There were three topics of discussion at the 7/28 Community Meeting at Grace Lutheran Church. About 50 people total attended, including District 1 Board members.
Gateway Corridor
– Lyssa Leitner (Washington County, lead agency for the Gateway Corridor)
Paul Sawyer is Chair of Community Advisory Committee, Kathy
Lantry is the Saint Paul Rep on the Policy Advisory Committee. The line will go
from the Lake Elmo area to downtown SP (Union Depot). There is also Technical Advisory Committee
which consists of staff from county and city agencies. Gordon Westerberg (Pathways
on Park) and Doug Swalboski (Owner of Culvers) are also representing D1 in the
Advisory work. People use transit to get to where they need to go for a variety
of purposes – work, errands, entertainment, school, so this project is
important to the community, even if you don’t use transit yourself. The process
has narrowed down the choices of alignment to one line on map – along I-94. There
will be an expedited process if we are successful in our bid for funding with a
2019 start of construction and a 2022 fully functional build-out. This will increase
transit service to every 15 minutes in both directions (going into downtown and
out to eastern suburbs), including getting to jobs and shopping in Woodbury.
The choices have also been narrowed down in terms of the mode (kind of transit)
– they are looking at Bus Rapid Transit instead of light rail. This is cheaper
to construct but also better suited to the numbers of riders they are initially
estimating. There were several alignment choices in the far east metro – the choice
is dominantly on the north side of I-94 where there isn’t development today.
The reason for this is that opportunities for more major impacts in new
development are greatest there. This point in the planning is the furthest any
project has gotten on the eastside. The Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) is
now chosen, now looking for community input – meeting is August 7 6p at Conway
Rec – for responding to this LPA. There are other ways to give input if can’t
make the meeting – contact the Gateway Corridor staff. There will be dedicated
lanes for buses in the system.
Bill Dermody of SP
Planning and Economic Development – There will be 6 stations in St. Paul for Gateway – 3 are in
District 1. Station area planning is currently going on – This determines where
station is, what happens around the station, what land use changes are around
the station, what kind of development happens, how pedestrians and others get
to the station. Public sessions about the plans will be in late September and
October. Paul Sawyer and Garneth Peterson are on the station area planning
working groups. Questions: funding? construction is covered by 45% from federal
government (competitive process – specific for these projects); 35% transit
tax; 10% from state, 5% from counties and 5% from city – taxes for these are
already collected, if this project isn’t there, our taxes go elsewhere; fares
will exist in the same way they do now; Metro Transit system has a better
recovery system for expenses than elsewhere; Numbers of riders? estimated
10,000 riders per day. What properties will be effected? the actual precise alignment is not set.
White Bear Ave
Rebuild – Kathy Jaschke, Nick Fischer (Ramsey County Public Works)
The County will be reconstructing White Bear Avenue from
I-94 to Beech Street. This project is dealing with a bad pavement problem – will
get new streets, lighting and sidewalks. Ramsey County is here to get feedback
on what people want - are there problems with particular intersections? Old
Hudson needs a turn lane; WB is overly packed, intersections have peds running
across maybe even not at intersections. Is parking necessary on WB? There is
only parking where trucks unload – will probably put up no parking along the
entire length. Should they remove tall trees replace with ornamentals? –
problems with speeding are made worse with removal of trees lining streets. How
about ? – where does the snow go if the street is widened? Does a median work
to help with pedestrians? This would require taking ROW, that is losing the
boulevards and trees and potentially some front yard space. WB is only
thoroughfare going north south – it is important. It has 23,000 cars per day.
