Tara and Brendan McCarthy live near one of one of the most crash-ridden intersections in the state, 66th Avenue and Highway 252 in Brooklyn Center.

It’s about a mile down the highway from the intersection where they lost their 16-year-old son Jason McCarthy ten years ago.

“He had just been coming back home at two o’clock in the afternoon, and he was turning at 73rd (Avenue), and he was struck from behind by a drunk driver,” Tara McCarthy shared on Monday. “He spent a week in the hospital, but he never regained consciousness.”

“He was such a wonderful kid. It’s been a hard 10 years. We miss him every day,” she continued.

She is one of several members of an independent task force — the Highway 252 Safety Task Force — formed among a group of Brooklyn Center neighbors a few years ago to keep tabs on a nearly-decade-long safety project related to the interchange between Highway 252 and I-94 in the north metro being carried out by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).

They have reported their findings to Brooklyn Center City Council over the years, with their latest presentation expected on Monday night.

Members of the independent task force reached out to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS after our last story on MnDOT’s study of a possible highway-to-freeway conversion on that stretch of Highway 252, impacting Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, and Minneapolis.

The Brooklyn Center-based group said they’ve been trying to get information from the state agency for years on the project they expect to hugely impact the safety in their backyards, and they’re not convinced the high-dollar project will be an improvement.

According to MnDOT, the options are to either leave the highway as is or eliminate the stoplights and convert the highway to a freeway. There are several versions of the proposed freeway, varying from four to six lanes. One of the biggest upcoming decisions is where the on and off-ramps will be built, and the neighbor group has major concerns about the possibility of one of them being built at 66th Avenue.

“It’s an insanely dangerous location,” said Bill Newman, speaking on behalf of the task force.

In a statement, MnDOT Metro District major projects manager Amber Blanchard said a freeway conversion is expected to reduce crashes by “58-68%.”

Newman was not convinced.

“No, no,” he reacted. “They’re patting themselves on the back and saying they’re doing real good if they get above a 40% reduction from 300% and 500%. Are you kidding me? That’s horrible.”

“And I think we all kind of assumed that a freeway option might be safer, but when we started looking at the property impacts, the huge increases of traffic…” Newman began.

“They come up with a plan, and they steamroll ahead, and it’s almost impossible to stop them.”

In a follow-up statement, a spokesperson wrote, “MnDOT appreciates the input and feedback from the Hwy 252 Safety Task Force, adding that the agency “disagrees” with data analysis done by the task force.

“MnDOT’s primary goals for this study are to improve safety for all modes, improve walkability and bikeability across Highway 252 and improve mobility,” Blanchard wrote in the earlier statement.

“To reiterate, MnDOT has not yet determined if there will be an interchange at 66^th Avenue, nor has one been designed.”

The task force said their information was gleaned in formal data requests made under the Minnesota Data Practices Act, and the stakes are high as the project will cost an estimated minimum of $240 million.

For a grieving family, it gets even more personal. If the interchange is built at 66th Avenue, they expect to lose their home, as will others near the highway.

“I do feel like my role in this is just putting the sobbing mother in front of them over and over again, so that they put faces to the, you know, their statistics,” Tara McCarthy said.

“More people like us are gonna have to go through it. There’s no reason for that,” Brendan McCarthy added. “Build it safe.”

When this project is finalized, Brooklyn Center and the other two impacted cities will have to give their consent for it to go forward. That municipal consent process “is currently anticipated to occur in 2027,” Blanchard wrote.

The task force is scheduled to present at the Brooklyn Center City Council meeting on Monday at 7 p.m.

Residents can submit their comments on the Highway 252/I-94 study HERE.