Differing views emerged Tuesday among the Freeborn County commissioners about whether to pay a consultant to re-evaluate traffic controls on Bridge Avenue.

The county and city of Albert Lea are looking at whether changes need to be made to the road; however, some commissioners are questioning whether it is necessary to bring a consultant back to conduct further review — or if additional review is even needed.

A study of the corridor was completed in November 2005 and was updated after neighborhood meetings.

Freeborn County Engineer Sue Miller said in an interview on Friday that the new evaluation would update traffic counts, turning movements and crash counts on the road from Interstate 90 south to Hammer Road. Previous data was collected from 2001 to 2003.

Discussion comes as Kwik Trip has announced it is coming to the corridor, and Hy-Vee Gas is considering improvements to its facility. The change of ownership in the Chevrolet car dealership on the street is also attracting customers, she said. She was unable to attend the Tuesday board meeting.

What to do on Bridge Avenue — also Freeborn County Road 22 — has been a point of discussion for both the county and city in the last decade, though the focus usually has been on the south end of the street.

Bridge Avenue serves as one of the primary conduits between Albert Lea’s downtown and the commercial and residential areas to the north. Because it is a county highway that runs through the city limits, both the city and the county have a role in its renovation, no matter what is decided for the route.

Commissioner Chris Shoff recommended the commissioners move forward with hiring consultants from SRF Consulting Group Inc. — who submitted the low bid of about $16,000 — to conduct the review. The consultants conducted the original study and are already familiar with the project.

Commissioner Dan Belshan questioned why it was necessary to hire a consultant and asked whether there were civil engineers on staff or in the community who could perform the task.

“Here we go again bringing in the consultants,” Belshan said.

He asked Freeborn County Administrator John Kluever to find out how much money has been spent studying the road in the last 10 years.

He said he also wanted to remind the commissioners that it was a consultant who said Freeborn County needed a jail to house 130 people, but there are currently only 30 local people in there.

Commissioner Jim Nelson said if the study needs to be done, he wants to pursue sharing the cost of the study with the city. Commissioner Mike Lee asked why the county needed to pay for another study when there have already been several conducted on the road. The commissioners ultimately voted to table moving forward with the study until their next meeting.

City Engineer Steven Jahnke said a study was first completed on the Bridge Avenue corridor in the late 1970s or ’80s. In November 2005, SRF Consulting Group published its study. After a series of neighborhood meetings it published an additional follow-up. There was also a study conducted of the Bridge Avenue and Hawthorne Street intersection, and a city engineer conducted a crash test study on the road.

He said despite this, the city is in support of the re-evaluation being done.

“There’s a value there,” Jahnke said. “The data we have is 10 years old.”