Carver County Board of Commissioners--Work Session - May 6th, 2025

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Development of county turn lane policy

Turn lane warrant criteria and design standards

Proactive safety approach vs level-of-service analysis

Traffic impact analysis for developers

Turn lane offset standards

Public vs private access and development review

County Board oversight and appeal authority

Areas of Interest (4)

Carver County moving away from MnDOT one-size-fits-all road design to more localized traffic safety standards.
Concerns over developer pushback regarding expensive mandatory turn lane infrastructure.
Potential conflict between Victoria city development goals and county road access requirements.
Debate on whether the County Board should serve as an appellate body for developer-staff disagreements on road design.

Notable Quotes (3)

If the level of service of an intersection is level of service D or better, they will then say that turns are not recommended. The issue with this is it's really not taking into account safety.
— Whitney Schroeder

Turn Lane WarrantsDiscussing flaws in current traffic impact analysis requirements.

We're going to use it for our own county highway projects that we lead to so that we're consistently doing it. Uh, and it'll help, I think, refine or maybe save some cost in the long run.
— Darren

County PolicyJustifying the new policy.

I'm wondering if you want to be clear in your policy that that whether there is an appeal process to the board or not.
— Unidentified Commissioner

GovernanceQuestioning the level of board oversight.

People (3)

DarrenCounty Engineer

Leading the discussion on the new turn lane policy.

Whitney SchroederTraffic Engineer

Detailing technical turn lane criteria and providing real-life examples.

1 quote

“The issue we were running into with [MnDOT's policy] is that it's sort of a one-size-fits-all approach.”

Explaining why Carver County is developing its own policy.

Drew FlmerTransportation Planning Manager

Assisting with development review processes.

Places Mentioned

Carver CountyCity of VictoriaCounty Highway 10County Highway 11County Road 61Chaza HillWestbrook Church accessLaconia

Events & Meetings (2)

Development of County turn lane policy work session
Highway 11 project construction scheduled for summer 2028

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