The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Aaron Brown Macalester's High Winds Fund paid $14,000 to install tube delineators along Snelling Avenue earlier this fall to simulate a median proposed for the location.

The Macalester-Groveland Community Council and transportation committee held a public hearing Nov. 26 at St. Thomas University to discuss the plan to construct a pedestrian median on Snelling Avenue. A board of MGCC members, transportation committee members and Macalester-Groveland grid representatives sought input from a full auditorium of community members regarding the possibility of the median.

The history of the project and work done so far was consolidated into a report by Tom Welna, director of the Macalester High Winds Fund, and St. Paul Public Works engineers David Kuebler and Paul St. Martin.

The median, according to plans, would be 10 feet wide and run from Grand to St. Clair, serving as a pedestrian refuge while also calming traffic. The median would also feature an array of trees and plants to improve the aesthetics of the street.

Welna, Kuebler and St. Martin presented data on a traffic flow test done this fall. The effect of the median on traffic patterns was simulated with orange tubes in the middle of the street. The traffic concentration along the side streets perpendicular to Snelling, especially Goodrich and Osceola, where left-hand turns were permitted, increased. However, Kuebler pointed out, the traffic rates were still lower than or the same as average traffic rates of similar neighborhoods in the Twin Cities.

Comments from drivers were also collected during the study. Of 204 total comments, 79 percent supported the median.

The MGCC also took a poll of the audience by a show of hands. There were 63 people in favor of the median, 30 opposed and 11 undecided.

The many pros and cons of the median were questioned and debated throughout the evening by MGCC, the transportation committee and community members as well as Welna, Kuebler and St. Martin.

One main issue of concern was the left-hand turn restriction. With the median, left-hand turns would only be permitted at the lights at Grand and St. Clair, as well as at breaks in the median at Goodrich and Osceola. Some argued that this would inhibit the mobility of emergency vehicles, make it inconvenient for residents on other streets and make it more difficult for Lincoln Commons businesses and other Snelling stores to attract customers.

Continued...

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