“Aurora Corner” in need of safety changes

BROOKINGS – To get from Aurora to Brookings, almost all drivers start on County Road 23 (476th Avenue) and go north, since it’s the only paved road that leads to U.S. Highway 14. 

Once you get to the intersection, known as the Aurora corner to locals, you have to be careful. To those who are familiar with the turn, it is considered dicey at best. For those without experience at the intersection, it can be downright dangerous.

“I’m amazed we haven’t had more serious accidents there,” said Brookings County Sheriff Marty Stanwick at the Aug. 3 Brookings County Commission meeting.

“I’ve seen many near misses,” County Commissioner Larry Jensen said. 

Near misses

For Carlyn Gilbertson, of Volga and formerly of Aurora, she is extremely thankful to be one of those near misses. 

It was a standard winter morning for Gilbertson a few years ago when she headed north on County Road 23 to go into Brookings. The ground was frozen, but the roads didn’t appear to be too icy. However, she decided to drive carefully, driving 45 mph in a 55 mph zone.

As she approached the intersection to get on Highway 14, she felt her car begin to slide and tried to get in the ditch. She wasn’t able to make it to the ditch in time, so she swung her car into the intersection. 

One semi was traveling east into Aurora and was turning, but her line of sight for oncoming traffic was blind from trees. As she got into the intersection, she saw an oncoming semi from the west; thankfully, the semi turned on its blinkers at the last second to turn into Aurora. 

Gilbertson left the scene unharmed and the incident went unreported, chalked up as another near-miss at the intersection that could have been much, much worse. 

“I couldn’t see the oncoming traffic, and if that semi didn’t turn, I could have been dead,” Gilbertson said. 

Gilbertson says that her incident likely isn’t unique: many Aurora residents have had issues with that intersection in the past. Following the incident, she began driving with more caution when using that intersection and said that it is one of the reasons why she moved away from Aurora. 

Accident history

Unfortunately, there have been accidents near this intersection. In June 2019, a motorcyclist died near the intersection (434 feet east) after going into the ditch on the north side of the Aurora corner.

Along with this death, there have been a number of car accidents over the years at or near the intersection, according to South Dakota Department of Public Safety records. 

In 2018, there were two crashes with one injury being reported. In 2019, there were three total crashes, including the aforementioned fatality and two additional injuries. In 2020, there were two crashes, with one injury being reported.

One fatal crash that area residents have mentioned in association with the intersection actually happened west of the intersection. 

In March 2018, a westbound car spun out of control on an icy Highway 14, colliding with a semi. A 6-year-old boy from Aurora died from injuries suffered in the crash, according to a South Dakota Department of Public Safety report. Spokesman Tony Mangan said this fatal accident occurred past the intersection on Highway 14 near mile marker 424. 

Previous studies

At the Aug. 3 county commission meeting, commissioners discussed the intersection, citing a number of recent concerns from people in the area. 

According to Stacey Steffensen, Commission Department director, the road, and subsequent intersection, is a state road, which means the state Department of Transportation (SDDOT) has to make a decision regarding any changes. However, the state officials have also said that they have to hear from the county or the city of Aurora before any decision making. 

In 2013, a Brookings County Transportation Master Plan, available on the SDDOT website, was completed. In that study, officials analyzed the Aurora corner (among many other intersections). The master plan identified the intersection as a “high crash location.” At the time, the Aurora corner had the seventh most accidents in the area during the study period (2009-2011) with four crashes. 

The intersection was profiled in the plan as a potential project, with the proposed improvement recommendation being to add “intersection lighting and to remove existing trees/shrubs from intersection sight lines.” The listing priority level for the improvement project was listed as “medium range.” The master plan also listed that an intersection study is recommended.

In 2020, the SDDOT conducted another study in Brookings County, focused on the Highway 14 bypass and subsequent corridor. Commissioner Ryan Krogman said the Brookings County Commission asked officials to extend that study out, to include the Aurora corner intersection. 

“They stopped at the interstate,” Krogman said. “They wouldn’t go any further.” 

Stanwick also mentioned, during the Aug. 3 meeting, that he reached out to the SDDOT and asked them to put up a camera at the intersection. 

“(Drivers) are stopping at the stop sign. It’s what they do after they stop,” Stanwick said. 

Problems at every turn

“You pull up to the intersection, you have these large trucks pulling double (trailers). A car will be in behind those guys, and you don’t see (the oncoming traffic) until you let those trucks clear,” Jensen said when describing the intersection.

“The contact speeds would be pretty intense,” Krogman added. “A person pulling out wouldn’t even see it. You pull out, and next thing you know there’s nothing you can do and that person driving, even within the speed limit, is not going to be able to stop in time.”

“We’ve had quite a few (accidents) at that corner,” Aurora Fire Chief Mike Ahartz said. “Ranging from car accidents and truck accidents to people sliding into the ditch.”

The intersection (when leaving Aurora) has at least two areas of concern, according to area residents: a large shelter belt with dense trees to the west of County Road 23 on the south side of Highway 14, and the right turn lane for eastbound vehicles headed south to Aurora from Highway 14.

