Highway 316 Redesign

State Highway 316 through Hastings, Minnesota is a Principal Arterial with traffic volumes ranging from 10,500 to 17,800 vehicles per day. The highway is primarily residential with some commercial and light industrial land use; and, prior to construction, it had an open, rural cross section with shoulders, and no dedicated pedestrian or bicycle facilities.

Initially, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) planned a repaving project for the 1.7-mile corridor that would have retained the existing design and character of the roadway. 

However, local residents raised serious concerns about roadway safety along the corridor, including vehicles routinely traveling at higher than desired speeds. The posted speed limit for most of the corridor was 35 mph, but a speed study found that vehicles typically traveled at speeds between 42 and 46 mph. The  community’s concerns prompted  MnDOT and the City of Hastings to shift the focus of the corridor’s design to ensure safety for all users.

In partnership with the City of Hastings, MnDOT initiated an extensive public involvement process to evaluate the character and use of the roadway and consider more dramatic design changes to lower speed and increase safety for all users of Highway 316.

After deciding to revisit the scope of the project, MnDOT and City of Hastings Public Works staff began a thorough and continuous public engagement process with residents living along the corridor, local businesses, local elected officials, and other stakeholders.  The project team considered all users and purposes of the highway, including school bus operations, garbage collection, and emergency response. The MnDOT Project Engineer and the City Engineer played major roles in outreach activities and provided a variety of ways to participate and provide input.

Community engagement began in the winter of 2018, continued throughout project development, and through construction of the project in 2021. The community’s fundamental goals included retaining good access for homes and businesses, improving safety for all users, improving comfort and usability for pedestrians and bicyclists, and incorporating elements to reduce vehicle speed.

Beyond the design elements that the project team integrated into the project to keep the corridor safe, the project team fully  closed Highway 316 to through traffic  for construction and permitted access only for residents, businesses, and other local traffic.  This decreased the duration of major construction to one year, which was important to the community.  From a Safe System perspective, it separated construction workers from through traffic, which is more likely to travel at higher speed.

The new vision for Highway 316 incorporated  three compact roundabouts  from the north junction of US-61 to the intersection at Michael Avenue.

With a smaller footprint than standard roundabouts, the compact roundabouts stay within existing right-of-way and a smaller budget. From a Safe System perspective, the compact roundabouts reduce speed at the intersections to around 15 mph, reduce impact angles, and eliminate left-turn and crossing conflicts—reducing the probability of severe head-on and right-angle crashes at the intersections.

Pedestrians and bicyclists cross the highway in two stages, managing just one lane of traffic at a time, with vehicles operating at reduced speed. Managing both speed and impact angle at intersections can reduce crash energy to levels that are tolerable to the human body. This practice leverages and supports several Safe System principles and elements, including that humans are vulnerable.

A continuous raised median connects the roundabouts except for two locations along the corridor that need additional access.  From a Safe System perspective, the raised median physically separates traffic moving in opposing directions, reducing the probability of severe head-on crashes. Turns onto the highway from driveways and residential streets are right-turn only, reducing the more severe impacts associated with left-turn and crossing movements, and reducing mistakes when gaps between vehicles are more difficult to find during peak travel hours.

There is some tradeoff in convenience for property owners along the corridor as drivers must turn right and use U-turns at the roundabouts instead of making left-turns and or crossing the corridor directly from most access points directly along the highway.  Pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the highway at non-roundabout locations can again do so in two stages, managing just one lane of traffic at a time.  The raised median serves as a continuous pedestrian refuge island.

 The Safe System Approach  aims to eliminate fatal and serious injuries for all road users through a holistic view of the transportation system that first anticipates human mistakes and second keeps impact energy on the human body at tolerable levels.

This project is an example of how transportation agencies' and communities' vision can align well with the Safe System Approach. With the Safe System Approach principal that death and serious injury are unacceptable, the project incorporated a number of design elements and processes along the corridor to create a Safe System for all. The primary motivators of the corridor redesign include maintaining safe speeds, reducing impact angles, and separating road users. They all play a role in reducing deaths and serious injuries.

The collaboration between MnDOT and the City of Hastings Public Works - to explore design opportunities and engage with the community early and throughout the project - leverages the Safe System Approach principals that responsibility is shared and safety is proactive.

The selected countermeasures - compact roundabouts and continuous raised medians, which contribute to slowing down vehicles and preventing head-on collisions - accommodate human mistakes and vulnerability.

These countermeasures build redundancy into the corridor to provide layers of protection for road users. In addition, the project helps build a Safe System for various elements.

In using the compact roundabouts, limiting access, adding separated walking and biking facilities, and closing the corridor to traffic during construction, the project supports Safe Roads, Safe Speeds, and ultimately Safe Road Users. The project also support rapid Post-Crash Care by incorporating a traversable island into each compact roundabout, allowing emergency equipment to travel over it when needed.

The project created a Safe System for all!

Minnesota has adopted the Safe System Approach as a pillar of the State’s Towards Zero Death Program. Next steps for MnDOT include adopting it by formal agency policy and developing implementation guidance on how to integrate the Safe System framework into all projects.

Following the Highway 316 project completion, MnDOT conducted some additional safety and field observation reviews. Explore the StoryMap below to learn more about the impacts of the reconstruction of Highway 316 and additional changes MnDOT has made to gain better compliance with the roundabout and overall travel through the corridor.

Bryant Ficek, MnDOT Metro District – South Area Engineer  Bryant.Ficek@state.mn.us