Minnesota Highways, November 1957

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VOL.  7,  NO.   1
1246  University Ave., St.  Paul  4,  Minn.
NOVEMBER,   1957
Major Study
Set on Minn.
Traffic Code
By C. D. JOHNSTON
Folks who work for the State
Highway department—employees and staff members—are playing major roles in a new research
project, involving several departments or divisions of state
government, which bids fair to
set a pattern for finding out nationally what statutory revisions
are best for the most people
driving on our roads and streets.
The study will seek to determine whether the laws regulating motor vehicle ownership and
use can be adapted or improved
on a basis comparable to what is
being done by the nation's new
50 billion dollar construction
program for the roads these
rehicles use.
^In undertaking the study, Minnesota apparently is blazing the
trail for other states in a new
phase of the nation's effort to
accommodate the ever-mounting
volumes and changing types of
motor vehicle traffic. It is a
long-range study of all laws and
regulations affecting motor vehicle ownership and use, with a
view to assuring motorists of the
safest, most economical and most
efficient use possible of the highway transportation facilities that
are and will become available to
them under the new road building program.
Word that the modestly begun
Minnesota study has already attracted widespread attention was
brought back from Roanoke, Va.,
by state officials who participated in the recent convention of
the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators: J. L.
Donovan, secretary of state; W.
E. Howes, his assistant in charge
of the Motor Vehicle division;
Harry A. Sieben, director of the
Highway Safety division, and G.
A. Hatfield, head of the Drivers
License division of the State
Highway department.
Known   As  The  Minn.   Plan
_FAlready known as "The Minnesota Plan," an outline of the
study being undertaken here by
cooperating state agencies was
presented to the national assembly by Louis R. Morony, head
(Continued on page 6)
Duluth Link
Is Completed
On Highway 61
The Old Thompson Hill road,
the 2%-mile long west entrance
to Duluth along T. H. 61, once
a boon to auto repair shops, has
undergone a major face lifting.
Highway 61 is the major highway
artery between Duluth and the
Twin Cities.
A four-lane divided highway
for 2.4 miles on Thompson hill,
from the Duluth west limits to
Sixty-third Ave. W., in Duluth,
has been completed and placed in
use. The cost: $1,180,000, including an underpass bridge. Steepest gradient on this "sorely needed improvement" is 5 per cent
and the maximum curvature is
seven degrees, according to L. H.
Miller, district engineer at Duluth. The project included excavation of 80,000 cubic yards of
solid rock.
Prior to the new high standard
construction, the old highway
along this stretch consisted of
one roadway with snaky alignment and excessively steep grades
for its entire length, Miller pointed out. Constructed in 1923, the
driving surface was concrete
pavement, 20 feet wide.
An interesting feature of the
old Thompson hill section, from
the engineering standpoint, Miller
reported, was that it was the first
in Minnesota to include spiral or
easement curves.
Even so, until superceded by
the  new  construction,  the  climb
TOP: Motorists are enjoying this new four-lane divided highway on T. H. 61's
approach over Thompson hill to Duluth, visible in the background. With lesser grades
and curvatures, it is a great improvement over the former steep, winding two-lane
road.
BOTTOM: Rocky and rough are the words for the terrain over which the new
Thompson hill link was planned  and constructed.
out of Duluth on this route, behind slow moving traffic, was
frustrating to motorists. In the
days of the Model T Fords, auto
mechanics reaped a harvest in
filling the demand for transmission band linings.
The new divided highway will
help to combat a serious driving
hazard in the vicinity, the frequent occurrence of fog, Miller
pointed   out.
On the summit of Thompson
hill, the project included widening of the northbound lane to a
rustic rock retaining wall, providing a parking area and vista
of the panorama of Duluth, St.
Louis bay and Lake Superior,
with   Wisconsin  in  the   distance.
It also includes a view of the
Duluth, Missabi and Iron Range
railroad tracks and ore trains, so
representative of the growth and
economy of the region.
Consideration also has been
given to the establishment of a
parking area and picnic grounds
adjacent to the highway and
about half way up the hill.
Walter Benson was the project
engineer. The prime contractor
was the St. Paul Dredging Co.,
with the J. W. Craig Co. of Minneapolis, as the major sub-contractor, and the W. V. Roedter Construction Co. of Duluth, the contractor for the bridge carrying
the Duluth, Missabi and Iron
Range railroad over the highway.
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