The Hastings City Council met last Tuesday for a presentation on the upcoming Highway 42 project in 2027 and to vote on a special use permit for Spiral Food Co-op for low potency hemp edible projects.

Highway 42
Details of the Highway 42 project from Dakota County have come into focus since the open house last month.
The project will mill and overlay Highway 42 from Lock Boulevard to Highway 61 which will add new sidewalks, bike trail and crossings along the route.
Key among the design elements are ways to slow traffic down.
Speeding was a key concern for many nearby residents who came to the Dec. 3 open house and balked at the county’s claim that the average speed along the route was only a mile above the posted speed limit.
To lower speeds along Highway 42, the county proposes several tactics.
The entire road is being narrowed which translates into narrower lanes. Smaller lanes generally inform drivers that lower speeds are necessary and are expected to structurally bring down speeds.
“The width of the roadway, that kind of compels people to go at a higher speed whether they are coming in or out. I think we’ve all done it, we are a little bit on autopilot and we kind of just drive to the design of the road,” said Senior Project Manager for Dakota County Transportation Joe Morneau. “There’s going to be noticeable feel of a more narrow roadway here.”
Another tactic is adding dedicated turn lanes rather than the existing bypass lanes. Moving the turning cars out of the flow of traffic will keep motorists from accelerating past turning cars because they feel they have lost time behind them.
That turn lane will widen the road 9-12 feet which will require the county to cut down about 20 mature hackberry trees in the area around Lakeside Cemetery.
“When it’s this close to the travel lane, that would really be the only safe option. Even at 30 miles [per hour] that is a dangerous thing to strike, so the current situation, we see it as quite a bit of risk to that,” said Morneau.
Replanting smaller trees is an option for the county, one that Hastings City Manager Dan Wietecha took issue with: “I really struggle to understand how replacing the trees would be considered an aesthetic enhancement to the project and a different cost share formula than the construction.”
Morneau estimated the cost of replanting trees to be roughly $18,000 which would be split 50/50 between the county and city, which is the usual protocol for trees: “Since it’s not a functional thing, that’s kinda the break point as far as how we apply our policies.”
Morneau met with board members of Lakeside Cemetery about the tree removal and change to the intersection and did not report any issues from them about these changes.
An alternative for this design is a reduction of the shoulders at that point from 66 inches down to 18, which would save the trees in the area. That being said, the mature trees may be damaged or killed during the construction process regardless, said Morneau.
The new bike trail will stretch from Lock Boulevard through River Street on the south side of the road. The 8–10-foot trail would end at River Street but a bikeable shoulder would be available through to downtown Hastings.
The bike trail was a point of focus for City Councilor Lisa Leifeld who wondered why it was being put in at all, especially due to existing sidewalks in the corridor and the fact that the trail would end at River Street.
“All it’s doing to me is creating something more that the city will have to plow and take care of,” said Leifeld.
“I don’t see the point of bringing in that part, especially because the county is already bringing in the money for the Mississippi Trail,” agreed City Councilor Tim Lawrence.
New crossings are planned for Grove and Madison streets and Riverdale Drive, along with pavement bump outs downtown at Eddy Street.
The city is expected to pay $320,000 for the stretch of roadway in a joint power agreement with Dakota County and be responsible for snow and ice clearing on the new trails.
The project is set for 2027 construction, with the design to be finalized by mid-2026 and bidding to begin February 2027.

Low potency hemp
The city council unanimously approved the latest Low Potency Hemp Edible Special Use Permit in town for Spiral Food Co-op. This permit is the latest in more than half a dozen businesses around town that are now able to sell low potency hemp edible products.