| Race is on for transportation grants |
By: JIM HAMMERAND, Staff Writer
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Posted: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 10:09 pm
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NORTHFIELD — The city is in the race for millions of federal stimulus dollars after the council voted in a special meeting Monday night to go ahead with a multi-modal transit study of Hwy. 3 and Hwy. 19.
About a month ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced $1.5 billion worth of stimulus grants to be doled out through 2011 for projects between $20 million and $300 million.
To apply, the city will order a $50,000 study of transit issues along the two highways and target congestion-prone areas.
City Engineer Katy Gehler-Hess said higher traffic volumes have crossing the highways more difficult for pedestrians and bicyclists, separating entire neighborhoods from the rest of the city.
“The whole northwest section of Northfield tends to be cut off when it comes to access,” she said.
The solution could be pedestrian bridges, turn lanes, street lights or additional intersection controls, Gehler-Hess said, and isn’t likely to be cheap.
“We’re anticipating these to be high-dollar solutions,” she said.
With applications due in September, Gehler-Hess said the study and public input process would be on an “extremely tight deadline.” Public input would be solicited late next month and in early August, she said.
Council member Jon Denison said the study would provide crucial information even without federally-funded solutions, but Council member Jim Pokorney said he was not comfortable authorizing the study without knowing how likely the city is to secure the grants.
“If they are $20 million (projects), there are 75 projects that could be completed nationwide,” he said, adding that “Texas-size projects” would further reduce the funding pool.
Pokorney cast the lone dissenting vote against authorizing the study.
City Administrator Joel Walinski said the amount to be requested would not be known until the study was near completion, but the program may award requests less than $20 million for smaller cities.
A similar study was set to be conducted this year but was cut when funding dried up.
The council could approve a consultant to conduct the study as soon as July 6.
— Jim Hammerand covers the city. He can be reached at jhammerand@northfieldnews.com or 645-1114. |
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