John Finn asks if traffic
planners assume continued traffic growth. I'm not a traffic engineer or
transportation planner, but I have worked with them enough to be able to offer a
couple comments. First, traffic always increases, or so it would
seem. More people own more cars and use them more. More attractions
are further away, so all other things being equal, traffic will only increase on
most roads - get used to it.
John asks about the interstate
highway system and its effects on the transportation system. Every system
is complicated, but the short answer is that the interstate probably took a
bite out of traffic that used to go through Winona on Highways 14
and 61, but then with gradually increasing traffic on all roadways, the
Highway 61 numbers grew and may be at or above what they were before I-90 was
built. In don't know specific numbers, so I'm guessing. I do know
that in Minneapolis when I-394 was built on old Highway 12 going west out of
downtown, the traffic increased enough just in the years it took to
build I-394 that we were at the same level of congestion before and after -
the new project simply allowed us to keep from sliding backward too
far.
Tom Severson asks if there is
commercially-zoned land near Garvin Heights. Again, consult the
comprehensive plans for Winona and the County, but I doubt there is much,
if any. Commercial property needs economic justification and there may not
be enough rooftops (customers) to support it. If you
had a million dollars on the line for a convenience store, gas
station, restaurant or small office building, where would you put
your business to troll for customers? That's why there's so much
commercial development on Highway 61 and so little downtown (relatively) or out
in the valleys.
Now, if you could develop a
real critical mass of homes up on the ridge in the Garvin Heights area (several
thousand homes within a mile or two) you might attract some commercial
development. But that would take some
density.
Phil Carlson, Minneapolis
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