2005-08-26 Friday NewsThe Friday News
August 26, 2005
NURT
Sue, Guy and I met this Wednesday with Dakota County Staff to be updated on the status of the
North Urban Regional Trail (NURT). Dakota County had met with MnDOT for over a year
working on a plan to construct the NURT between the frontage road and TH110. MnDOT had
given their preliminary approval of the location and, now at the last minute, MnDOT had withdrawn
their approval. Dakota County is now completing plans to construct the trail north of the frontage
road which MnDOT says they will approve. When Dakota County met with the City Council in
June to present their new plan to move the trail north of the frontage road, the Council gave them
approval to move forward, subject to some conditions. One on the conditions was that the frontage
road be moved far enough away from the Tran’s home so that their evergreen screen would not be
removed. At the Wednesday meeting, Dakota County told us that they could not use trail money to
move the road and asked if the City would help. We informed the County that we feel that the
City’s MSA fund could be used to do that work. The cost for moving the road is estimated at
$50,000, and there is enough money in the City’s MSA account to cover that work.
I-35E Update
Traffic flow on I-35E has been a problem lately because MnDOT is in the process of completing a
project to add an anti-icing system to the Lexington Avenue Bridge. MnDOT installed a similar
system on I -35W which has resulted in a 60% reduction in accidents on t hat bridge. MnDOT thinks
that this new system will be able to get a similar reduction in accidents on this bridge. The system
actually uses sensors to calculate the freezing point (which varies due to the deicing chemicals) and
sprays the bridge when the temperature is 3º above the freezing point – hence “anti” icing.
Motorists are being inconvenienced now, but hopefully it will help prevent them from being
inconvenienced this winter. Look for the black spray disks that are in the center of the center lane –
progress.
River Cruise
This Thursday was the Lower Minnesota Watershed District’s annual river cruise. Councilmember
Mary Jeanne Schneeman, Sue McDermott, Patrick Hollister, Bernie Weitzmann and I boarded the
river boat at the Savage Grain Terminal at 1:00 P.M. on Thursday and cruised down the Minnesota
River for the next three hours. The Minnesota Watershed District invites numerous river experts to
be on the cruise who lecture the cruisers as they are on the trip – Met Council, MAC, MPCA, DNR,
Corp. of Engineers, Native Americans, etc. are some of the lecturers. It was an extremely
informative and pleasant trip.
Roy Furman, MAC, told everyone about the airport’s impact on the river (the airport’s 3,500 acres
with 60% of it s hard surface, so there is a huge amount of water runoff from them during a storm).
He also said that MAC will be celebrating the opening of the new north-south runway (17/35) on
Saturday, September 24th from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. – mark your calendars. The opening of
that runway is something for Mendota Heights to celebrate – it is supposed to significantly reduce
our air noise.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Danielson
City Administrator
Attachments: Just the Facts, Pipeline, Pre-Application Meeting Synopsis, Dakota County Sheriff
“The Front Row”, Article “Keeping lakes cleaner, clearer” from MnSun, Article “Exploring the
Constraints of Power: The future of eminent domain in Minnesota”, “City of Mendota Heights
Update” from Thompson Oaks News, Villager Article “Opus fine-tunes plan for 110 luxury homes
on EcoLab site,” Sun Current Article “West St. Paul, Mendota Heights step up enforcement
program”, Sierra Club News Release, Letter from Inver Grove Heights Fire Department, Email
Thank You from T. Lynn Chilgren.