10-25-2005 City Council Meeting Items

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Pequot Lakes -Hwy 371 North October 7, 2005 Page 10 of 15 CSAH I l/Front Street/West Grove Street: A new service road "bulb-out" connects West Grove Street to Front Street with an intersection with TH 371 in between. This intersection allows northbound and southbound TH 371 traffic to turn off the highway but only allows a right out to head south on the highway(they cannot turn left and head north on TH 371). Some Council Members were concerned about the lack of options for traffic on the west side of the City to go north. Presently, there are six ways for west side traffic to turn onto TH 371 and head north (Lake, Woodman, Main/CSAH 11, Sibley, Front, and Grove). With the proposed MnDOT improvements, these five accesses will be reduced to one-all the traffic will be funneled into the Brown Street/Front Street/Main Street/2nd Street intersection to the signalized intersection at CSAH 11/Main Street. Jokela Street: Northbound and southbound TH 371 traffic can turn off the highway onto Jokela Street. Westbound Jokela Street traffic can only turn north onto the highway(they cannot turn left and head south on TH 371). This intersection is part of the agreement with the DNR on a proposed backage road going from Government Drive, across the Paul Bunyan Trail, and connecting with Jokela Street at Front Street. 36. The possibility of relocating CSAH 11 south to align with the present East Woodman Street or with the present Morehouse Drive has been suggested and discussed. The County is open to this. However,historically, the County has responded only when the City initiates it. A study needs to be done first and the County generally participates in its cost. The Committee discussed relocation options and considered a number of factors including: right-of-way costs, existing buildings, terrain,traffic signal spacing, and traffic patterns. The Committee preferred/suggested the Morehouse Drive option by studied. From the TH 371 /Morehouse Drive intersection,the "new" CSAH 11 is proposed to proceed east along Morehouse Drive to the northeast corner of the Industrial Park. It would then continue north and east to connect back into the present CSAH 11. It should be noted that the Committee also recommended that construction of such a realignment be delayed until some time after the completion of the TH 371 project. The CAMy Documents\City Clerk\HIGHWAY 371\Meetings\102505 List of Issues for City MnDOT mtg-memo.doc