07-20-2020-WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

May 19 Virtual Open House: Questions and Comments Received 15 Although there was a fatal accident, that alone does not justify the closure of the Intersection. If for every fatal accident, the applicable intersection was permanently changed/closed, there would be a lot more MnDOT closures. What do you do about fatal accidents that don’t occur at intersections? Do you close down the road? Accidents unfortunately occur all of the time. But changes don’t necessarily mean that accidents won’t occur. Accidents occur even at controlled intersection and on roadways not in the vicinity of an intersection. By closing the Intersection, MnDOT is routing traffic to Lydia Avenue, a much more residential area than Hamline Avenue. Also, MnDOT is placing more lives at risk by requiring traffic to use Lydia. Because of Northwestern and Bethel College, the Lydia intersection is used constantly by students. Many of the students fail to obey the traffic lights and cross Snelling that has a green light. They use both the south and north side of the intersection to cross. By requiring additional traffic to turn left at Lydia, or make a U-turn at the intersection, the well-being of countless students is being sacrificed. Who has the right-of-way in the following situation: vehicle traveling southbound on Snelling waiting to make a MnDOT recommended U-turn at Lydia. Vehicle on the east side of the Lydia intersection wants to make a right turn. Once the light turns green, vehicle starts to make a U-turn at the same time the other vehicles is taking a right on to northbound Snelling. Who has the right away? This is an accident waiting to occur. If MnDOT is closing down this Intersection, it should also close down the left hand turn lane on Snelling northbound that goes onto Glenhill. Like the Hamline intersection the Glenhill traffic would cross two (2) lanes of Snelling Ave. traffic. The Glenhill vehicles can do the same thing MnDOT is asking the Hamline/Snelling vehicles to do; take an alternate route. They can access County Road E and return to Snelling to access the Glenhill turn. This round-about way of accessing Glenhill is no different than what MnDOT is asking of the southbound Snelling taxpayers that have been turning left at Hamline since at least 1991 when we moved to the area. Glenhill is no different than Hamline in this respect. MnDOT indicated that they might consider leaving enough room between the cable connections to allow for the passage of bicycles and walking pedestrians. Does MnDOT consider this safer than allowing vehicles to turn left at Snelling!! We beg to differ. As a compromise, we suggest that MnDOT install a weighed left-turn light at the Snelling/Hamline Intersection. The signal only turns green when there is a vehicle waiting to turn left. Once you have read and reviewed all of the comments, what happens next? How do we know when and what final decision MnDOT has made? Thank you for your attention to this matter.