MN-51/Snelling Ave in Roseville / Arden Hills

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
pannierpacker
Metrodome
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Joined: July 16th, 2013, 6:25 pm

MN-51/Snelling Ave in Roseville / Arden Hills

Postby pannierpacker » July 6th, 2016, 6:47 am

Roseville staff and city council are considering widening northbound Snelling Ave to 3 lanes north of Highway 36 throughout the section in Roseville that contains stoplights:
http://www.cityofroseville.com/Document ... View/20283

On June 20th, council took a vote to apply for federal funding for this project and to pay for a traffic study for this section of roadway. It is anticipated that costs will be around $2 million for this project.

Does anyone even think this is possible, given the right-of-way impacts and how close the service road is to the highway? I have concerns about what this will mean for the University of Northwestern, given how bad the area already is for pedestrians. Also, it is ironic considering that the Snelling Ave BRT just opened but MetroTransit chose to terminate the line at Rosedale instead of continuing it north like Roseville and Arden Hills wanted them to. Why is this project even perceived by Roseville staff/council as being necessary, and why is such a cheap, short-term, and ineffective solution being considered to a much bigger problem? Why not wait until the funds are available to do something better?

Mdcastle
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Widening of Snelling Ave?

Postby Mdcastle » July 6th, 2016, 7:19 am

They already have a layout, so it's possible.

Why is it necessary? Because there's a severe congestion problem (LOS F) at the signals and this project will fix it. Unless the locals want to cough up a *lot* of money for interchanges, a more permanent fix isn't going to happen with this not even being a principal arterial, and MN 252, US 10, etc being bigger problems and priorities.

jebr
Nicollet Mall
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Location: St. Paul (East Side)

Re: Widening of Snelling Ave?

Postby jebr » July 6th, 2016, 8:02 am

I know traffic in that intersection is terrible during rush hour. The traffic is backed up to at least MN-36 in the afternoons, and it crawls along. A couple weekends ago I took Fairview instead of Snelling to the University of Northwestern due to the crazy traffic on 51 (northbound during the PM rush.)

As for why this when the Snelling Avenue BRT didn't get extended to Arden Hills but this project is funded, it's probably a mix of some traffic on 51 is non-local traffic and the fact that the current feeder routes to Rosedale from the north aren't very frequent (so there's no real proof that the market is strong enough for every-10-minute BRT.) Making the 223, 225, and 227 into every-30-minute routes all day (and having commuter service both directions on the 225 and 227 for both rush hours, instead of having it be only in one direction on each route in a loop) would help to build a case for better service and see if there's a strong enough market to justify an extension of the BRT line to Arden Hills.

Mdcastle
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1209
Joined: March 23rd, 2013, 8:28 am
Location: Bloomington, MN

Re: Widening of Snelling Ave?

Postby Mdcastle » July 6th, 2016, 8:28 am

Also, based on our observations from when my sister attended Northwestern, it's mainly middle class to rich kids that have probably never used a bus. It wasn't often that they'd leave campus at all, but when they did they'd all pile into one of the few cars on campus and go to Target or the movies or the used bookstore or wherever. The insular campus, required and optional on-campus activities in addition to classes and studying, and a strictly enforced prohibition on drinking and dancing even off-campus means a different culture than say the U of M.

Crossing at Lydia Ave is an issue because the college has a dorm on the other side and surrounding apartments are full of students. Maybe find another $2 Million or so for a pedestrian bridge?

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
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Re: Widening of Snelling Ave?

Postby mattaudio » July 6th, 2016, 8:58 am

Snelling would be an excellent Multiway Boulevard south of Lydia or at least C2.

hoffm83n
Metrodome
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Joined: April 22nd, 2013, 3:19 pm

Re: Widening of Snelling Ave?

Postby hoffm83n » July 8th, 2016, 1:50 pm

there is constantly the problem of traffic from c2/c not being able to turn onto snelling northbound because of congestion. If this was 3 lane road southbound i would be opposed. I am concerned about the pedestrian crossings however, there are constantly cars sitting on the crosswalk on C, a decent amount of disabled people crossing C2 from low income housing at 2820 snelling and students at lydia. this needs to be addressed

pannierpacker
Metrodome
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Joined: July 16th, 2013, 6:25 pm

Re: Widening of Snelling Ave?

Postby pannierpacker » November 3rd, 2019, 11:14 pm

there is constantly the problem of traffic from c2/c not being able to turn onto snelling northbound because of congestion. If this was 3 lane road southbound i would be opposed. I am concerned about the pedestrian crossings however, there are constantly cars sitting on the crosswalk on C, a decent amount of disabled people crossing C2 from low income housing at 2820 snelling and students at lydia. this needs to be addressed
Redesigned intersection at C2 (west side) just opened at the end of last week.

Also, MnDOT is planning a cable median barrier in this same area. It would go from County Road C up to 694.
https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetin ... ument.aspx


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