For months the Albert Lea Tribune contained articles and letters to the editor. Residents expressing their opinion whether to have no right turn, or no left turn or no turns. Kwik Trip patiently waited for a decision. Instead of criticizing Commissioners Dan Belshan, Mike Lee and Jim Nelson, the Albert Lea Tribune Editorial Board should thank them for their courage to make this decision. No! It’s not micromanaging. It’s called making a decision.

How many committees had been formed. Consultants been hired over past years? Studying the traffic on the north end of Bridge Avenue? How about the thousands of hours used by the county/city engineers and office personnel on studies/reports ?

Perhaps Commissioners Dan Belshan, Mike Lee and Jim Nelson do not have traffic or civil engineering experience. They have something better, common sense. Listen to people who travel this route. A consultant was hired, a waste of money. I imagine there’s a warehouse filled with studies/reports on this very subject.

Mr. Tim Engstrom, have you or one of Tribune’ reporters interviewed Freeborn County’s administrator and Albert Lea’s city manager for their input? If not, why not?

Final editor quote: “Let’s do what’s right for safety and for the long term.”

I believe the three commissioners vote meets this.

 

Bob Mares

Albert Lea

 

Editor’s note: Thank you for your feedback. The county administrators and city manager, as usual, support what their staff recommends: no new access points on Bridge Avenue. We have questions for you: Have you asked anyone in the region with a civil engineering degree in private or public practice how they feel about this decision? If leaders overrule what staff and experts say, is it not then meeting the exact definition of micromanaging? Would, for instance, a governor overrule where Minnesota Department of Transportation engineers say a turn lane would be unsafe?