Intersection Mobility and Safety Study

The intersection of Highway 65 and 109th Avenue in Blaine, Minnesota.The Metropolitan Council and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) worked with local agencies to analyze and prioritize at-grade intersections on the principal arterial system within the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Planning Area. This study serves as an update the 2017 Principal Arterial Intersection Conversion Study.


Study goals

  • Review implementation from the 2017 Principal Arterial Intersection Conversion Study
  • Analyze before-and-after conditions of previous projects
  • Prioritize intersections into high, medium, and low priorities at a regional scale based on the magnitude of the identified needs
  • Identify regional priorities for the 2050 Transportation Policy Plan
  • Use regional priorities in project selection processes including the Regional Solicitation

Findings and Conclusions

Findings from before-and-after studies demonstrate that these projects yield significant benefits and show high effectiveness in improving mobility and safety performance, as well as building out missing multimodal elements in the project areas and increasing ADA compliance.

There are 89 intersections across the region that exhibit needs in the high tier, indicating that investments on the scale of grade separation may be justified ($22 million and over). Nine of these locations already have projects that are under construction or fully funded.

  • The majority of high-need intersections are within corridors made up of several high-need locations.
    • Many of these have been studied or are advancing through project development.
    • Corridor-level solutions may be more effective than isolated improvements.
    • Remaining stand-alone locations are also critical to fill gaps in the freeway system.
  • Many of the high need corridors are currently undergoing of have recently undergone corridor studies to better understand project area needs and potential solutions.  For high priority corridors that have not completed a corridor study within the last decade, these corridors should be prioritized for future planning studies/corridor studies given their high regional needs.

There are an additional 117 locations in the medium tier where needs suggest substantial investment ($11 million to $22 million) could be cost effective.

The remaining 312 locations in the low tier are candidates for at-grade projects, several warranting considerable attention and potential investment based on their degree of needs ($1 million to $11 million).

Contact us

Steve Peterson
Metropolitan Council
612-602-1819
[email protected]
Michael Corbett
Minnesota Department of Transportation Metro District
651-234-7793
[email protected]