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<br />Chair Elvig agrees that if the City gives MnDot the opportunity they will not take any risks and <br />shut it down. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen stated that the perhaps the median should be shut down, ifit isn't safe. <br /> <br />Public Works Director Olson stated that this issue is being brought forward to ask if the City <br />wants to do something,. prior to it being closed down, by making changes that still provide the <br />same amount of access. He stated that if these changes don't work, then it can be dosed down. <br /> <br />Councilmember Olson stated that she feels putting in the porkchop, right in/right out and <br />allowing no left hand turns would take the License Bureau clientele out of the equation. <br /> <br />Chair Elvig stated that he thinks this will only take care of about Y4 of the issue. <br /> <br />Mr. Kiefer stated that his suggestion is to close off access in front of the License Bureau and go <br />through the Well's Catering property which would straighten things out and drivers would only <br />have to deal with traffic from one area. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen stated that he has been listening to all the comments, but it boils down to <br />the fact that he is not a traffic engineer. He stated that he thinks all the comments are valid and <br />. would like to let MnDot make the decision because their expertise far exceeds ours. <br /> <br />Chair Elvig suggested that staff be directed to come up with ideas that they think would be <br />workable and present that to MnDot and get their feedback. He stated that he remains concerned <br />that they will just say shut it down. <br /> <br />Councilmember Olson stated that she has the same fear, but does agree with Councilmember <br />Dehen that it is a safety issue and they are the experts. She stated that she also likes Mr. Kiefer's <br />idea of creating a kind of service road by Well's Catering. <br /> <br />Chair Elvig reiterated that he feels staff should go to MnDot with some ideas of our own. <br /> <br />City Administrator Ulrich stated that he shares the concern that if the accident data is brought to <br />MnDot, they will be concerned with liability and simply shut down the access. <br /> <br />Public Works Director Olson stated that he is not sure what the City can bring to MnDot, for <br />example, with a design of this interchange because once they are made aware of the accident <br />history, he feels they will say, I am sorry but this needs to be closed down. <br /> <br />Chair Elvig stated that they have the accident history so they should already be aware <br /> <br />Councilinember Olson asked if the City could explore what would need to happen to cut a <br />service road down to JR's and Wells and shut down the intersection. <br /> <br />Public Works Committee / October 21, 2008 <br />Page 9 of 11 <br />