02/01/2010 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Monday, January 11, 2010 A report on Co. Rd 14 and 35W $y James Landsberger 7676 iin4i,L. s; Good evening, mayor and city council members. First of all let me congratulate the old and new members of this group on their election and willingness to serve the community as members of the Lino Lakes City Council. Secondly I would like to congratulate all those present who participated in the plans to upgrade the intersection of 35E and Co. Rd 14. A lot of dedicated hard work went into the successful resolution of this project. Because of this project, and the upgrade of Co. Rd 14 from Hugo through Centerville to 35W, the entire corridor of Co. Rd 14 as the major route from the City of Anoka through Lino Lakes and on to Hugo and HI 61 is mostly completed. The one glaring omission left to resolve is the intersection of Co. Rd 14 at 35W, currently served by an ancient bridge crossing at 35W with a Narrow Bridge warning posted on both sides, no shoulders on the two lane crossing, and no freeway 35W access. This Co. Rd 14 -35w area is now a growing problem because of the current traffic count along 35W with the new shopping centers in Lino Lakes at Co. Rd 23 and nearby Blaine at the Lexington - 35W exit, both of which have daily trip visits in the many tens of thousands. The major commercial and residential development in Hugo adds significantly to the traffic count and there is major commercial and residential development proposed at Co 14- 35E on the Lino Lakes and Centerville side which will significantly compound the problems. Currently this causes a Large problem at the intersection of county road 23 and Co. Rd. 14, bad enough that it requires police assistance often to clear the intersection. If the county Road 14 and 35w intersection were upgraded to the standard of modified cloverleaf access, as proposed in 1998 by Anoka County, the Co Rd 23 and Co Rd 14 problems would be alleviated by allowing freeway access from the Centerville, Lino Lakes area SE of 35w to the freeway and giving these fast growing areas access to 35w as their route to these major shopping areas and westward to Blaine and Minneapolis. It would also provide Lino Lakes and Blaine better access to 35E and SLPaul.. When Anoka County wisely proposed the modified cloverleaf at Co. Rd 14-35W in 1998 it didn't have Lino Lakes Council support and was abandoned, resulting in the current problems. Instead, an alternate northerly bypass proposal was initiated, hoping to connect 35E to Co Rd 14 through the Rice Creek Watershed near Peltier Lake. This proposal is now dead in any current context because of Federal traffic count 4 requirements, which have been estimated to fall far short until at least 2040 and possibly 2050. At that point the issues of crossing the Rice Creek Watershed will be a hurdle yet to overcome. As I stated the alternate northerly route proposal, up to now supported by Lino Lakes, has been obviated by Federal traffic count requirements and future forecasts to be an unrealizable alternative in the 30 year near future, and is therefore no solution at all to current problems.