing they just redirect and do two lanes on the highway, and even with J-turns they can keep the intersection open most of the time. For whatever reason, they wanted to shut us down.”
The installation of the J-turn to access Pease from the highway also appears to be a point of contention for local businesses and has raised more concerns about future traffic into the small town.
“J-turns are not the greatest thing anyway, they’re dumb. Doing it pulling a boat or a tractor is a challenge, and people from other states haven’t seen these turns before,” Lawrence said. “People don’t want to deal with them. It won’t be so bad as long as they leave the turn by Hi-Way Auto (Sales) so people won’t have to do a J-turn, but who knows.”
Braun echoed Lawrence’s sentiments about J-turns, and said they do indeed make it more difficult to cross the highway, especially when operating farming machinery.
“J-turns make it even harder to cross the highway, and it will deter people from coming in. I think they can add a level of safety when you’re driving, but trying to cross with semi trucks, farm equipment and stuff like that makes it a lot more challenging and probably more dangerous, too,” Braun said. “I think it will negatively affect (the volume of traffic in Pease).”
Others, however, believe that the J-turn will help with safety at the intersection.
According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), J-turns help improve safety at intersections by decreasing fatalities and injuries caused by broadside crashes on four-lane divided highways.
“I get people that come into my shop and they hate them,” Hanson said. “I understand what they are and why. They don’t prevent accidents, they just reduce the amount of damage and injuries from them, I understand that. I think they’re a good idea.”
Similarly, Roelofs also believes it will help reduce injuries from accidents at the intersection.
“I think as far as accidents go, it should cut down on those coming across. It might be an inconvenience, but as far as saving lives and injuries, it should help I think,” Roelofs said.
Luckily, the construction for the J-turn is expected to be completed by Sept. 15, and with the southbound lanes of Highway 169 now open, traffic should begin to return to normal flows.
While construction will still be taking place on the northbound lanes of Highway 169 until mid-October, at least one lane is expected to remain open until the construction is completed.
All northbound lanes will be open on Fridays as well for the heavy flow of traffic going north for the weekend, according to MnDOT.
“I just think we have to stick it out for the duration, and hopefully it will be done in the next couple of weeks,” Lawrence said.
To learn more about the road construction on Highway 169 and to view project updates, visit www.dot.state.mn.us/d3/projects/h169pease/.
Reach Chloe Smith at chloe.smith@apgecm.com
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