|
Roads top mayor’s priority list |
|
|
|
Wednesday, 19 March 2008 |
Stev Stegner
Guest Columnist
This spring brings lots of change to our city. Last year we had significant road construction while TH-97 and US-61 were resurfaced. This was a major disruption to traffic flows for most of the summer. This year the orange cones are gone and our roads now have the preventative maintenance they needed to allow them to last for the next 30 years with only routine seal coating and an occasional patch.
It is my goal to continue the road improvement plan for our city. We have many side streets that are in desperate need of attention. In the past years we have not budgeted adequate funding because it was not a priority for the mayor or council. We are now faced with the need to fund street projects with more money and vigor to bring them up to acceptable standards.
This may include milling off the surface of some streets and applying a new base and reconstructing the surface from curb to curb. This is an expensive project, however, without proper maintenance, the streets are expected to wear out and have to be replaced.
Paying for street improvements is always an issue. The 2008 budget has street improvement dollars available to expand the program from previous years.
Many residents have called and stopped to see me at my office or asked me to visit with them in their homes. Our discussions often center around the cost/benefits analysis. What does it cost taxpayers as a whole and do we all benefit somewhat equally from the expense. Our community is conservative and that is how we have kept our taxes lower than surrounding communities.
My goal is to continue to keep our taxes low and be a model for the other communities in the metro area and the state. Safety and transportation are a high priority for me. I will continue to fight for improvements along Broadway Ave. I am pleased that the committee is looking at solutions that make sense and that we can afford. Citizens of Forest Lake want a wider bridge over the freeway. The benefits of a wider bridge may have a better cost/benefit than many of the other traffic solutions previously presented.
It is critical that we start construction as soon as practical. The citizens deserve a safer road that is designed to handle traffic for the next 20 years. We will get a great traffic plan by the end of 2008 then the permitting from the local, state, and federal entities will bring us into 2009. It would be my goal to begin construction in 2009.
We have the funding in place for these improvements through commitments from the county, federal, and local government. A great plan put into action in 2008 is far better than the perfect plan put in place in 2015.
We can all agree this is far better than having spent $21 million on last year’s plan that didn’t work. The state and county determined in the eleventh hour that the roundabouts failed at the freeway ramps during certain traffic conditions and would backup traffic onto the freeway. I do not want to imagine cars stopped on our freeway, these types of accidents are often fatal. We have an expectation for traffic to flow at 70 MPH on the freeway and a series of stopped vehicles in the lanes of traffic would be disastrous.
Last week during a parade and fireworks fund-raiser at the American Legion in Forest Lake, Council person Young and myself had pies thrown in our faces. The winning bidder for Council person Young was Dale Swanson who generously donated to the cause also had the opportunity to say a few positive comments about our city council and a couple of areas that we may improve.
The pie throwing was all in good fun and it shows that as we can disagree, we can laugh, and we can wind up with pie in our face. But the laughter and smiles we all had resonates throughout our community as coming together, expressing ourselves and at the end of the day we are still individuals and we all do the best job we can for our community.
I am always looking for ways to make our community safer. I invite anyone to call or e-mail me on ideas to make our community a better place.
The writer is mayor of Forest Lake. He can be reached at 651-248-5524 or at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
