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153RD AVENUE CROSSTOWN ARTERIAL By: Steven Jankowski, City Engineer CASE # Background: Recognizing ~the need to have a system of arterial streets to service collector and residential streets, the State o~ ~!~n6esota allows communities with populations greater than 5,000 to designate 20% of the locally rna[.ntained streets as Minnesota State Aid Streets (MSAS). The State provides funds to the muni¢ipalifies for the construction and maintenance of this MSAS system through revenues collected ff0~ fffel taxes and motor vehicle related fees. The first comprehensive City plan was initiated in 1973~ adopted in 1977, revised in 1980 and again in 1¢90. One of the chief deficiencies in the City s transportation network is the lack of arterial streef~ traversing in an east/west direction. Existing County and City MSA roads service the north/s6uih ~ansportation needs of the entire City consistently at intervals of one mile or less. Conversely~ Caffic is facilitated in east/west direction only by Trunk Highway #10 on the south and less eff~ectix~ly on the north half of the City by the disjointed combinations of County Road #63, Count}, Road g27 and Trunk Highway g47. The eastern half of the City is also serviced by County Road:gl 16 which parallels Trunk Highway gl0 at a distance of approximately one mile to its north. In 1991, a 1..8 mile extension of 153rd Avenue from County Road g5 to Ramsey Boulevard was constructediieav!ng only a 0.6 mile segment from 155th Avenue and Variolite Street to 153rd Avenue and/~rn~strong Boulevard remaining to complete this roadway as a six mile continuous east/west a~t~rial street. This arterial would service the middle-southern one-third of the City of Ramsey. It Bas ~ontemplated that 153rd Avenue be a major collector at the time Whispering Pines Estates plats ~we~e subdivided in 1974, as streets for that subdivision were designed such that no lots neededit0 dii;ectly access onto 153rd Avenue. The designation of the routing for this roadway was include~d;as a part of the transportation element of the City's COmprehensive Plan in 1980. On September 24, 1991, separate meetings of the Budget Committee and the Road and Bridge Committee:Were~held to discuss the completion of 153rd Avenue as a crosstown arterial. At that meeting, citizens expressed opposition to the proposed alignment and suggested several alternatives~';b~ considered. The alternatives suggested by the citizens were reviewed and addressed at a subseCl)a~nt imeeting held December 10, 1991. At that meeting, additional comments by citizens werema& and one additional alternative suggested. The remainder of this case will summarize the alternatives suggested at these two meetings. In addition, citizens made comments regarding the project at those two meetings and a summary of the staff responses to these comments are also included. Alternative: 1: Connect as per Thoroughfare Plan. This alternative .considers the alignment as proposed by the City's Comprehensive Plan and is illustrated [r~;Alfernate 1. Consideration of 153rd Avenue as an arterial has been contemplated since the e~fly t970's. The design of the Whispering Pines Estates Subdivision which was recorded iwl,972 is such that no lot needs to front on 153rd Avenue, and a minimum number of lots are cortt[gu0?s to 153rd Avenue. Selection of this roUte would follow through on planning efforts formulate_gl almost twenty years ago.