St. Louis County will allow more ATVs on roads

In the next few weeks, all-terrain vehicle riders in St. Louis County will have a much easier time getting around.

ATV traffic on county roads is prohibited by state law unless permission is granted by a county government. That means riding long distances often involves using a truck to haul the machines between trails.

St. Louis County commissioners moved in favor of riders Tuesday, approving a pilot program which allows ATV access to certain county roads.

The pilot program is small-scale, according to 6th District Commissioner Keith Nelson. The county manages 3,000 miles of road. Less than 100 of those miles will allow ATVs, but those are key miles. In the northeast corner of the county, Nelson said there are at least 75 separate trails across state land that never connect.

"Imagine going out to ride your ATV and having to pack it up on a trailer every time you hit a road," Nelson said.

The constant loading and unloading and having to leave trucks in strategic locations throws a wrench into the experience, he said.

Over the next few weeks the county's Public Works Department is tasked with writing specific permits for sections of county road connecting those 75 northeast trails.

Riders will hit pilot area roads in the coming weeks. By next spring Nelson said the county board will have a better idea of how the project is working. If it's going well, and there aren't an untenable number of car-ATV accidents, they'll start work on a county-wide plan.

Nearly 350,000 ATVs are registered in Minnesota. Since 2006 the DNR has reported 142 ATV-related deaths statewide — with roughly two-thirds of them happening on roadways.

The pilot program includes rules to mitigate the inherent risk involved with bringing ATVs and cars into the same space.

ATVs are only allowed to ride on the shoulder, at between 20 and 25 miles per hour. The exact speed limit is still up for debate. Roads with higher traffic volumes will be off limits.

"Will we have some hooligans riding too fast?" Nelson said. "Of course we will, but we think that's going to be a small group."

Nelson is an ATV owner himself. He uses his machine to ride fence lines on his farm. "It becomes a tool," he said. "My knees don't like walking that much anymore."

He said many ATV riders are like him, using their machines to get out and experience the outdoors. Thrill-seeking youths, liable to blast down county roads at top speed, he said, are a minority.

Several other counties, including Cook, Lake and Koochiching have already adopted similar policies, allowing ATVs on many county roads.