Creating the ‘Black and Yellow Trail’

A southern Minnesota highway that extends from South Dakota to Wisconsin could get its old designation back.

Sponsored by Rep. Kim Norton (DFL-Rochester), HF39 would again designate Trunk Highway 14 as the “Black and Yellow Trail.”

“Back in 1917 it was designated as such, and somewhere along the line … it had fallen by the wayside,” Norton said.

The bill was held over Feb. 13 by the House Transportation Policy and Finance Committee for possible omnibus bill inclusion. A companion, SF1063, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem (R-Rochester), awaits action by the Senate Transportation Committee.

Historian Ray Ricketts said the stretch is part of an early highway between Chicago and Yellowstone Park, called the “Black and Yellow Trail.”

“This is a piece of our state’s history that still closely follows its original alignment,” he said.

The Department of Transportation would be directed to design and erect signs signifying the designation; however, the signs must be paid for through non-state funding sources. Ricketts envisions signage near the respective state borders and where Highway 14 and Interstate 35 meet in Owatonna. Norton said South Dakota already designates this roadway.

Rep. Terry Morrow (DFL-St. Peter) isn’t concerned about what the road is called; rather its safety, especially where there has been talk of expanding the highway from two to four lanes.

“Given the fatality record of Highway 14 in Nicollet County, my constituents want to know not what am I doing about signage, but what am I doing about safety,” he said, adding that 220 crashes have occurred on the road in the past five years in his district, seven of them fatal. “I find it very difficult to vote for a bill putting signs on a road where we need to improve the safety of the road.”