Cedar Avenue United

Here's a quick list of potential talking point for our MEETING WITH PUBLIC WORKS ON JUNE 3RD, WHICH IS OPEN TO ALL THAT ARE INTERESTED. The idea of the following list is to explore what is wrong, how it can be fixed (possibly) and other examples of this issue around the cities.


One example of where devices for traffic taming are being actively installed into retrofitted roadways is Richfield. 66th Street, which runs East/West near the Target/Home Depot complex, carries about the same traffic load as Cedar and is being fitted with roundabouts. Roundabouts have been proposed in the past for Edgwater Blvd. Roundabout have been also been implemented at the intersection of Portland and 66th where the traffic load is roughly 15,000 from Portland and 13,000 from 66th.

The average (based on pre redesign MNDot numbers) on Cedar is 16,250 with a high/low ranging from 19,400 to 14,300. Lyndale, by comparison is 14,075 ranging from 17,000 to 11,100

Marshall and Lexington Avenues in St Paul have undergone some serious, though more conventional, calming measures. Lane reductions, protected parking, bike lanes and street painting are among the improvements.


Franklin Ave too is undergoing a major facelift in order to revive its local commercial nodes. Changes include protected street parking, pavement painting, signage and bike lanes.


As far as other examples of freeway to residential shifts the only other example in our area (that I can locate) is Lyndale Avenue. Lyndale Avenue, according to MNDot traffic volume numbers, carries slightly LESS traffic on a larger roadbed than Cedar Ave. prior to the redesign.


Compared to Cedar, Hiawatha Ave, which is a wide, multilane 45 mph thoroughfare, carries only 35% more traffic than the 1 lane portion of Cedar Avenue, a residential and light commercial corridor.


Of the former trunk highways within Hennepin county, almost all have undergone major infrastructure transformation since their days as a state route. With the redesign of Lyndale all are now either low to medium capacity city streets or freeways.

For reference, historic Summit Ave in St. Paul was once a trunk highway.

Editorial/disclaimer:
As always it is important to note that the goal of this project is NOT to reduce cars on Cedar Ave. The idea is to tame out of control traffic through different means. Cedar is, always has been and always will be a main South Minneapolis street. It should not, however, be an unregulated and unplanned freeway through a series of residential, recreational and park areas. All previous planning has stated this fact, though none have ever gone far enough to actually control the variables.

The original planning documents for the Mpls freeway system states that the function of roads such as Cedar is to allow local traffic to access nearby destinations and allow for freeway access. The later design connecting a 55 mph, 4 lane freeway directly to a 30mph, 2 lane City Street did not seem to take this into consideration.

So ADD YOUR THOUGHTS HERE. Questions collected over the next month can be presented at the meeting. The answers will be posted on our website www.cedaraveunited.org . Feel free to submit by comment OR join our list serve at: http://cedaraveunited.onlinegroups.net/