Lakeville's 185th & Kenwood Roundabout Is the County's Worst
TLDR
The 185th & Kenwood double roundabout is the #1 crash location in all of Dakota County — and has been since it opened in 2015.
Its crash-rate score is nearly 6x the level that signals a problem.
The county offered three fixes: improve the roundabout, add bypass lanes, or convert it back to a traffic signal.
Mayor Hellier is skeptical and wants low-cost fixes first — plus a possible new road connection — before any big project.
The county goes to its board next week to ask for money to study it further. Public input would follow.
If you drive through the 185th Street and Kenwood Trail double roundabout in Lakeville, this one's for you. At Monday's city council work session, Dakota County came with a blunt message: this intersection is the worst crash spot in the entire county, and it's been that way since it was built.
Just How Bad Is It?
The county tracks something called a crash-rate index. A score of 1.0 means an intersection might have a problem worth fixing. This one scores about 5.96 — roughly six times that mark. It's ranked #1 in the county every year since 2021.
It wasn't always this way. Before 2015, this was a stoplight. When the double roundabout opened, crashes didn't just tick up — they jumped to around 115–120 in the first year. Normally a new roundabout might see crashes rise 20–30%. This blew past that. And over time, the county says, the crashes have gotten more severe, including some serious-injury wrecks.
Part of the story is sheer volume. When the roundabout opened, about 30,000 vehicles used it daily. Today it's around 47,000. The county says these intersections start breaking down around 50,000–55,000 — so it's near the edge.
The Three Options on the Table
Option 1 — Fix the roundabout. Better pedestrian crossings and beacons, permanent buffered lanes with rumble strips (so you feel it when you drift out of your lane), and leveling the center mound so drivers can actually see across. This is the cheap option — and the one residents keep asking for, because a common complaint is "I can't see over the hump."
Option 2 — Add bypass lanes. Right-turn bypass lanes to pull some cars out of the circle. The county was honest: this helps traffic flow more than it helps safety, and the safety gain looked small.
Option 3 — Go back to a stoplight. The county called this "the controversial one." Signals can be re-timed and coordinated, but they can also mean more waiting — and some council members remember sitting through multiple light cycles at that spot years ago.
Why the Mayor Isn't Sold
Mayor Hellier pushed back hard. He reminded the county the city was "talked into" the double roundabout in the first place — and said he's "not sold on anything." His pitch: try the cheap fixes first (rumble strips, leveling the mound), and look at pushing through a new road connection (the Kenrick connection) on 185th that could pull traffic away from the intersection before spending big on a permanent redesign. He also noted a lot is about to change nearby, including the ongoing county road work in the area, so locking in an expensive fix now feels premature to him.
There's a money angle too: because the intersection was recently rebuilt and the city already paid its share, the county said that if this becomes a construction project, it would propose the city pay nothing.
The Bigger Roundabout Problem
Here's the eye-opener. The county says double ("2x2") roundabouts have a known flaw, and MnDOT won't build them anymore. Of about 450 of these in the country, only four have traffic volumes like Lakeville's — and nearly all of them have the same crash problems. One example: a city in Indiana went from 6 crashes a year at a signal to 165 the first year after building one. Even the nearby 50/35 interchange is being rebuilt as a signalized design instead. It's the same reason other Dakota County intersections get so much scrutiny.
The Bottom Line
Nothing's decided. The county is heading to its board next week to ask for approval to hire a consultant for preliminary (30%) engineering — basically a deeper study of the options, with public engagement to come. So if you have strong feelings about that intersection, there will be a chance to weigh in. Expect the low-cost fixes (rumble strips, leveling the mound) to move ahead regardless, since they're cheap and quick. Read more at the Dakota County roundabouts page or the city's website.
FAQ
Are they tearing out the roundabout? Not decided. It's one of three options. The county has to get board approval just to study them in detail first.
Would a stoplight really be safer? The county's own data shows signals elsewhere in the county have fewer and less severe crashes — but they were careful to say it's about this specific roundabout, not roundabouts in general. Signals can also mean more waiting.
Will this cost me as a taxpayer? The county said that because the city recently paid for the reconstruction, it would propose a zero city cost share if this becomes a project. County and state dollars would cover it.
What can be done cheaply right now? Rumble strips in the buffer lanes and leveling the center mound so drivers can see across. Those are expected to move ahead soon regardless of the bigger decision.
When can I give input? After the county board authorizes the study. Public engagement is part of the plan. Watch for county open houses.
