[Winona Online Democracy]
Senator Coleman and Representative Gutknecht have announced that recently
passed highway legislation includes millions of dollars to help fund a Huff
Street tunnel under the railroad tracks along with a couple of pedestrian
underpasses. I assume the legislators feel proud to have provided Winona with a
place at the trough.
These two legislators have impeccable conservative credentials, so I guess
this spending is conservative. When I lived in Minneapolis, Representative
Martin Sabo, an evil liberal, fought for highway and bridge funding to
facilitate suburban development in Carver and Scott Counties and beyond. But I
thought liberals are the ones against suburban sprawl while conservatives are
champions of fiscal restraint. The partisan political aspect of all this is just
too confusing.
Anyway, one report mentioned an additional grade separation (bridge
interchange) at Huff and 61. I dont travel that way often enough to know badly
traffic is jammed up at those locations. However, I usually cross the tracks in
the west end six times or more each day, and its unusual to ever wait for a
train to pass. That could change if train traffic increases. And maybe the
expense would be justified if residents of Garvin Heights and Wincrest had more
convenient access to downtown. (But what to do about those aggravating WSU
pedestrians that are always in the way?)
Speaking of bridge projects: Would the proposed Louisa Street bridge with a
direct link to 61 and 43 along the creek lead to a re-routing of 43 from Sarnia
and Main to somewhere between the tracks and the river? That would have pluses
and minuses, depending
. And would the transportation sales tax be essentially
used to facilitate more bluff land housing developments?
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