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<br />~o" <br /> <br />ILl) <br /> <br />"OFTIt~~ <br /> <br />Minnesota Department of Transportation <br /> <br />Metropolitan District <br />Waters Edge <br />1500 West County Road B-2 <br />Roseville MN 55113-3174 <br /> <br />September 20, 2005 <br /> <br />Ms. Deb Bloom <br />City Engineer <br />City ofRoseville <br />2660 Civic Center Drive <br />Roseville MN 55113 <br /> <br />Dear Ms. Bloom: <br /> <br />This letter is to inform you that the Minnesota Departtnent of Transportation (Mn/DOT) will change the <br />posted speed limit on Interstate 35W within your city to 60 MPH beginning on September 26, 2005. This <br />speed limit change is part of a statewide safety project aimed at reducing overall speeds through increased <br />enforcement and public education. <br /> <br />The commissioners from both the Transportation and Public Safety Departtnents will hold a series of news <br />conferences statewide on Monday, September 26, to announce this new program. We would appreciate it if <br />you would keep this information confidential until the public announcement is made on Monday. <br /> <br />Mn/DOT and the Minnesota Depaltment of Public Safety (DPS) are partnering to improve safety on <br />roadways. One of the ways to achieve that is by more aggressively enforcing traffic laws including speed <br />limit Jaws. Over the next year, $2.5 million will be spent on providing additional enforcement on those <br />roadways where the speed limit is being raised to 60 MPH and aJso on interstate freeways and 4-lane divided <br />bighways. <br /> <br />The roadways selected for this project were originally designed to higher speed limit standards or have been <br />improved to higher standards. 111e roadways selected also have a Jower than average crash rate and are <br />Jocated such that DPS and/or local law enforcement could provide increased enforcement. An education <br />campaign will also be conducted over the next year with public service radio announcements to encourage <br />drivers to obey the speed limits to improve safety or else be ticketed. <br /> <br />By implementing the 3 E's (engineering, enforcement and education) simultaneously, we helieve that speed <br />limits on some roadways can be raised slightly without negatively impacting safety. We will closely monitor <br />actual speeds as well as the crashes on all of the corridors on which speed limits are raised for the first year <br />and evaluate the success of this project. <br /> <br />If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly or Mr. Bernie Arseneau, State Traffic Engineer at <br />(651) 634-5251. Media inquiries can be directed to Kevin Gutknecht (651) 284-0515. <br /> <br />Sincerely, <br /> <br />~ ~'x,.{ <br /> <br />Amr K. Jabr, P.E. <br />Metro District Traffic Engineer <br /> <br />cc: Bernie Arseneau <br />Kevin Gutknecbt <br /> <br />An equal opportunity employer <br />