Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle and Metropolitan Council Chair Sue Haigh invite the public to attend town hall meetings on transportation, including transit and bicycling.
Thursday, Dec. 12 – Century College, 3300 Century Ave. N., Room #2315, White Bear Lake
For more information:
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/news/13/11/26metcouncil.html
These are some road projects coming up in the Northeast Metro (Northern Ramsey County). If you want to see better pedestrian and bicycling facilities included in these projects then make sure you let your county commissioners and appropriate city council folks know. Planning often begins two to four years prior to construction and it’s difficult to get changes included after about 6 months prior to construction. Adding proper pedestrian and bicycle facilities now, during construction, is very minimal cost. If it’s not done now, it will be another 30 years before the chance comes around again.
I am not including general signal revisions or mill & overlay projects. These though can be found in the Ramsey County TIP Report. Even though not major projects, these do offer opportunities for improvements to pedestrian and bicycle transportation such as better designed signals and button placements or narrowing of vehicular lanes and/or inclusion of bike lanes, cycle tracks, or paths on mill & overlay projects.
2014
Lexington Ave from approx 694 to County Road F (AH/SV) – Reconstruction.
Maryland Ave @ Payne Ave (SP) – Reconstruct Geometrics/Signals.
Highway 61 through downtown White Bear Lake (WBL) – Mill & Overlay plus additional improvements
2015
Hiway 96 from 35W to Old Hiway 8 (AH/NB) – Reconstruction
Lexington Ave @ Hiway 36 (RV) – Reconstruct Interchange. It is critical that they include adequate pedestrian and bicycle facilities on both sides of Lexington as well as allow safe crossing of Lexington.
Hiway 10 @ County Rd H (MV) – Geometrics/Signals.
County Rd E @ Snelling (AH) – Bridge Reconstruction. Critical that they include adequate pedestrian and bicycle facilities on both sides of Cty E and include a bicycle path along Snelling (under Cty E). Sadly they have included no safe bicycling facilities where Cty E has been reconstructed this summer between Snelling and Lexington. This is doubly critical to provide students at Bethel Univ with a safe route to Lexington Ave retail (they currently use the railroad line & bridge).
Raymond Ave from Hampden Ave to Energy Park Dr. (SP) – Reconstruction.
2016
Rice Street from Cty B2 to Cty C2 (RV/LC) – Reconstruction.
Hodgson Road from Gramsie to Bridge St. (SV/VH) – Reconstruction.
Raymond Ave from Energy Park Dr to Como Ave. (SP) – Reconstruction
County E2 @ 35W (NB) – Bridge Replacement.
2017
White Bear Ave @ 694 (WB/MW) – Interchange Reconstruction.
Hiway 96 @ 35E (WB/VH) – Interchange Reconstruction
Cty Rd D from Cleveland to Fairview (AH) – Reconstruction
Rice Street from N. Owasso Blvd to Vadnais Blvd (VH/SV/LC) – Interchange Reconstruction.
Update (23 Jul, 2013): A crossing has been added across Lexington just north of the 694 ramps. This will be good news for Land O’ Lakes folks and anyone who ventures down the path on the west side of Lexington without realizing that it’s effectively a dead-end.
They are also exploring the addition of refuges.
They are exploring adding No Turn On Red signs at Lexington & F though agree that these are not always effective with U.S. drivers. They are also concerned about how this might delay motor traffic.
All path/pedestrian ramps will be full path width. I assume this means that cyclists can safely ride to street level at any point across the ramp. No word yet on dealing with the jarring bumps of current designs or with anti-skid rumbles.
More to come.
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Ramsey county plans, in 2014, to reconstruct Lexington Avenue between Red Fox Rd (just south of 694) to just north of it’s intersection with County Road F, as well as nearby portions of County Road F. Expanding the Lexington & F intersection is the primary driver of this project.
Click for latest project plan.
They have included some pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, but the current plan still leaves this corridor dangerous for both pedestrians and cyclists, particularly at the Lexington & F intersection that is the core of this project. Given the additional lanes, potentially higher motor vehicle speeds, lack of crossing refuges, and other elements, this corridor may be more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists after this project is complete than it is currently.
Shoreview has some of the best cycling and pedestrian infrastructure in the Twin Cities (and the U.S.). It will be a shame if this project does not continue this leadership.
Below are some concerns with the current plan as well as some possible recommended solutions.
Note: Updated 25 July, 2013 to correct some information about Vadnais’ 2011 Comprehensive Plan.
Vadnais Heights comprises numerous island neighborhoods separated by Ramsey County roads with little or no planning for walking or bicycling. While some people are comfortable walking and bicycling outside of their neighborhood on busier roads with narrow shoulders, many, and perhaps most, are not. Many of those who do venture out also say that riding with traffic scares them and discourages them from riding very often. This is made worse in winter when many of these shoulders are not plowed or plowed inadequately for use by pedestrians or people riding bicycles.
Vadnais Heights’ 2011 Comprehensive Plan acknowledges some deficiencies in its walking and bicycling infrastructure, but also indicates a lack of understanding of the difference between recreational trails and safe, functional bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure that allows it’s average citizens to safely walk or ride to local amenities. Instead of striving for segregated pathways and intersections that are safe and desirable by most people, the plan too often relies on road shoulders that are only comfortable for a minority of citizens, primarily the lycra crowd. Worse, the plan touts striped on-street parking lanes as effective bicycle lanes. These are actually quite dangerous for cyclists as they cause cyclists to swerve into traffic to dodge parked cars and put cyclists in the ‘door zone’ where many have been injured or killed by opening car doors. To their credit they have now installed “No Parking” signs on Arcade and Belland Avenues.
This lack of safe bicycling and walking routes will not serve Vadnais Heights well as increasing numbers of people choose to walk and bike more often for transportation and to make home purchase decisions based on the pedestrian and cycle friendliness of communities.
Every major road in Vadnais Heights should have, at a minimum, a wide, well designed, and well maintained path to allow residents to safely and comfortably walk and bike to local schools, shops and restaurants, or to visit friends. Every intersection should be safe and feel safe for pedestrians and people on bikes.
Here are seven wishes for Vadnais Heights.
Ramsey County plans to reconstruct Hodgson Rd between approximately Rice St and Hiway 96. This project was originally planned for 2014 but will likely be done in 2015.
Update 2013.10.23 – White Bear Press and Vadnais Heights Press have a good article in this weeks paper about this project. Construction will be done in 2014. While there are plans for a MUP between Lake Ave and Lake Ave S (very welcome), the plans include no other bicycle facilities. There are questions about Pedestrian facilities. Click above for more.
MNDOT has apparently agreed to narrow the lanes from 12′ to 11′ (very welcome) but at this point will not be lowering the speed limit.
Presentation on this project is here.
Comment Card to provide feedback is here.
2013.04.21 – Plans are being drawn up and evaluated for reconstruction of Hiway 61 in White Bear Lake. Best guess is construction in 2015.
More updates as they become available.