Waiting for a train on US 75 in Merrill is an experience one wants to have as little as possible. I endured it once last year. Now it’s going to be fixed.
The Iowa DOT has settled on a design that will relocate US 75 slightly to the east, with a bridge over new, slightly straightened railroad tracks. The second public meeting in four months on the subject will be held Aug. 7 in Merrill. While that may sound fast, in the overall six-step process, this is only the latter portion of Step 2. There hasn’t even been an environmental impact study yet.
This project is not in the five-year plan; reconstruction of 75 through Hinton is, in 2029. That means that without a big change in priorities or a big grant, the earliest construction could begin is late 2031 (fiscal 2032). Once the bridge is open, the railroad tracks can be relocated.
The concept mentions “reduced-conflict intersection” for this location. That’s not really true. What it really is, is a partial interchange at US 75 and old 75 (northbound exit, southbound entrance), with a turnaround for the other two traffic movements just to the south. Right now the south end is a Y intersection.
Also, in a surprise found a while back, the official city map of Merrill shows that old 75, 3rd and Main streets, is secret IA 470. We don’t know when or why this designation occurred.