The city of LeRoy is looking for ways to make it more appealing for people to commute between their community and Rochester in wake of the Destination Medical Center plans.

LeRoy Mayor Jennifer Gumbel voiced concerns to the county board Tuesday about Highway 14 being a difficult road for Rochester commuters in the winter. Her concern is that it may dissuade people who work in Rochester from moving to LeRoy as DMC brings new jobs.

“The primary issue I think is the wind,” Gumbel said. “We have this open territory that the plow drivers go through and the wind covers it back up again.”

With DMC slated to bring more workers to Rochester, Gumbel said they want to attract new residents and build the tax base.

“We have lots ready to go,” Gumbel said. “We’re looking at our infrastructure to be ready for new residents and our school district and all of that, but we need to be able to have a feasible commute in the winter as well.”

To get to Rochester, most people take County State Aid Highway 14, which goes north from LeRoy to State Highway 16, which connects with U.S. Highway 63.

CSAH 14, as Public Works Director Mike Hanson admitted, has been identified as one of several problem areas in Mower County where blowing snow can be an issue. Commissioner Polly Glynn, who lives in Grand Meadow and worked for several years in LeRoy, admitted the road is highly susceptible to blowing snow and drifting.

Most country roads have ditches for drainage, and Hanson said blowing snow becomes a recurring problem once ditches fill with snow, which happened early last winter. However, Hanson said last winter was an aberration, and it hadn’t happened like last year since the 1990s.

The board asked Hanson to look into potential options and solutions before reporting to the county’s finance committee and the board.

In the past, Hanson said some counties have used snow fences, which have to be installed and removed each year and can require upkeep once snow piles up. Another option is wind-rowing, where crews plow parallel lines of snow in fields alongside roads to stop drifting. Last year, Hanson said they weren’t able to get to many wind-rows because the snow came early. The wind-rows then melt in the spring, but sometimes the snow piles can make fields too damp in spring for farmers.

About seven to eight years ago, the county discussed living snow fences — like bushes or trees — and the Minnesota Department of Transportation has a costshare program available to landowners. However, Hanson said that program is challenging with land prices so high right now.

Gumbel and the board both acknowledged possible solutions are not cheap and likely won’t happen this year.

The county recently added a new truck, which now makes for 10 trucks on the road.

County Coordinator Craig Oscarson told Gumbel potential solutions stand a better chance of moving forward with backing and financial partnering from the city of LeRoy, as would be the case with other Mower County communities on such issues.

Gumbel told the board the city of LeRoy would potentially be able to help, and she’ll likely take the issue to the LeRoy City Council.

“The city wants to be a partner in this,” she told the board.

Commuter bus to Rochester ends

Another concern as the Destination Medical Center project moves forward is that Rochester City Lines ended its commuter bus service from LeRoy and Grand Meadow to Rochester on Nov. 7. The service began in 1999.

LeRoy Mayor Jennifer Gumbel said the key problem was a lack of ridership, but she said people relied on the service more in the winter.

Gumbel and Grand Meadow Mayor Jim Blomgren plan to get quarterly surveys to residents in the cities to gauge interest in commuter lines. If there’s enough interest, Rochester City Lines would consider a commuter bus in the future, according to Gumbel.

However, a group of about 13 area residents has pitched in to buy a 15-passenger van for a group of to commute and share, with the option for a few additional riders, according to Gumbel.