Yankee Doodle Rd. median closure delayed in Eagan

The Eagan City Council has been persuaded to consider a less-restrictive alternative to closing the median at Yankee Doodle Road and O'Leary Lane in Eagan after nearby store and restaurant owners said they were concerned about losing customers.

After hearing testimony and receiving letters from a handful of businesses, Eagan council voted unanimously Dec. 16to continue the issue until its Jan. 20 meeting.

That will give city and Dakota County engineers time to study the proposed alternative, known as a three-quarter intersection. The county, meanwhile, will design other elements of a larger plan for intersection improvements at Promenade Avenue and the heavily traveled section of Yankee Doodle Road just east of Interstate 35E.

Those improvements, called for in a 2007 study intended to smooth traffic and increase safety on Yankee Doodle Road, also would improve access to the planned City Vue Commons project. That's the 112-unit apartment complex that developers are planning in the 10-story office building that formerly housed Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

The mixed-use City Vue Commons development, which council members approved in June, eventually would include construction of a new 90-unit apartment building and 28,000 square feet of retail space on an undeveloped part of the 10-acre property.

The intersection improvements, which would include realigning Promenade Avenue and adding or lengthening turn lanes in the area, would cost an estimated $1.2 million. The developers would pay $400,000 of the cost, with the city responsible for $350,000 and Dakota County for $450,000.

The proposal to close the median on Yankee Doodle Road at O'Leary Lane drew objections from residents at a neighborhood meeting in November and a public hearing earlier this month.

Racine said he would support an alternative that neighboring businesses have proposed for a three-quarters intersection.

The three-quarters intersection would allow westbound drivers to take a left turn from Yankee Doodle Road to go south onto O'Leary Drive. But it would prevent drivers from turning left from northbound O'Leary Lane onto westbound Yankee Doodle Road.

Michael Schifsky, senior real estate manager for Ashland, which owns a Valvoline Instant Oil Change location on Yankee Doodle Road, told council members the company could live with a three-quarters intersection at O'Leary Lane.

"If they can't take a left when they're coming up, we really can't expect our customers to be inconvenienced to the point where they're going to turn around at some point down the road and come back to us," Schifsky said of customers who live in residential areas east of the Valvoline store and use westbound Yankee Doodle Road to reach it. "They're going to go find a competitor."

Mayor Mike Maguire said he favored taking time to study the three-quarters intersection proposal.