Minutes - Council Work Session - 09/14/2015 - Joint with Elk River CC

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Ramsey Councilmember Williams asked if they had to close any crossings in order to get crossing improvements. Elk River City Engineer Femrite stated the railroad looked at their crossings and determined there was not, due to their spacing, any crossing that could be closed so they are doing the necessary safety improvements to keep all of their crossings open. 3.04 Local Road Funding Ramsey City Engineer Westby updated the group on local road reconstruction in Ramsey. Elk River City Administrator Portner asked if there is a bike trail on the south side of Highway 10. Ramsey Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Mark Riverblood explained what the area is. Elk River Councilmember Westgaard asked if Ramsey received much pushback from the State on the interchange going in. Ramsey Mayor Strommen stated they approached this project with a planning study, looking long term and long range across the corridor which has been agreed to with MN/DOT and multiple cities along the corridor. Ramsey City Engineer Westby showed a map of the interchange and indicated a couple of closures associated with this project. Elk River Councilmember Westgaard stated there did not seem to be a lot of closures along the interchange that affect businesses. He stated Elk River has had to deal with that issue along their corridor which continues to put stress on businesses along Highway 10. He wondered as Ramsey has moved through putting in an interchange, how strict MN/DOT has gotten with closing a lot of the access points with their existing businesses. Ramsey Community Development Director Gladhill stated a lot has to do with the timing of the highway improvement itself. He indicated the study really helped with the businesses and closures that are being made. Ramsey Asst. City Administrator/Economic Development Manager Brama stated one of the things that helped them be successful was that the City has been acquiring properties and has spent a lot of time and resources ahead of time to make it easier and a more ready to go project for the State. Ramsey Mayor Strommen thought this has been a hard issue for the City, not only on Highway 10 but also on their County roads. She stated the trend in Anoka County has been to put in medians when improving a road and if they are not on Highway 10, they are on a County Road, which is where a lot of their businesses are located. Mayor Strommen thought the approach here was almost easier than when the improvements were made to the County roads. She thought this City Council Work Session / September 14, 2015 Page 4 of 9