HomeMy WebLinkAbout1973 12-18 Maplewood Businessmen Propose New Hwy. 36 Interchange Plan DISPATCH (E)
_____ST.PAUL DISPATCH
Tues., Dec, 18. "7
Maplewood Businessmen
Propose
New Hwy .
6 Interchange3
Plan
A group of business- located mostly in•the vi- be wiped out by the in-
men say they have a cinity of the intersection terchange. '
plan for a Hwy. 36 inter- of Hwy. 36 and Hwy. 61,• "And that's not for
change in Maplewood have told of developing, c e r t a i n," he stated.
that may end up hurting on their own, an alterna- "They may be saved-,
nobody tive plan for an inter- too."
The interchange issue c h a n g e "around" the The plan of the busi-
has been a hot one in the Northern Pacific rail- nessmen has been super-
Imsey County commu- way tracks which cross imposed atop an aerial
nity for a couple of Hwy. 36 between Eng- photograph.
years. lish Street and Hazel- "It's not an engineered
It's generally agreed wood Avenue. plan yet," Kristal admit-
that when Hwy. 36 be- Their spoke-s ma n,• ted. "But we have assur-
comes upgraded to free- Henry Kristal, owner of ances that it's feasible."
way. standards, perhaps E m b e r s Restaurants, The principal benefit
later in this d e c a d e, predicted "wide public from the plan seems to
there'll be need for a support" for the propos- be that virtually all ex-
diamond interchange al. fisting development can
somewhere b e t w e e n "We see benefits to the remain,he said.
Hwy. 61 and White Bear community in t h i s," In a-recent letter to the
Avenue. Kristal asserted. village council, Kristal
Hazelwood Avenue has "The only disadvan- urged tying in the busi-
been mentioned as a tage," he added, "i that n e s s m e n's plan with
possibility. it somewhat alters Met overall planning by the
But that's likely to dis- •ro Council standards." village in solving cur-
rupt one of Maplewood's But he speculated that• rent and projected traf-
prize, racially integrat- ` these deviations were fic problems.
ed neighborhoods. "minor" and that the He referred to sepa-
The residents have ob- Metro Council -"can be rate studies by a North-
jected vehemently. sold"on the plan. east Task Force and by
Others suggest an in- Kristal said that his consultants H o w a r d,
terchange at E lig 1 i s h group has met with rep- N e e d l e s, Tammen &
Street. resentatives of the Ha- Bergendoff.
But highway officials zelwood neighborhood. All of the plans can be
say that's too close to a "The reaction (from conveniently merged, he
planned interchange at them) has been positive argued.
Hwy. 61, which makes it so far," he commented. The v i 1 1 a g e council
impossible to meet rec- "They prefer this plan to took the request under
ommended criteria. losing their homes." advisement.
They say it would lead At most, Krista
to traffic hazards. claims, two homes along
But the businessmen, Gervais Avenue would