The first battle on MNDOT's effort to widen 1-35W from 46th Street into downtown will take place over the next few months. The site of the battle will be in planning meetings for the Lake Street Access Project (LSAP). As many people on this list know, the LSAP is a proposal by the Phillips Partnership to build new on-off ramps at Lake Street and a new I-35W bridge over Lake, and also move ramps from 35th and 36th to 38th.
I am on the LSAP Project Advisory Committee, and have been told from day one that the LSAP is an access project, not a project to increase capacity. Now MNDOT, through a letter from Commissioner Tinklenberg to Mayor Sayles Belton, is saying MNDOT will require that all ramps and roadways, bridge abutments and piers, retaining walls and noise walls be built so as to accommodate freeway expansion. To their credit, the elected officials from Minneapolis are valiantly fighting to protect our interests. The Mayor, several members of council, and our County Commissioner are working hard to let their views be known and to wring more information out of MNDOT. However, in the last session, pro-highway legislators rammed through legislation which essentially strips from cities their power to review in a meaningfrul way MNDOT construction proposals. I am writing to inform fellow Minneapolitans of what is going on with I-35W expansion, and how capacity expansion demands by MNDOT will effect efforts to improve I-35W access at Lake Street. But I am also writing to solicit advice on how citizens advisors to the project should proceed. At this point, we are being told that widening I-35W can take place within the existing trench without additional land takings. However, there hasn't been any study on how air and noise quality, etc. It's also unlikely such a study will be completed before decisions concerning the Lake Street Access Project must be made. Thoughts on how/whether we should proceed with the Lake Street Access Project? Dave Harstad Whittier __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1 _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
