HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974 04-25 Greavu: Hazelwood Interchange Inevitable DISPATCH Greavu : Hazelwood .
Interchange
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Construction of an interchange -at Hazelwood change, providing.a 'major north-south access to the
Avenue and Hwy. 36 has been called "inevitable" by• highway..
Maplewood City Councilman John Greavu. "If everybody were honest about this," Greavu.
Residents in a nearby racially-integrated neigh- suggested, "they'd tell the 'people now that it looks
borhood have long fought such an interchange. like Hazelwood."
It and.accompanying road improvements would He admitted that the selection of the Hazelwood
cut a swath through some of their homes. site will cause hardships for nearby homeowners,.
"I know it's a hell of a thing to say," Greavu forcing them to relocate.
commented, "but it (the interchange) has to be at "But no matter where the interchange goes."'
Hazelwood and we'll lose at least 70 homes." Greavu asserted, "somebody is going to get hurt.
Some residents in the neighborhood have as- ' You can't avoid that."
sumed that they had defeated a proposal for any The "final decision" on the interchange location,
kind of interchange that would wreck their homes. he predicted,will come"in less than a year."
Greavu's views were expressed at a recent joint
Maplewood meeting of the city councils from North St. Paul and.
Maplewood and in subsequent interview.
The city council, after a public outcry, backed a
proposal instead to shift the interchange west to•
English Street when Hwy. 36 becomes upgraded to
.freeway standards,perhaps in about 1980..
But highway officials ruled that out as being too
close to another interchange at Hwy.61.
Finally, the council rallied behind an inter-
change proposal in the vicinity of Burlington North-
ern railway tracks crossing Hwy. 36 between Hazel-
wood Avenue-and English Street.
• "I'm no engineer," Greavu said, "but I don't
think that will ever come off."
When all the facts are in, he argued, only Hazel-
wood Avenue will be deemed suitable for an inter