{ Monitor in a Minute } January 2020

Posted

By JANE McCLURE

Como going from 4 lanes to 3

The St. Paul City Council in December asked for a lane configuration change on Como Ave., which is needed to implement a larger project.

The city is asking that the Ramsey County Department of Public Works implement a four-lane to three-lane conversion on Como Ave. between Canfield St. and Snelling Ave.

Como Ave. in that area is a county road. The change sought would be meant to tie into planned city-county improvements on a longer stretch of the street between Raymond and Hamline avenues this year.

Como is part of the city’s Grand Round citywide system on bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, including sidewalks, bike lanes and trails. The Grand Round plans have been in place for several years.

The project scope includes construction of an off-street trail along the north side of Como between Raymond and Hamline, narrowing the street to encourage slower traffic, construction of bump-outs, installation of wayfinding and placemaking elements, and installation of street lighting to improve safety for all roadway users. It also includes the lane conversion between Canfield and Snelling.

A traffic speed study conducted in July 2019 identified 85th percentile traffic speeds at 39 miles per hour in the eastbound direction and 41 miles per hour in the westbound direction, well in excess of the posted 35 mile per hour speed limit.

But the conversion also includes prohibiting on-street parking on both the north and south sides of Como between Canfield and Snelling. Parking counts were done, and meetings were held in the community.

Fewer billboards?

Outfront Media’s efforts to relocate a billboard near the Interstate 94-Highway 280 interchange will be in the hands of the St. Paul City Council, as a result of an appeal by St. Anthony Park Community Council.

The St. Paul Planning Commission unanimously approved a non-conforming use relocation Dec. 20. The billboard would also be converted to a dynamic display, with a lighted message that will regularly change. The billboard would be visible from the highways at its location at 2516 Wabash Ave., just west of Highway 280 and north of Interstate 94.

Billboard relocation and conversion ordinances would require Outfront Media to remove as many as 35 smaller billboards throughout St. Paul neighborhoods.

Which neighborhood billboards eventually come down would be determined in negotiations between Outfront Media and city staff in the Department of Safety and Inspections (DSI), said Senior City Planner Anton Jerve.

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