Rotaries mushrooming. Winona already has five roundabouts – four on Mankato and one on Gilmore. Proposal rotaries would make it eight. Horizontal on the map is the east-west street Broadway. With up as north, new rotaries would be at Johnson Street, left, and Center Street, right. They flank Main Street in the center..
Feedback sought on traffic flow adjustments
WINONA Minn. – The state Transportation Department has drawn up plans to build two roundabouts on Broadway near downtown. The roundabouts, tentatively budgeted for 2028, would be at:
> Broadway and Center. This would be similar to roundabouts built in 2021 on Mankato Avenue.
> Broadway and Johnson. This would be similar to the mini-roundabout outside Goodwill on the Far West End on Gilmore Avenue.
Although the intersections are city streets, they catch some double duty with State Highway 43 traffic between Mankato Avenue on the Far East End and the Mississippi River bridge. The state plan for 2028 was laid out at an informational forum at Winona State University. There would be related changes in the area too – like replacing stop lights and creating four-way stops. Comments were invited by August 4. Also in the plan was a roundabout at Sarnia and Main Street, an intersection that also doubles as a city street and the state Highway 43 route. At the forum a MnDOT presenter, Mike Dougherty, said roundabouts not only make driving safer but also improve traffic flow.
Broadway nay-saying
The plan involves narrowing Broadway from four to two lanes between the proposed Johnson Street and Center Street roundabouts. The current outer lanes would accommodate bicycle lanes, bus carve-outs, and better pedestrian crossings, MnDOT says. The City Council in 2021 rejected a separate plan to narrow Broadway to three lanes, which was touted as a safety improvement but to which there was a loud public outcry against change.