WASECA, Minn. -
MnDOT has struggled for several months to come up with a safe plan for the intersection of County Road 27 and Old 14 in Waseca.
After the death of a Mankato man Monday night, the department continues to look for the right answer.
For six years, the intersection of old 14 and county road 27 was the hub of traffic entering and leaving Waseca from the west.
With Highway 14's expansion to the south of town, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has been trying to alter the intersection to efficiently handle the decrease in traffic.
Rebecca Arndt, Information Officer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation says, "In August, we started stepping it down to prepare them for a four-way stop. Which was where we intended it to stay. Until a number of motorists were blowing those stop signs, so to prevent that kind of a crash, we removed the signs."
Flashing red lights were installed to help warn drivers, and on October 23, they were removed.
When running the stop signs became a problem, they brought them back a week later.
Still unable to stop traffic, the stop signs on the east-west Old 14 were removed on November 9th.
Fred Statz died at the intersection three days later.
Since the accident, MnDOT has set in motion several changes to the intersection to make it safer. Just from yesterday, they've added this "cross traffic does not stop" sign, and in a few moments, they're going to come replace it with a bigger, even more visible sign. One of many changes in the works.
By the end of the week they also plan to add an additional warning sign further down County Road 27.
And once the crash investigation is finished, they may go back and look at even more changes.