When a truck is turning from Highway 14 to go south into Aurora, it leaves the person turning from County Road 23 onto Highway 14 with a blind turn, making it almost impossible to see the oncoming traffic.

The right turn lane on Highway 14 also hugs the shoulder of the highway, causing issues for drivers in the winter. The lane is slightly lower than the rest of the road, designed that way so rain can run off. But Aurora residents who reached out to the Register also complained about it being very narrow and very short. There is also very little shoulder on that side of the road, some residents say. While this may not be a huge issue in the summer, it can be treacherous during the winter.

A number of Aurora residents have said the turn lane is poorly plowed during the winter and rarely ever sanded. The trees, which shade the lane, can cause it to be iced over when the rest of the road is clear.

Dan Muzzey, of Aurora, owns part of the parcel of land that sits at the southwest corner of Highway 14 and County Road 23. He says that he has never been approached to remove any of the trees and that his property, including the trees, meet the state guidelines. 

Gilbertson says she doesn’t even use the turn lane during the winter, stating that it is “much safer to use the driving lane to turn and make everyone else slow down.” 

“When I moved to Aurora, one of the first things my friend said to me was, ‘Don’t take that turn lane during the winter,’” Gilbertson said. 

“I have been conditioned to look five times before turning, and even then I have pulled out from the county road in front of a vehicle I didn’t see,” said Samantha Smith, of Aurora. “It’s a horrible road, and I’ve started to take the back road when taking my kids to school in the winter.”

Foggy mornings can also be troublesome, with low visibility making it even harder to see oncoming traffic.

Aurora is also growing rapidly, which means this intersection is getting increased use. The 2020 census estimates that Aurora has a population of almost 1,000 people. In 2010, Aurora only had 500.

The intersection is frequented by the many Aurora residents who travel into Brookings on a daily basis, and it is also used extensively by Valero Renewables and other companies in the area. This means that large trucks and semis are traveling back and forth from Brookings. Farm equipment also frequents this intersection, as Aurora has a busy grain elevator. 

Possible solutions

According to Matt Brey of the SDDOT, when the intersection was analyzed in 2013 by a SDDOT safety engineer, an intersection warning sign was added on Highway 14 and stop bars and signs were adjusted to open up “sight triangles,” allowing travelers to better see other traffic. Unfortunately, some residents say not enough was done to solve the issues they have with the intersection.

Finding impactful safety solutions to this intersection is easier said than done. The SDDOT must conduct a further study before any substantial changes are made, which will take time, commissioners said at the Aug. 3 meeting. A study would likely produce a number of options to make the intersection safer.

The first, which was proposed at the Aug. 3 commission meeting, would be to add traffic lights.

Krogman compared the Aurora corner with the turn to the soybean plant on the east edge of Volga, an area that also sees a lot of truck traffic.

Another proposed option would be to add a roundabout or a traffic circle. 

“I think the fastest way you could get the SDDOT involved is to suggest a roundabout,” County Commissioner Mike Bartley said. “I just spent the last two days traveling through Minnesota and Wisconsin, and there’s a lot of roundabouts at this type of intersection out there and it slows the traffic down. People don’t have to stop, semis don’t have to stop.” 

“Roundabouts are the way of the future as far as the DOT is concerned, and I think South Dakota is leaning that direction, too,” Bartley added. 

Roundabouts are currently few and far between in South Dakota, but Brookings does have two, on SDSU’s campus near the performing arts center and at the Research Park at SDSU. 

Some area residents mentioned roundabouts as a possible solution, but some were also concerned about truck, semi and farm equipment use on them. Other concerns revolved around drivers’ unfamiliarity with roundabouts. 

“I think the Aurora City Council would support any positive changes made that would improve the intersection,” Aurora City Councilor Josh Kukrall said. “Possibly recommending a flashing yellow light, or even stop lights, but we don’t have enough information to understand what is necessary to make the intersection safer.”

The intersection is troublesome enough that some residents said they just avoid it entirely, instead opting to take 213th Street, a gravel road that runs parallel to Highway 14, all the way down to 34th Avenue and then into Brookings, according to Gilbertson. This road has its own issues, however. It is heavily travelled by trucks, and the dust being kicked up can make visibility almost zero. 

Aurora residents are hopeful that they will soon have a simpler way to get to Brookings, with the new interstate interchange, which is slated to be completed by 2023. 

The overpass would connect Brookings’ 20th Street South to Aurora’s Redmond Road. In anticipation of the completion of the interchange, Aurora has paved Redmond Road out to the edge of city limits, where it turns to a township road.

As for the Aurora corner, commissioners decided to draft a letter of concern to send to the SDDOT on behalf of both the county and City of Aurora, asking the state to conduct a further study on the intersection.

In an email to the Register, Brey confirmed that an Aberdeen region traffic engineer will set up a camera system to videotape and monitor the intersection for “a period of time.” Following, the region traffic engineer and the SDDOT safety engineer will review this footage to determine “what, if any, further modifications are needed at this intersection.”