Commentary; Posted: 3/14/07
Broadway problems coming home to roost
It has been an interesting and frustrating exhibition of civics to watch local governmental leaders and the business community plan for its major east-west connection to I-35.
Say Broadway and roundabouts in the same sentence today and the cries of opposition can be heard all the way to Stillwater.
It’s 2007, folks, and the W. Broadway Corridor problem is stuck in a rut that would trap an oxen cart. There are few if any signs that the road, CR-2 in the Washington County highway system, will see any of the desperately needed safety improvements until 2009 or 2010. The Minnesota Twins are odds on favorites to be playing in a new ballpark before Forest Lake is able to resolve this situation.
Area residents would have had to be in a coma for the past year or so not to know about roundabouts. That’s the rotary intersection plan that the county had been recommending to make Broadway safer and take its dubious honor of having the highest crash rate among all county roads.
Seven of the two-lane intersections were proposed from SW 19th Street west of I-35 to Lake Street (US-61) in the city’s downtown.
Under a barrage of public opposition and new traffic models, some of the roundabout proposal has unraveled. Traffic flows in the three intersections at the freeway and at 19th Street will apparently fail based on 20-year traffic projections.
It is another step in frustration for the Forest Lake area. Some will blame poor planning. Others will blame poor leadership at the city, county and state level. There is plenty of blame to go around and the business community is equally to blame.
This is not a new problem. It was 20 years ago when the late John Skoglund who as mayor had the foresight to craft a plan that would have eliminated much of the problem at SW 12th Street and Broadway.
The Skoglund plan, which had city council backing in 1989, had the city buying out and relocating Hardee’s which was located where Walgreens is today. 12th Street would be extended north to connect with a new west to east road one block north of Broadway. It would connect to NW 7th Street where a signal would provide a ring road to all access to north side businesses. As in the current plans, a raised median would prevent free left turns at each driveway and eliminate crashes.
By 1989 it was a $1 million city effort. Thanks to shortsighted and conservative leaders and community members, the plan was derailed with a new council and mayor in office. Skoglund, after 10 years of leading the city, left office with the perfect plan and a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers for the new east-west road in hand.
The existing center left turn lanes were the best that Washington County could deliver other than procrastination and thumb twiddling as the problem grew worse by the years. That inaction and a business community that is unwilling to accept the problem have complicated the situation. Throw in public opinion that responds to fear of the unknown and we are where we are today.
The planning process is most certainly at a make or break point in time. We would challenge county planners to roll up their sleeves, get to work and find a plan that will work. It is an effort that needs city council support, too.
Planning is not easy and Forest Lake is proof of that. No plan is perfect in every aspect.
What will it take to solve the problem? We need that answer this year. Then we will know if any plan will be allowed to go forward.
If a plan involving some degree of roundabouts is recommended, will it be acceptable? There will come a point when those elected and those hired to plan and design projects have to make a decision.
For the public it will be a time to weigh what is best. Do we want and can we afford a major I-35 bridge resign that will take two years to complete and more right-of-way acquisition than other plans?
How wise is it to again fight for road permits and spend millions of dollars to buy out Walgreens and perhaps TCF and Holiday?
A repeating theme of the recent debate is that people won’t stop in Forest Lake because of the roundabouts. While that argument is perhaps true to some extent that some won’t stop, the reverse is also true. Without some new form of traffic control and improved safety in the corridor, it is also true that consumers who might be spending dollars at local businesses won’t stop or even get off I-35.
We can’t change history and the past is the past, but we must learn from the past. If all components of this community can’t come to grips with planning, the area is doomed to mediocrity. — CLIFF BUCHAN
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