12-15-1999 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minnesota Department of Transportation Metropolitan Division Transportation Building MS 677, 395 John Ireland Blvd. St. Paul, Minnesota 55155 Mr. Joel Hanson, City Administrator Little Canada City Hall 515 E. Little Canada Road r Little Canada, Minnesota 55117 November 29, 1999 Dear Mr. Hanson: 1 1999 The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn /DOT) is planning some improvements to Trunk Highway 36 (TH 36) through your community next summer and is requesting any variances to your local ordinances that may be necessary due to work done at night. The work on TH 36 will consist of mill and overlay, microsurfacing, median barrier upgrade, guardrail upgrade, some hydraulic improvements and shoulder improvements to accommodate buses. Only the mill and overlay work would be done at night. This letter is a follow up to the meeting that you attended on November 15, 1999 where we discussed schedules, traffic control and other details about the project. As with any major project, Mn /DOT attempts to minimize the affect on traffic and local communities. The portion of the project through your community includes some mill and overlay which cannot be done without temporarily closing a lane of traffic. To do this work during the day would cause major congestion and increased traffic on local roads. Therefore, we are proposing to conduct the mill and overlay work during nighttime hours. Trunk Highway 36 would be closed in segments in only one direction at a time with nighttime traffic being directed onto nearby major roadways such as I35E, TH 61 and I694. This would allow the contractor to work with no traffic on TH 36, resulting in reduced cost, reduced construction time and reduced traffic congestion. Only the mill and overlay work would be done during nighttime hours, all other work would be conducted during the day. The mill and overlay process would pass any individual location along TH 36 twice for a duration of one to two nights each time. To put the amount of noise in perspective, the most complaints we receive concern the safety backup bells on the trucks. Any necessary light plants would be directed away from nearby residences. The entire mill and overlay process from 135E to I694 should take less than 45 nights. It was agreed at our November 15 meeting that nighttime work would be the best overall alternative to minimize disruption. We will coordinate the timing of this work with other work your community has scheduled next summer and will attempt to maintain cross street traffic for all traffic except when work is being done in the intersection and maintain access across TH 36 during construction for emergency vehicles. Details such as these will be addressed through our specifications for the project. We are therefore requesting variances from noise ordinances or other approvals necessary from your community to conduct this work at night. Please forward necessary forms to me to receive approval from your city government. Please contact me for any further questions. Michael Herman, Final Design Engineer An E Page 191