County Board reviews Morningside project

The McLeod County Board of Commissioners reviewed plans for the extension of Morningside in Glencoe at its Tuesday, Aug. 8, meeting.
The proposed project will extend Morningside from east of Coborn’s north to 16th Street just east of Glencoe-Silver Lake Schools.
The state awarded the project a $2.35 million Local Road Improvement Project (LRIP) grant. That leaves about $2.61 million to be paid by the city of Glencoe, McLeod County and possible rail funding.
John Brunkhorst, county engineer, told the board that the project actually began back in 2005 on the south side of Highway 212, when a new bridge was built across Buffalo Creek. In 2009, the Highway 212-Morningside intersection was reconfigured and Morningside was improved to 11th Street. The final phase, adopted in 2015, is to extend Morningside north to 16th Street, where a roundabout intersection will be installed to help slow traffic near the school.
As part of the project, railroad crossings at Union Avenue in the city of Glencoe and Diamond Avenue, east of the city, will be closed. Brunkhorst said the Union Avenue crossing is disjointed, has steep slopes and poor sight lines, and no pedestrian access. Diamond Avenue’s crossing would be closed to provide safe switching.
Along with providing a major artery on the east side of Glencoe from Highway 212 to 16th Street (also McLeod County’s County State Aid Highway 15), the project will eliminate drainage issues.
“There’s a problem with water backing up in the HRA housing and other areas,” said Brunkhorst. “Those would be addressed with this project.”
For more from the County Board meeting, see the Aug. 16 print edition of The Chronicle.