Shorewood community calls for changes to accident-prone highway

The community of Shorewood is calling for changes along the Highway 7 corridor following another accident at the intersection.

“It’s such a busy highway, especially with school in the mornings. It just gets crowded,” Devin Bauman, who lives off Highway 7, said.

In this quiet Shorewood neighborhood, accidents at this intersection often break the silence.

Bauman lives right next to the intersection of Highway 7 and Eureka Road.

Every once and a while, he said accidents happen right outside his window.

On Thanksgiving, teens got in a car crash at this intersection and survived it. But last summer, another accident happened and it was fatal.

“I saw the whole thing and it was just a lot of people gathering around trying to save the kid. It was pretty sad,” Bauman said.

Jennifer Labadie, Shorewood’s mayor, said she’s heard many complaints from the community about this intersection.

“The reality is our residents are afraid to access Highway 7 at many of the local intersections including Eureka and 7,” Labadie said.

One year ago, MNDOT launched a study to address safety concerns in the area and the intersection of Highway 7 and Eureka road was a part of the project.

Labadie explained the study wasn’t supposed to happen for another two years, but MNDOT expedited it to get it done.

In August, the agency presented the safety findings to Shorewood City Council showing ways to make the area safer.

MNDOT suggested installing a pedestrian island, building a roundabout or other intersection control changes.

“It would be nice to change the flow of traffic to make it a little easier to get out of this intersection,” Bauman said.

At the Shorewood City Council meeting, MNDOT explained bringing the idea to life requires funding they don’t have.

“I’m hoping that they figure out that a price cannot be placed on human life,” Labadie said.