Speed Limit To Increase On Highways 37 + 169

Two Duluth/Iron Range highways will see speed limit increases due to traffic studies conducted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation; one of those is a popular "cross Range" shortcut.  A third highway segment - located near Grand Rapids - will also join the ranks.  Each of the highways will increase from their current 55 to 60 mph.

Here are the details:

• Highway 37:  This state highway that many  use as a shortcut from U.S. Highway 169 south of Eveleth and Gilbert to Hibbing.  All current segments that are currently posted at 55 will increase to 60.
• Highway 38:  This state highway segment between Grand Rapids and County Road 19 will increase to 60 mph.  It's worth noting, though that all segments north of County Road 19 that are currently posted at 55 mph will remain at that speed.  In addition, there will be a new 45 mph speed limit on the north side of Big Fork, an increase from the current 30 mph.
• Highway 169:  This U.S. highway will see an increase on the segment between Hill City and LaPlant Road, south of Grand Rapids - going from 55 to 60 mph.  In addition, the currently-posted two-lane 55 mph segment of the Cross Range Expressway between Taconite and Pengilly will be raised to 60 mph.

Each of the changes stems from a traffic and engineering study conducted by MNDOT, which looked at past crash rates, physical attributes of the highway (such as shoulder widths and access points), and an analysis of current driving speeds.