IVANHOE — A railroad crossing near southwestern Minnesota’s Buffalo Ridge will get an unexpected safety enhancement.

Lincoln County Highway Engineer Joe Wilson told county commissioners at Tuesday’s board meeting about safety-related improvements planned for a rail crossing on Lincoln County Road 1 in Verdi Township near Lake Benton.

He was informed this month by the Minnesota Department of Transportation that the crossing was selected for improvement based on its configuration and level of traffic. Extra state safety enhancement funding was available in 2019 to target crossings on local county roads that had potential for safer crossing conditions.

Lincoln County Road 1 is situated on the western edge of the county near the Brookings County, South Dakota, county line.

It begins in Hansonville Township at the Yellow Medicine county line and proceeds south to Hendricks, where it becomes co-designated as Minnesota Highway 271. It becomes strictly County Highway 1 again at Minnesota Highway 19, then proceeds south about 20 miles toward Verdi.

In Verdi Township it meets the Dakota Minnesota and Eastern Railroad tracks at an angle, which depending on the direction of travel can involve an unusually narrow sight line for oncoming trains. Wilson said the junction will be much safer with the addition of crossbars and warning lights.

“It’s a very good place to use state safety funds,” he said. “We’ll be seeing a huge improvement. In that location, it could be easy for a driver to miss seeing a train.”

He told commissioners that state funds of $300,000 will be enough to cover 90 percent of the installation and surfacing cost. The remaining 10 percent could either come out of county contingency funds or factored into the 2020 highway department budget.

Lincoln County is not expected to incur any long-term maintenance expenses. Wilson said that ordinarily railroads pay for maintenance of automated crossings once they’re in place. Commissioner Mic VanDeVere of Tyler noted that DM&E maintains crossings in the Tyler city limits.

The board unanimously authorized funding for the local cost share. The county’s portion is expected to total $30,000.

“We’ll be getting a valuable improvement,” VanDeVere said. “It would be hard to turn away that kind of grant funding.”

In other business commissioners approved payment of $6,190 for the design of parking lot improvements at the highway and public works headquarters on the west side of Ivanhoe.

The design will be used for parking lot construction to take place in 2019 if possible. Wilson said it will be an advantage to finish the project in the same year it starts, either this summer or in the early part of the 2020 construction season.

The improvements are needed to get the best possible use from parking space, as well as the potential to create safer winter conditions near the main entrance to the building.

“It’s partly a safety question for staff and visitors,” Wilson said. “We’ll be able to make changes that help to prevent ice from forming when snow and water drain off the roof.”

Ivanhoe area commissioner Joe Drietz noted that the project will be a good investment just from how it might prevent accidents from falls, which could lead to an insurance liability. The board unanimously authorized Wilson to advertise for construction bids.