Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 07/14/2011

Home

3. PROJECT INFORMATION Minnesota Department of Transportation SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL 2011 INFRASTRUCTURE GRANT APPLICATION SAFE e. d 3B. Describe the proposed infrastructure project and how it addresses the problems in question 3A. Provide information on the constructability of the infrastructure and provide any typical sections or plans if applicable. In order to provide a safe travel route for students walking and biking to Ramsey Elementary School, this project seeks to construct new trails, ten feet in width and nearly one mile in length, which will fill three major trail gaps existing along important travel routes to the school. These new trail segments will be located along Nowthen Boulevard NW/CSAH 5 and Sunfish Lake Boulevard NW/CSAH 57. For both streets, there is sufficient existing public right-of-way to construct the new trail entirely within the public right-of-way. The design of the trail will be in compliance with MNDOT, CSAH and ADA standards. The project will be in compliance with NEPA with minor impacts to the environment. Care will be taken to remove only necessary vegetation, including bending the trail if needed and feasible to avoid existing trees. All construction will be within existing public right-of-way and no water resources will be impacted. The contract will include sediment control during construction and all landscaping will be properly restored. Since Ramsey has a typical suburban street pattern with limited through -streets, travel routes to Ramsey Elementary School are limited to just a few streets. Both of the north -south streets that are potential walking and biking routes to the school are high traffic arterial streets. Filling in these three proposed trail gaps along the only two north -south through -streets in the vicinity of the school will significantly improve the safety of students walking and biking to school. These three trail projects will complete the trail network for the neighborhoods south of the school and provide safe and convenient walking and biking routes for students living in these neighborhoods. Having complete, visible trail segments will reduce barriers for walking and biking, and encourage families to utilize non -motorized means of travel regularly to and from the school. In addition to designing and constructing the new trail, the City of Ramsey will assume year -around maintenance of the new trail. Maintenance responsibilities include providing snow removal during winter months. The City's policy is to have snow cleared before children make their way to school within a two-mile walking zone around each school. This sidewalk project is an example of the City's efforts to address the community's concems about the safety and convenience of walking and biking in the community. The City of Ramsey completed a community survey in 2002 that found an increasing interest in trail usage. This finding led to changes in the Transportation and Park & Recreation elements of the Comprehensive Plan which established policies to promote on -going sidewalk and trail system planning and implementation as an alternative transportation option. In 2007, the City was awarded a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota to conduct a Health Impact Assessment (IBA) in conjunction with the City's 2008 update of its Comprehensive Plan. The HIA was completed in 2008 and the recommendations were used to develop many of the Goals and Strategies in the updated Comprehensive Plan in various chapters. A Housing Survey of residents was also recently completed and it found substantial support for increasing neighborhood walkability but concems about traffic speed and pedestrian safety were raised.