(ABC 6 News) – Despite a looming $6 billion projected deficit in the 2028-2029 Minnesota state budget, some local projects are still asking for more money.

Olmsted County is hoping to continue safety improvements at intersections along Hwy 14.

In a new phase of safety improvements, the county is looking at a specific stretch of Hwy 14 through Byron that runs from CSAH 5 to CSAH 3.

“We know that this is a tremendous regional corridor, traffic counts continue to increase, so this is the next step in that long term vision of enhancing the safety,” said Michelle Rossman, Olmsted County Commissioner for District 5. Rossman’s district stretches as far west as CSAH 5.

A 2021 study of this part of Hwy 14 found there were 39 crashes at the CSAH 3 intersection, including two fatalities, and another 85 crashes at the CSAH 5 intersection, with one fatality, all in the last ten years.

“These two lights are the only two red lights left between Mankato and Rochester. So, when you think about cars going at freeway speed, having to stop at intersections, we know that’s a safety hazard,” said Rossman.

A bipartisan bill, now in the Senate Transportation Committee, is asking for $2.4 million for the next phase of the safety improvement project, which would fund the planning to replace those intersections with interchanges and remove the railroad crossing at CSAH 3.

“As fast as traffic is moving, so by removing those at-grade intersections, traffic will be able to continue to flow, it won’t be stopping at traffic lights and the new intersection will go over the highway,” said Rossman.

This funding would only cover part of this planning phase of the project, which in total would cost about $8 million. The remainder of that funding is being sought from other state senate committees.

Once the planning phase is complete, Mike Dougherty, MnDOT’s District 6 Director of Public Engagement and Communication, says another bill would be needed to fund the actual construction of the project.

In June of 2023, the CSAH 3 intersection was redone to include a J-turn, which would prevent vehicles from crossing Hwy 14 and reduce T-bone crashes.

“So far it’s been working well. The real measure is the crash statistics, and that, we’ve had one or two smaller crashes, not to say crashes aren’t bad, but they’re not that highway speed right angle crash,” said Dougherty.

Despite this recent construction, Sen. Carla Nelson (R-Rochester) told the Senate Transportation Committee more improvements on this intersection are still needed.

“It has been a significantly difficult for farm equipment, for all of the traffic,” said Nelson. “It was never intended to be permanent.”