Agenda - Public Works Committee - 04/15/2014

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Public Works Committee 5. 4. Meeting Date: 04/15/2014 By: Bruce Westby, Engineering/Public Works Title: Update on 2014 Anoka County Highway Construction Projects and Mississippi River Crossing. Purpose/Background: The purpose of this case is to provide an update on Anoka County Highway Department 2014 Road Construction Program projects impacting the City of Ramsey. Attached is a map and associated list of projects that the Anoka County Highway Department provided to the City on April 8th that outlines their 2014 Road Construction Program. As you'll note, two (2) projects are located within the City of Ramsey. The largest project is an overlay on the segment of Ramsey Boulevard from just north of Bunker Lake Boulevard to Nowthen Boulevard. The exact timing of this project is not yet known. The second project is a potential overlay of Green Valley Road (CR 63) between Nowthen Boulevard and TH 47. This project may or may not occur, depending on available funding. Anoka County will be posting the attached map and project list on their new and improved web site soon. As of the time this case was prepared the web site was still not live. The new web address is listed on the bottom of the second page of the attachment (www.AnokaCounty.us/highways). A link to the County's new site will be added to the City's web site on the "Anoka County Hwy. Dept. and MnDOT Projects" web page as soon as their site goes live. Staff also wishes to update the Public Works Committee on the status of the Mississippi River Crossing. City staff was recently informed that the County plans to update their Transportation Plan in 2018, and part of that update may include removing the proposed Mississippi River Crossing between Ramsey and Dayton (Hennepin County) from their plan. It is staffs understanding that the primary reason for this is that there is some disagreement between the County and the State as to whether this river crossing would primarily serve local transportation needs or a broader regional transportation need. The County feels the river crossing would primarily serve as a regional connection between State Highways 94 and 610 in Hennepin County and Trunk Highway 10 in Anoka County. However, the State feels the river crossing would primarily serve local transportation needs. Since this will impact ownership of the project, the project cannot advance until this issue is resolved. In addition, it is staffs understanding that the City of Dayton does not support the river crossing at this time. Therefore, unless these issues can be resolved before 2018, Anoka County may remove the Mississippi River Crossing from their Transportation Plan. Timeframe: Approximately 10 minutes. Observations/Alternatives: N/A Funding Source: N/A