03-13-2019 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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10062 Flanders Court NE – Blaine, MN 55449 – Ph: (763) 780-0450 Fax (763) 780-0452 Memo TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Lee Elfering, City Engineer DATE: March 8, 2019 RE: County Road D Improvements As was expressed at the Public Hearings held in January, we anticipated there would be issues delivering the County Road D project for improvement in 2019 and recommended that the City delay the improvements until the year 2020 to allow more time to work with Ramsey County and Vadnais Heights on project specifics and funding. We informed the County of our decision to delay the project and Ramsey County relayed back that staff was having internal meetings to discuss the various options and scenarios for improvement and funding of the County Road D corridor. The outcome of the internal County meetings was that they added a project in 2023 for the reconstruction of the entire stretch of County Road D from Payne Avenue to County D Court in the County’s approved 2019-2023 TIP. They indicated in large measure, the County need for a project along this corridor is related to pedestrian, bike, and transit deficiencies. The County has requested a meeting with Little Canada, Vadnais Heights, and Maplewood to discuss project purpose and need, scope, roles/responsibilities, funding, and schedule. In some aspects this is a positive step. Completing a project on the entire corridor will limit the traffic and construction inconveniences to one project instead of multiple projects over multiple years. It has also always been the City’s position that a full reconstruction of County Road D was needed to address the pavement and drainage issues. The City had originally petitioned the County in 2015, as part of the municipally led project program solicitation, for the full reconstruction of County Road D to an urban section from Payne Avenue to the east City limits. That proposal was originally approved with the understanding that the County was going to review the corridor to determine if a full reconstruction was necessary. Their review led to their proposal for a ditch improvement project followed by a reclamation or overlay pavement improvement project. The City expressed our need to at least extend the storm sewer to Greenbrier Street. This need eventually led to the split project on County Road D where Little Canada would reconstruct the roadway from Payne Avenue to Greenbrier Street and the County would do a ditch improvement project and future pavement improvement from Greenbrier to the east. As you are aware the County abandoned the ditch improvement project and the City proposed a delay of the reconstruction project until 2020.