Curious case of a phantom intersection

By JIM FOTI, Star Tribune

Last update: October 26, 2009 - 10:51 AM

If an intersection goes away, should the stop signs go with it? Alert reader Howard of Woodbury thinks so.

Drivers on a 50-mile-per-hour stretch of Valley Creek Road are required to stop at the top of a certain hill. With bushes on one side and barricades on the other, the only cross traffic you're likely to see is the occasional squirrel.

The other street was disconnected from the intersection in 2006, and the city has kept the stop signs for safety reasons. Sightlines are limited because the hill is pretty steep (Roadguy trekked out there the other day for a look), and halfway up one side is a driveway that would probably be even more dangerous if cars were flying over the crest.

Klayton Eckles, Woodbury's city engineer, said the City Council weighed all sorts of factors, including drive times and fuel economy, in deciding to keep the signs. "We have to make do with the topography and the situation," he said.

The city's long-term plan is to widen the road and cut down the hill a bit. Until then, Howard may have to learn to enjoy the view from the top.

Windshield washing

Alert reader Pam called last week to ask Roadguy to remind drivers to turn on their headlights when it's raining or snowing (it's the law, she noted), and she had another safety thought: Why doesn't her favorite place to buy gas provide her with a way to clean her windshield?

That place would be Costco, the members-only warehouse club known for some of the cheapest fill-ups in town. Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti told Roadguy that locations around the country generally don't offer squeegees and the like, but a few do. There's no rule one way or the other: "It's all about low costs," he said.

So unless Pam can persuade her local Costco to pony up, she'll have to do some math: Is she saving enough on gas to buy her own Windex?

Rusting away

Alert reader Marilyn read last week's story that mentioned where various remnants of the old Interstate 35W bridge are being stored, including Bohemian Flats in Minneapolis, and she has a question:

As I bike along the Mississippi River, I note the increasing rust on the remaining parts. What are the environmental implications of these rusting parts on the river quality and our health?

The pieces do have lead paint on them, said Kevin Gutknecht, chief spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. That's why there are sandbags and silt-retention fences between the debris and the river.

More important, he said, once the parts are removed, the soil will be cleaned before MnDOT returns control of the land to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. That could be a while, however -- the parts are considered evidence, and lawsuits about the collapse aren't scheduled for trial until 2011.

The new 35W bridge opened in September 2008, and on Sunday, it won the grand prize in the 2009 America's Transportation Awards, given out by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the American Automobile Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Questions or comments? Jim Foti can be reached at 612-673-4491, or at roadguy@ startribune.com.