HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974 04-25 Maplewood Engineer Warns of Mall Traffic Increase DISPATCH (E) S'f'. Ai1L IS
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Mapewood
- Warns iner
4'I Fr i i r Tic ncrea
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Traffic in the vicinity Maplewood City Engi- shopping complex . isn't Hwy. I-694 on'the north,
of the new Maplewood neer B.D.Collier. . due to open until May 1. Hwy. 120 on• the east,
MaIl,, has `shown a "sig- And that's a I i t t I e .Last year, he said, the Hwy. 36 on the south and
•n i f i c a n t increase" of frightening, he suggest- a vera g e daily traffic Hwy.61 on the west.
about 18 per cent in the ed, because the first count on White Bear Av- Collier said he expects
past year, according to store in• the sprawling • enue,between Beam Av- the "ultimate" by. 1995
enue and County Road C and that, "we'll be half-
just south of the mall, way there" perhaps, in
was 14,000 vehicles. one year.
The average• in the • The improvements lin-
early months .of this der consideration were
year was 17,000 vehicles, p l a n n e d to 'distribute
.he reported. t r a f f i c more. equally
Collier cited the in- over other roadways in
creased traffic on White the area, m o s t I y on
Bear Avenue as one rea- R a in s e y County and
son to carry out $8.4 mil- state roads.
lion in street improve- White Bear Avenue, a
ment in northeast Ma- county road, also would
plewood. be upgraded eventually
A public hearing on: to six lanes, but not until
the first series of proj- the sixth phase of the
ects in the seven-phase, elaborate construction
program will be tonight, program.
starting at 7:30 in the That's p r o b a b I y 20
gym at John Glenn Ju- years away, .the engi- f
nior High School, 1560 neer said.
County Road B. Collier said that if the
W i t h o u t improve- construction program
ments, Collier warned, becomes implemented,
the p r e s e n t four-lane then the maximum daily
White Bear Avenue will traffic on White Bear
have to someday carry Avenue twill be• about
44,000 vehicles daily. 30.000 vehicles daily.
"That's more vehicles T h a t 's "reasonable"
than we have now on for a six-lane road, he
Hwv. 36," he explained. stated.
"We'd have a massive His comments • came
t r a ff i c jam all day during a slide presenta-
long." tion of the improvement
The traffic projection proposals at a recent
was based on ultimate joint meeting of the city
development of landin councils from M a p 1 e-
the northeast M a p 1 e- wood and North St.
wood area: generally paw.