Shimanski to sponsor Luce Line Trail bill

Wow, $2.5 million to pave a trail that does not need any attention. Isn't there something better to spend $2.5 million on? The only people who can not currently use the trail are rollerbladers. Bicyclists, horse back riders, snowmobilers, and walkers can already use this trail as is. I do not see how this could pass.

What's to fix on the roundabouts? I don't have exact numbers for the one on Highway 15 in Hutchinson, but anecdotally (and since I usually get the police reports on all crashes within city limits) I don't recall any major injury accidents in the past 12-18 months it has been in place.

While at the same time, we continue to have serious, and potentially serious, crashes at signaled intersections such as Highway 7/15, Highway 7/Bluff (there have been crashes at both this year in which a car was flipped), Highway 15/South Grade, several at Highway 15/Edmonton, and just Monday at Highway 15 and South Grade. Most have been dangerous T-bone-type crashes in which someone has run a red light or failed to yield while making left turns.

A recent one at Highway 15 and Edmonton could have been deadly had the elderly couple, who allegedly turned left on a red arrow, not been wearing their seatbelts and driving a new vehicle with a full complement of front and side airbags. They essentially walked away from it.

So what is the price of saving a life?

(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)

Part of the paving plan is to run a parallel unpaved trail.

http://www.hutchinsonleader.com/news/opinion/editorial-luce-line-upgrade...

Are there many stables on the section of trail from Winsted west to Cedar Mills targeted for the paving, or are most of them east of Winsted in the Watertown area that would not be paved?

I can think of a couple of residents near the trail west of Hutchinson that have horses, but I don't think they are commercial stables like the ones east of Watertown.

(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)

I agree with the concern of moving trees on the trail. The trail is quite nice as it is, a parallel trail would be problematic in a lot of spots. I think if it is not a practical option, then the trail should remain as it is so that everyone can use it. I am not sure how many stables are along or in close proximity of the trail, but there are several from my understanding. I have talked to a lot of horse people that use the trail often, and even selected their property because of the close proximity. A lot of people would be unable to use a paved trail. As is, only rollerbladers are unable to use the trail, as someone said previously. Paving it and not having a parallel trail would close it off to too many other users.

Hey terri, what about the over-size loads that cannot make it thru the round a bouts anymore? Big waste of diesel and manpower to be routed around just because they were built to small, i also never said there were any major accidents or anything, I just said they needed to be fixed, How many times have people had to slam on their brakes just to avoid a accident because someone coming into the round a bouts never bothered to yield to traffic already in the round a bout? What about the winter times when they have to go round and round with sanders just to make sure they are perfect to prevent accidents from ice on them? It seems to be a waste of man and materials when a stop light would have done the job so much better and cheaper for that matter.
I agree with you on the 7/15 interection and the bluff/7 crossing, they make signs that have flashing yellow litghs that warn of lights changing, they could do longer yellows, Who knows what else they could do. But they are both deadly intersections, that is for sure. Maybe they should try traffic cameras that send out tickets at those intersections, they are well known to stop people from running the yellow and red lights.