Star Tribune
Wayzata residents want their static ‘no turn on red’ sign back
When Austin Ditzler leaves his Wayzata neighborhood, he takes Hollybrook Road to Central Avenue, where he often sits and waits … and waits … and waits for a break in traffic to make a left or right turn.
It’s been that way for the past four years since the Minnesota Department of Transportation took down a static “No Turn on Red” sign that prevented drivers on the ramp from eastbound Hwy. 12 from turning right onto Central Avenue, also known as County Road 101. The agency replaced the static sign with an electronic version that illuminates a couple of hours in the mornings and for 45 minutes during the evening rush.
The problem, Ditzler says, is that Hollybrook Road is only a few thousand feet north and slightly downhill from the busy Central Avenue/Hwy. 12 interchange. Hollybrook serves as the only way in and out of a neighborhood of several townhouses, apartment buildings and residences.
When the electronic “No Turn on Red” sign is off, traffic pours off the freeway, Ditzler said. That compounded with incessant southbound traffic on County 101 “makes it dangerous and difficult for us to exit Hollybrook.”
The electronic sign operates from 7 to 9:15 a.m. and 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. weekdays. The sign also illuminates if a pedestrian pushes a button to activate it, said MnDOT spokesman Jesse Johnson.
Ditzler said he and others in his neighborhood want the old static sign back, but at the very least they want the electronic sign activated from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. He has the support of Wayzata Police Chief Mark Schultz.
“Our agency does recognize that this is a challenging area to safely enter 101 from Hollybrook,” the chief said. While his department does traffic enforcement when the sign is activated, “I would support the installation of a permanent ‘No turn on red’ sign,” Schultz said.
That’s not likely to happen, Johnson said.
In 2019, MnDOT teamed with Hennepin County to replace the Central Avenue bridge over Hwy. 12 in Wayzata. The agencies widened the bridge deck and added a center turn lane for motorists turning left from Central Avenue onto Hwy. 12 a place to queue up. A new signal system also went in, which included the electronic “No Turn on Red” sign.
The electronic sign operates based on existing traffic conditions, Johnson said. Traffic volumes on County 101, about 16,500 vehicles a day, has declined in the past 20 years “and the lower PM peak-hour right turns support maintaining the current hours of operation,” Johnson said.
There have been no crashes involving drivers turning from Hollybrook on to Central Avenue since the electronic sign went in, Johnson said.
Overnight closures on I-694 this week
Motorists planning to use southbound I-694 in the east metro during overnight hours will need to find an alternate route.
MnDOT will shut down the southbound lanes between Hwy. 36 in Pine Springs and the I-494/694 interchange in Woodbury nightly between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Monday through Friday. Lanes will be open during the day, MnDOT said.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
