Residents Speak Out Against Road Project at Stearns County Commissioners Meeting

(KNSI) — Stearns County Road 2 near St. Stephen is set to be reconstructed, and neighbors who live around the construction area are speaking out against the project.

Mary Kay Muehlbauer says the plan to widen the shoulder of the road and extend the right of way so close to her home is “a danger to our everyday life. The corner of my house until the right-of-way is 27 feet.”

Muehlbauer believes that, at the very least, the right-of-way needed for the work should be extended on the south side of the road. Only three of the 26 homes along the 1.2-mile stretch between St. Stephen and Rice are on this side, and they are also set back further from the road.

Mary Jo Wallenstein attended the commissioners meeting to share an incident that involved her mother. “Somebody was coming north from St. Stephen, going towards Rice, came out to the stop sign and missed the stop sign, took the corner, went around it, and straight into the side of her house, knocking her house off the foundation.”

The road sees around 1,700 cars per day, enough to designate it high traffic, but well below thresholds that would suggest extra lanes or a new path are needed.

Stearns County officials are confident they are doing enough. County Engineer Jodi Teich believes a project scheduled for late summer will eliminate the worst accidents. “We’re hoping, between the wider shoulders and slightly, not extremely, but slightly softened curve, that we can eliminate some of those crashes.”

She adds the current route is the most direct from Point A to Point B through the area and would meet the specifications used throughout the county for other roads designated minor arterial roadways. Teich explained why the right-of-way isn’t being taken out of yards on the south side.

“While their homes might be set back a little bit further, they had other concerns about their yard, whether that be… people like the trees that separate them from the road. So, they were very concerned about the trees. They were concerned about, in some cases, septic systems, etc. And so we have to look at all of those things when we decide what we’re going to do with the property owner.”

Teich says the county wants to upgrade the road while changing as little as possible from what exists now. “Generally speaking, I’m not saying always, but generally speaking, unless there’s something extreme, we try to keep the roadway on the same center line.”

The Board of Commissioners will vote on whether to go ahead with the project at a later date.

___