This is from the Pioneer Press:
Commuters cheer, neighbors grumble as the ‘Ice Road’ reappears across the St. Croix
By Mary Divine
[email protected]
Updated: 01/12/2010 10:45:29 AM CST
Neighbors aren t pleased with the Ice Road crossing the St. Croix River from North Hudson, Wis., to Bayport, Minn. The original easement for ice-fishing access onto the St. Croix River in winter, Bayport Mayor Jon Nowaczek said, and will be under city council scrutiny in March. I hope that we can come up with a solution that balances everyone s needs one that will continue to allow public access, but also address the legitimate concerns of some of the property owners, Nowaczek said. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)
Dave Swanee Swanson, an Andersen Corp. retiree, plows the unofficial Ice Road across the St. Croix River on Monday as a driver passes. Swanson doesn t buckle up just in case while plowing the route from Ferry Landing in North Hudson to Hubs Landing near the Bayport Marina. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)Dave “Swanee” Swanson’s favorite river road doesn’t run alongside the St. Croix River — it crosses it.
Swanson, a retired security guard for Andersen Corp., was among those out Monday morning on the St. Croix River. But unlike dozens of others stationed on Lake St. Croix, he didn’t have his ice-fishing gear. He had his snowplow.
Swanson, who lives in North Hudson, Wis., regularly plows the popular “Ice Road” across the river, a route commuters use to save time. The crossing from Ferry Landing in North Hudson to Hubs Landing near the Bayport Marina cuts a 25-minute drive — across the Stillwater Lift Bridge or the I-94 span — to about seven minutes.
“When you take the shortcut across the river to get to work, and you get to this side of the river, you don’t have the stress, for one thing,” Swanson said. “There’s no stoplights. There’s no speed limits. You don’t have any road rage. It’s just fun.”
While some commuters are jubilant when it’s cold enough for the quick crossing, residents nearby aren’t so pleased. They’re complaining about the traffic and about headlights beaming into their bedrooms at 5 a.m. as Andersen employees head to work.
“It’s a freeway,” said Ginger Mondry, whose Bayport town house overlooks the crossing. “It’s amazing because it’s a ways out there, but those headlights are pretty bright.”
Mondry said she once counted “18 pickups and six or seven different cars” crossing the frozen river during a 10-minute
period.
“We don’t mind the cars going out to go ice fishing, but why can’t the Andersen people plow over toward Andersen rather than coming over here?” she asked.
To reach the Ice Road on the Minnesota side, drivers take a private road through land belonging to the Waterford Condominium Association and Bayport Estates. Both developments granted easements for such a roadway in the 1960s, but the road today is not entirely within the easements, said Bayport city administrator Mitch
Berg.
Mayor Jon Nowaczek said the original easement allowed for ice-fishing access during the winter.
“This is not a public road,” he said. “It crosses private property. There are a lot of people who have come to depend on this as a commuting route, and that’s wonderful, but that doesn’t appear to have been the original intent when the permission was granted.”
The Bayport City Council is scheduled to address the easement issue in March, he said.
“I hope that we can come up with a solution that balances everyone’s needs — one that will continue to allow public access, but also address the legitimate concerns of some of the property owners,” Nowaczek said.
Swanson said he hopes the road, which he has plowed voluntarily and at his own expense for the past two decades, remains open.
“People have been using it forever, and it is part of recreation on the river,” he said. “I go back and forth. I go to the bank. I come over and get gas. I come over and see a few people who live over here, and I mostly see them in the wintertime because I don’t come over in the summertime.”
Swanson said the road is usually safe from the beginning of January to mid-March. His first trip out was Wednesday.
“The ice is good,” he said, as he navigated his plow along the north side of the road. “I’ve got a couple of people that I know who have punched a couple of holes for me and it’s 20 inches or so. It’s good, solid ice.”
While swearing by its safety, he doesn’t throw caution to the wind: He doesn’t wear a seat belt while plowing. If his 1986 Chevy pickup truck ever plunges through the ice, he wants to be able to get out quickly.
He said he plows the roadway wide enough to accommodate three vehicles so if friends meet coming across the river and stop to chat, another driver could get around them.
Swanson has had a couple of close calls. He once had a front tire go in the water near the shore on the Wisconsin side. “I couldn’t back off, and I couldn’t pull ahead,” he said. “I had to have someone pull me out.”
He also has crossed at times when he probably shouldn’t have. “I’ve come home sometimes when I could have pulled a water-skier, and I probably shouldn’t have been on the ice,” he said. He’s more careful now that he’s “had more birthdays,” he said.
When people see Swanson out on the river, they know it’s safe to cross, he said. “I’ve got the extra weight of the plow hanging out front — they pretty much figure it’s safe if I’m coming across,” he said.
Alex Getty, 21, of Hudson, hopped on the plowed road Monday morning in his silver Audi to meet a friend and go ice fishing. “It’s four-wheel drive,” he said. “I love driving in the snow.”
But law-enforcement officials caution drivers to be careful, especially because there is open water just north and south of the crossing — the water discharge area at Xcel’s King Plant just upriver and the open channel to the south at the Hudson railroad and freeway bridges.
River ice can be unpredictable and treacherous, said St. Croix County Sheriff Dennis Hillstead. “I wouldn’t drive on it,” he said. “We have recovered far too many people from the St. Croix … for me to drive across in a vehicle.”
Mondry said she has seen people driving across the river with both car doors open — in order to hop out quickly in case there’s a problem.
“It gets scary in the spring,” she said. “They go off the road into the water and up onto the ice.”
Mary Divine can be reached at 651-228-5443.
Looks like we’ll have to get a donation box together and get some people to pitch in on some blinds or shades for these people as those meddling headlights seem to be the just of the problem. 
I looked on a map and the majority of the road is marked as a public road. The meeting is sure going to be interesting
I would imagine that there will be stepped up enforcement until the new easement is figured out to keep the peace between the home owners and people who use the access.
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I plan on reaching out to the 4 council members as well tonight or tommorrow. I agree with suzuki that it would be worth an evening of our time on the first of Feb to show our support in keeping the road up and running.
