Follow safety and detour rules as construction begins

Last Monday Mantorville Avenue construction began in earnest. Barricades were placed at both ends of the avenue — at First and Seventh streets. A sign affixed to one of the barricades noted “ROAD CLOSED.”

That failed to discourage an older lady driving her Lincoln around the barricades and headed south on the closed road. Shortly after she was off to the races, a Jeep Grand Cherokee from Iowa did the same thing, traversing the closed roadway from one end of the closure to the other.

I guess some folks have a “doesn’t apply to me” card that allows them to ignore signs notifying them that there may be danger ahead. Think about it before driving around these barricades—construction workers and heavy equipment will be moving between First and Seventh until that segment is complete. This will be a high priority for drivers and pedestrians during the construction project underway on Highway 57 for the next two years.

Last week’s initial phases of construction had heavy equipment move onto the avenue. A large dozer, an enormous excavator, belly-dump trucks and a host of workers were swarming the area between First and Seventh streets. Let’s stay out of the work zone. Follow the detour signage and keep speeds down while our town is under construction.

Rain on Wednesday and Thursday held back a crew (Suemnick’s Final Cut Tree Service from Elysian, Minn.) that was subcontracted to remove the trees from the avenue. However, the cutting of these enormous trees will present a danger to non-construction workers who may wander into the work zone. Give yourself a break and find a different route. Curiosity seekers may find themselves in a hazardous area as modern day lumberjacks remove these boulevard giants.

While we’re on the subject of safe driving, drivers need to be keenly aware of pedestrians in crosswalks. Pedestrians have the right-of-way.

“Motorists must treat every corner and intersection as a crosswalk, whether it’s marked or unmarked, and drivers must stop for crossing pedestrians,” according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, office of Traffic Safety.

LAW

You see, he knew his own laws just as other people so often know the laws: by words, not by effects. They take a meaning, and get to be very vivid, when you come to apply them to yourself.

—Mark Twain