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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL—March 8, 2010 14 7.A. Mn/DOT I-694 Project Update (continued) The preferred outline was presented to the Council and the schedule for the project was discussed. He stated Mn/DOT has hired a Consultant to work with the Noise Advisory Committee and the _ first meeting will be the week of March 22. The anticipated schedule for the project includes requesting municipal consent from the City in April, letting the project in April 2011, with construction to begin in the summer of 2011. Councilmember McClung asked if Shoreview would also be providing municipal consent since two of the bridges are in their community. Mr. Lindeberg stated Shoreview might not need to give municipal consent because capacity will not be increased in their community. The bridges will be reconstructed to the same size they currently are. Mn/DOT will continue to work with the City of Shoreview. Councilmember Holden clarified with the preferred layout, traffic will no longer be able to move from Snelling Avenue to East I-694. - Mr. Lindeberg stated this was correct. The access to Hamline Avenue from West I-694 will also be eliminated. Councilmember McClung stated one third of the residents in Arden Hills live north of I-694 and many of these people would need to go east in order to get to their jobs. He asked how these people would access the interstate system. Mr. Lindeberg explained these people could access the system by taking County Road F to Lexington Avenue and getting onto the interstate at Lexington Avenue. Councilmember McClung asked what kind of improvements Mn/DOT was planning for County Road F and Hamline Avenue. This intersection is currently a difficult one and adding traffic to it will make it worse. Mr. Lindeberg clarified at this time Mn/DOT is looking at making a T-intersection and not having separated northbound and southbound lanes on Hamline. A study would need to be done in order to determine the need for the installation of a traffic signal at this location. Mn/DOT has not gotten to this level of detail at this time. This will be looked at as the traffic forecasting is completed in the final design stages in the next couple of months. Councilmember McClung asked if this would be before or after Mn/DOT would want municipal consent. He stated he would not vote in favor of providing municipal consent until this intersection is addressed. Mr. Lindeberg stated he did not know the exact timing but will do what he can to get this information to the Council before the time of municipal consent. Mayor Harpstead stated that another impact that should be looked at is Lexington Avenue and County Road F because this intersection is not at a high level of service currently.