City of Decorah staff is already working on plans for the Locust Road detour

The reconstruction of Locust Road in Decorah won't get underway until next year, but city officials are already at work to come up with a detour that can be used during the project.

It's not just that they've opened bids on one of two projects to make repairs to Ridge Road, which will be one of the streets used for the in-town detour.  More thought is being placed on what to do with a truck detour around Locust Road.

The complicating factor is that city officials would like to discourage truck drivers from using the Ridge Road detour.  That's because Ridge Road is a residential area and it's never a good idea to mix pedestrians and big trucks.

But the steep hill on Ridge Road is another reason city officials would like to discourage truck drivers from using the road as the detour.

Instead, city staff is looking into ways to get truck drivers to stop using Locust Road during the construction project.  There aren't many options, however.  Meadowlark Road is the closest road north which could be used as a detour, but it has a gravel surface, so that road has been ruled out.

That means the truck detour in all likelihood will involve County Road A26 (Big Canoe Road), the southernmost paved road that provides a connection between Locust Road and Highway 52.  That would make for a long detour, but the pavement outweighs that factor.

City officials also have been talking with highway engineers in Minnesota, hoping to reach an agreement that would post signs at the north end of Locust Road that would encourage truck drivers to use Highway 52 instead of Locust Road.

Of course, some truck traffic could still wind up on the Ridge Road detour.  City officials say they're looking at a variety of options for slowing down truck traffic through the Ridge Road neighborhood because of children and other pedestrians.  This could be done with speed sign trailers, speed bumps and additional police patrolling.