People didn’t want round-abouts but the road is too busy for them anyway and
they would also take up property to put in. When would this happen and how is
it funded? funds and engineering are ready to go for 2016 – will coordinate
with MnDOT for what will happen at I-94. Could the city and county increase the
crossing time at signalized intersections? Could they also put in signs with no
right turn when pedestrians are in crosswalk? This is not effective. Comment
from Paul St. Martin with St. Paul Public Works – this work will require assessing a portion
of the cost to the abutting property owners at the same rate as residential
rate – about $100/foot that can be paid off in full or added to your property
taxes to pay over 20 years. Ramsey County is hiring a consultant to look at
crashes, turn lanes, crossing times; consultant will also look at a conversion
from 4 lanes to three lanes with center turn lane, but this is a very busy
street for that design. Community asks the county to look for as many traffic
calming measures as possible to tip drivers off that this is a neighborhood,
not a speedway. Could they add a cross walk light between Minnehaha and 3rd?
This is a long way between signalized crossings (see Margaret Street discussion
below). Should try to make streets as safe as possible for everyone. Concerns were expressed about the detours
during the construction, make things accessible for the destinations including
churches and businesses. Is it possible to make changes in traffic patterns
along the stretch? for example, 2 in one direction, 1 in the other – this would
be difficult on such a busy street. White Bear is not suitable for bikes, but
Bill Dermody SPPED noted that bike lanes
across the freeway are in city bike plan.
Margaret St Bikeway
– Paul St. Martin and Mike Klobucar (Saint Paul Public Works)
Every two years the city goes through a Capital Improvement
Budget (CIB) process. Forest to McKnight along Margaret Street Bike Route was proposed.
This is a part of Bike plan for the city which is in process. There will be
improvements on the Margaret as a result. The Margaret Bike way will be
implemented in two parts. This project was proposed by Daytons Bluff Community Council
(with support from District 1), and will connect to some of the north south
routes that currently exist on the eastside. Margaret can easily accommodate
bikes – it is not heavily used, and connects straight across from McKnight to
Forest. Margaret Street is identified as a bike route to make it more
attractive to bike riders by adding traffic calming elements (things that slow
down traffic). Drivers need visual cues to slow down. The city is now in the
process of initial design, and has done some traffic studies. “Construction “
(adding signs and share the road arrows on the street) will start in fall 2014.
In fall they will have final recommendations and short term elements will be
implemented. Traffic counts and speeds done along the length – speeds look at
the speed of 85% of the drivers. The total budget in this first phase is $100,000
– there will be no hard-scaping (that is engineered modifications) and no
removal of parking – signage, sharrows, perhaps enhanced crosswalks. In the long term the City is looking for the
planning to make somewhat more significant improvements. These long-term
treatments may include the following– pedestrian refuges, bumpouts, traffic
circles, warning flashers – all this would require additional proposals and
competition for funding.
They have done preliminary assessment of traffic circles –
Atlantic, Hazelwood, Flandrau, Hazel, Winthrop. Evidence shows that stop signs
do not slow traffic whereas traffic circles do. Other options: Forest and Earl
– do we do one way bike ways on these streets since Margaret is narrower at its
western end? This allows some parking to remain on these streets but still have
bike lanes. Margaret and Johnson – do they close access of the street there for
cars? Bikes can cross, but cars would turn on service roads. Margaret and White
Bear – narrow road and ROW – what kind of enhanced crossing can happen here?
Will work with county on this. The
project, especially in the first phase, won’t be a noticeable change for people
living on the street – EXCEPT that traffic will slow down. Margaret and McKnight is another problem –
can’t close it because of the firestation – could close left turn lane,
prohibiting the left turn now, allowing to stop in the median; take the
existing sidewalk on the west side and make it a bike lane to connect to the
east side; There might be full closures at 4th and 5th and Fremont; doesn’t impact
parking in D1. Neighbors comment that there are problems with obeying the
traffic laws.
Timing of the elements – a matter of funding – current
funding is available for signage and painting; additional funding will be
requested for the hardscaping; something needs to be done at Ruth and Margaret
– could do a bumpout, signage, high visibility crosswalk, warning flasher
activated by button; safe routes to schools needs to be implemented; Hawk
lighting costs 40% of a full traffic signal
School at Ruth Street – looking at Safe Routes to schools - how can we improve this crossing so kids are safe.
Posts
