MAPLE PLAIN, Minn. — When a road construction project comes to town, most locals might react with a groan or a complaint, but Tina Langhans couldn’t be happier to see orange cones popping up along Highway 12 in Maple Plain.
"The whole highway in my mind, it's dangerous,” Langhans says.
She lost her 25-year-old daughter Chelsea five years ago to an accident on Highway 12, and she's been working to make the road safer ever since.
"She was on her way to yoga and a car crossed over the center line and hit her head on and she died instantly,” Langhans says.
And sadly there have been others.
"There have been six fatalities on this road, since her, in 2015,” Langhans explains.
Over the last few years, Langhans and the Highway 12 Safety Council, a group of concerned residents local leaders and business owners, have made progress.
The group has worked with MnDOT and other governmental agencies to add medians, rumble strips and other safety improvements on Highway 12.
This week the council is also happy to kick off a new $22 million project that will take things a step further.
“These are some much needed improvements,” Langhans says.
Steve Barrett with MnDOT is the project manager.
He says the road closure will go from County Road 6 in Long Lake, to Baker Park Road in Maple Plain.
Within that road closure, construction crews will build concrete barriers along a one and a half mile stretch of highway 12.
“They will definitely prevent head-on collisions, which has been an issue on that corridor,” Barrett says.
Construction crews will also build a new roundabout at County Road 90 to slow down traffic and to give an easier access point for vehicles.
They’re small changes that Langhans says will save lives, and will prevent future tragedies on this dangerous stretch of road.
"We’re trying to make a difference, because people shouldn't be dying,” Langhans says.
These road closures are scheduled to last about four months, but MnDOT says they are offering the contractors some incentives to hopefully finish early.
Barrett says these incentives were offered to minimize any negative effects on local businesses.
He says the contractors so far have been receptive to these incentives and he is hopeful that the project will be completed ahead of schedule.