Share your thoughts on plan for Hwy. 10 interchanges

Ramsey has a design for the $135 million project, though construction may be years away.

By JIM ADAMS, Star Tribune

Last update: June 17, 2009 - 2:40 PM

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HWY. 10 OPEN HOUSE

Residents can view design plans for the Hwy. 10 project and ask questions on June 25 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Ramsey City Hall, 7550 Sunwood Drive NW.

Nobody knows when the work will start, but Ramsey and state officials have picked a design for two new Hwy. 10 interchanges and access ramps that will be discussed at an upcoming open house for area residents.

The $135 million plan would replace stoplights at Sunfish Lake and Ramsey boulevards with complete interchanges that would carry side streets over Hwy. 10 and the railroad tracks on its north side, officials said.

Rush-hour congestion and the number of crashes have been mounting on the 2.6-mile stretch of Hwy. 10, along with the area population and commuter traffic. The Sunfish intersection was in the top 1 percent of similar metro area intersections for the cost of annual crashes from 2004 to 2006, said Brian Olson, Ramsey's public works director.

Citizens who attend a City Hall meeting on June 25 can view designs for the improvement, ask questions and voice concerns on how the work might affect businesses or residents, Olson said. He said the plan has been modified after past public comments and can be again.

"We have been working on this for a number of years," Olson said. "The city understands and realizes the traffic congestion that occurs in our region. An upgrade of this magnitude would be extremely helpful."

Even if the project isn't built for years, the final approved plan will show city planners where the highway and its ramps will run so they can make wise decisions on local land-use proposals, Olson said. He said the city favored the selected design because it retains access for local businesses and moves Hwy. 10 north a bit to reduce impact on the Mississippi West Regional Park south of the Ramsey Boulevard end of the project along the river.

The project, which will have interchanges like the one recently built on Hwy. 10 at Hanson Boulevard in Coon Rapids, is not funded in the 20-year plan of the state Department of Transportation, said Mark Lindeberg, MnDOT's north area engineer.

"It could happen, but I don't see any money coming within 20 years," Lindeberg said. ''It [traffic] will get worse before it gets better."

What's the earliest start date?

"If money fell from the sky, it could be four or five years before we could get to it," he said.

Lindeberg said the project is a highway expansion, which is a lower MnDOT priority now than road maintenance and safety improvements.

A state survey found the Sunfish intersection averaged 60 crashes a year that cost about $522,500, and its crash and severity rate were well above the metro average for similar intersections between from 2004 to 2006, reported an environmental assessment study for the project.

The study found afternoon rush-hour backups at Sunfish Lake were already below state standards in 2007, when the average delay at Hwy. 10 was almost 7 minutes for vehicles heading south on Sunfish Lake. The Ramsey Boulevard intersection ranked in the top 10 percent of similar metro intersections by crash costs.

Because of safety and congestion concerns, about $2 million of improvements, using local and state funds, were made last year by adding north and southbound turn lanes and medians on Sunfish Lake at Hwy. 10, Olson noted.

Ironically, high accident and congestion rates will buttress the city's case for state funding for the Hwy. 10 upgrade. The Ramsey project is a lower priority than many other metro area highway needs, Lindeberg said, adding: "A lot of areas are in a lot worse shape."

Ramsey will keep working to get into MnDOT's 20-year-plan, Olson noted. "I think it will get done," he said. "It's a matter of time and DOT going through more of their higher priority projects until they get to ours."

Jim Adams • 612-673-7658