| The future of Highway 10 |
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| Wednesday, 07 October 2009 | ||
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Union Editor Last Tuesday people who live and work along Highway 10 in Anoka had a chance to get a closer look at plans to upgrade the state highway.
Project plans include cutting out access at Fairoak, which would run under Highway 10 in the future. There would be full access at Highway 10 and Thurston Avenue, with a standard diamond interchange. According to MnDOT North Metro Engineer Mark Lindeberg, there may be some tweaks made to those plans in the future, but the interchange plans will not likely see any major changes. The next step is to finish the environment impact assessment of the proposed project. “This has been a long process and it has been a collaboration with Anoka County and the city of Anoka,” said Lindeberg. “Most of the people in that area know we are planning a project – we’ve been pretty consistent in our message on how this is moving forward.” Traffic counts and forecast analysis on the project began in 2006, along with preliminary design work. Over the past three years, there have been numerous workshops with both the city of Anoka and Anoka County to try to find consensus on the highway reconstruction. Last year engineers also met with business owners near the Thurston and Fairoak intersections in Anoka – two areas that will be greatly impacted by the proposed plans. Plans are also in place to eliminate signals at Ramsey and Sunfish boulevards in Ramsey. The planning process is at a similar point in Ramsey as well, said Lindeberg. Access to local businesses and the future of a five-year-old townhome development top the list of concerns from people who live and work along Highway 10. Brian Bockwitz of SuperAmerica, located along Highway 10 between McDonald’s and Culver’s restaurants, is worried that people won’t get off the highway and stop at the service station if there is no signalized intersection. He said the best case scenario would be to lengthen West Main Street to include the service road in front of SuperAmerica. Bockwitz said this would add more development opportunities for businesses who might feel cut off by the new highway and want to relocate to the south side. Currently 61,000 vehicles travel this stretch of Highway 10 each day, causing heavy congestion of commuter traffic. According to information provided at Tuesday’s open house, that rate exceeds the capacity for a four-lane expressway by at least 50 percent. Traffic is expected to grow to 86,000 vehicles by 2030. The goals of the project are to improve safety and alleviate traffic congestion. But as of yet, no funding has been secured for the project and no start date has been set. That uncertainty causes concern for the people who live in the River’s Edge town- homes, a development near the intersection of Cutters Grove and Thurston avenues, that will need to be acquired as right of way for a new interchange. Lindeberg said 33 residences will be affected and purchasing that right of way could take as long as two years. Twelve commercial properties in the corridor will also need to be taken. But with no start date or funding in place, those acquisitions are on hold. “Unfortunately, right now those people do just have to wait,” said Lindeberg. While they are able to move or sell their properties, they are obligated to disclose the information that the townhomes will be needed as right of way for the highway project in the future. That waiting does not sit well with homeowners Pete and Katrina Bradley, a young couple who live in the development. Their main concern is being caught owing more on their mortgage than their townhome is worth, because of recent drastic drops in property values. “We’re not looking to make money, we just want to break even,” said Pete Bradley. “We just want to know what is going to happen so we can get on with our lives.” Katrina Bradley said they could sell their home, “but who is going to want to buy it? It’s a gamble because you don’t know how long you are going to be able to stay there.” The Bradleys said they were told the project could happen any time between 2015 and 2028, leaving a lot of unanswered questions. In response to why the townhome development was ever allowed to be built, according to Planning Director Carolyn Braun, the city was in no position to turn down the development more than five years ago. While there had been general studies on the potential of impact, when the platting process took place in late 2003 and early 2004 no official mapping had taken place. This requires the city to approve a development if it meets current property and zoning standards. Also, Braun said, at the time some of the future Highway 10 designs did not involve the townhome property. Resident Stan Adler, who has lived in Anoka since 1996, thinks making more daily trips available on the Northstar Commuter Rail would be the best way to alleviate traffic congestion along Highway 10, he said. While his home would not be impacted by the proposed project, he does travel the area regularly, Adler said. “Down the road in 2015, what is our community going to be like?” he asked. “We don’t really know. We like everybody else have seen traffic congestion increase.” Retired, Adler is less in a hurry than many of the commuters on the road. But he still worries about the changes that are likely ahead. Preliminary design, environment assessment and official mapping are expected to be complete in 2009. The environmental study on the project has already identified that increased traffic noise calls for a noise wall, which is being proposed at the northwest corner of Highway 10 and Fairoak Avenue. Future discussions with area stakeholders will decide if a noise wall is desired. Lindeberg said that even though there is no funding in place right now for the project, it is important to keep inching ahead. “So if some funding does come available, through a program like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we can say that we’re ready to go,” he said. Mandy Moran Froemming is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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