Monitor In A Minute: Trail along Pierce Butler

Trail along Pierce Butler gets council OK

A shared-use trail along Pierce Butler Rte. will be built, the St. Paul City Council decided May 18. The trail will extend from the southeast corner of the intersection of Pierce Butler Rte. and Dunlap St. to the shared-use trail along the west side of Lexington Ave.

No one testified against the trail, which has been on the drawing boards for several years. Hamline Midway residents Benita and Mike Warns of Midway Bicycle Supply and Mister Michael Recycles Bicycles testified in support.

Benita Warns reminded the City Council that the project had to go through the city’s Long-Range Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) process twice, not because it failed to get funding the first time but because its allocation was shifted to other projects. “Hopefully, this time, it’s going to happen,” she said.

The $160,000 earmarked will be used to pave what is now a heavily used dirt path with bituminous material, along the south side of Pierce Butler Rte. The St. Paul Department of Public Works sees it as a needed connection between existing bicycle facilities and a link to destinations in the Midway and Como areas.

Construction would take place later this summer or fall.

Parking wins county nod

Evening on-street parking will return to parts of University Ave. in the months ahead. But on-street markings for bicycles to share the road aren’t part of the plan the Ramsey County Board adopted 6-1 in early May. Adding parking back will narrow University and Washington avenues from four lanes to two during the evening and overnight hours.

Restoring parking lost due to Green Line light rail construction has been discussed for several years. Six years ago, business owners along the rail line were in an uproar when they learned that as much as 95 percent of on-street parking would be lost due to construction. Business groups and the cities and counties Departments of Public Works worked on parking studies, including a survey in 2014, to see where parking could be restored. No time line for work has been set.

The proposal approved May 3 for St. Paul restores parking between Emerald St. and Hampden Ave., Syndicate and Grotto streets, and Mac­Kubin and Rice streets. The St. Paul City Council dropped a recommendation to restore parking between Aldine St. and Prior Ave. as the Planning Commission recommended. That’s because the stretch of University is eyed for shared bicycle use.

But Ramsey County rejected the city’s request for bicycle facilities of some type on University, between Hampden and Aldine St. Installing share the road arrows (or sharrows) as City Council members had suggested would require a variance to county-state highway aid standards, which Ramsey County’s engineer doesn’t support.

Ramsey County Public Works Director Jim Tolaas said the traffic volume on that section of University is about 21,100 vehicles per day. That includes many commercial trucks. “Sharrows aren’t something we’d implement with that volume of traffic,” he said. Tolaas said the traffic volumes on that part of University would be daunting for all but the most experienced bicyclists.

County officials are open to city officials about other ways to accommodate bicyclists in that area, where an east-west connection between routes is needed, Tolaas said.

Council President Russ Stark said that while he’s glad on-street parking has been restored, “I am disappointed about the sharrows. That’s an accommodation our Public Woks engineers thought would be feasible.”

Cleveland bike lane approved

Bicycle lanes can be striped and share the road arrows marked on Cleveland Ave. from Highland Pkwy. to St. Anthony Ave., the Ramsey County Board has decided. One key recommendation for the controversial project—that of reducing the posted speed from 30 to 25 miles per hour—was curbed at the request of the Ramsey County Department of Public Works.

Instead, commissioners are asking that the Ramsey County League of Local Governments to have a broader discussion of speed limit issues.

The St. Paul City Council in March recommended county approval of the bicycle lane project, including parking bans and the speed limit reduction.

County Public Works Director Jim Tolaas said that the county engineer doesn’t support the speed limit reduction. He said that changes to speed limits on county and state aid highways, such as Cleveland, have to be studied and reviewed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) before they are implemented.

Tolaas said the MnDOT review is consistent with past county practices. “Arterial roads serve a larger function than residential streets do,” said Tolaas. One unintended outcome of a speed study is that of having a higher speed recommended by the state, not a lower one.

Another concern is that a lower Cleveland speed could divert traffic. “We could actually be shifting the safety issue to the local residential streets,” said Tolaas.