Cliff Buchan
News Editor

There’s no date on the calendar for improvements, nor the year for that, but a final traffic report given to Forest Lake City Council spells out major changes for SW 12th St.

The report, which was presented by City Engineer Phil Gravel at the Nov. 5 council meeting, was accepted without discussion.

The report, a revision of the 2001 study, was ordered last spring by the council as part of the Wal-Mart expansion plan and its impact on traffic. Work on the Wal-Mart Supercenter is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2008.

The final report also reflects the planned SW 11th Avenue overpass of I-35 and the current concept to direct more traffic to SW 15th Street, rather than the south end of SW 12th St.

The report lists a series of recommendations for future street improvements that will need to be followed as growth continues in the area.

“A key conclusion to the study is that the streets in the area do not have the capacity to handle the projected traffic volumes without the construction of the planned 11th Avenue overpass,” Gravel wrote.

“Another key conclusion is that a center median will be required on 12th Street in the near future.”

Regarding 12th Street, the study included growth and development projections through the year 2010. Impacts to SW 15th Street which extends through the old industrial park take into account growth by the year 2030.

The result of the updated 12th Street study will be incorporated in the city’s new comprehensive plan, Gravel said in his report to the council.

Recommendations

The final study lists six main recommendations to accommodate projected growth by the year 2030.

They are:

•Begin the process now to support the development and financing of an 11th Avenue overpass of I-35.

•Construct a center median on 12th Street between W. Broadway Ave. and SW 3rd Avenue to improve safety; due to traffic diversions this will require improvements at SW 3rd Ave.-12th St. as noted below between 2010 and 2015.

•Provide an exclusive southbound turn lane at the SW 3rd Ave.-12th St. intersection; this improvement will be needed to mitigate impacts of a 12th Street median and should be constructed prior to, or in conjunction with, a median (2010 to 2015).

•Reorient the main Wal-Mart and Target parking lot entrances on SW 3rd Avenue to the secondary access farther west with a new traffic signal, and construct a center median from the new entrance to the 3rd Ave.-12th St. intersection (2010 to 2015).

•Construct or re-stripe lanes to accommodate a second eastbound left turn at 3rd Ave.-12th Street (2015 to 2030).

•Install traffic signal lights at the SW 11th Avenue intersections at SW 15th St. and SW 12th St. with implementation of an 11th Avenue overpass of I-35.

The overpass has long been discussed as a component to any major improvement to W. Broadway, also CR-2 under the Washington County highway system.

The Broadway (CR-2) improvement project once targeted for 2007 and 2008 is being replanned and not expected to be on the work schedule until 2010 or 2011.

The traffic study to the city council last week projected that a new I-35 overpass on SW 11th Avenue will carry 1300 peak hour trips. That would mean a decrease of 800 peak hour trips on CR-2 (Broadway) west of SW 12th Street.

Peak traffic on SW 11th Avenue east of SW 12th Street is expected to increase by 600 trips, the study said.

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