interchange project, the cities of Shoreview, Little Canada and
Vadnais Heights, in collaboration with Ramsey County, MnDOT and their
consultants, a firm called SEH, have already spent close to a
half-million dollars or more ($450,000 for the 3 cities alone) chasing
a $7M federal grant. You would think, for a half-million dollars, SEH
or whoever's getting the money, could at least produce a legible
drawing of the proposed bridge project, one that clearly shows how all
the lanes of vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic would, or would
not, move safely through the interchange.
http://www.sehinc.com/online/rice694
The administrative costs for the $7M federal highway grant, including
the production of what I suspect are “illegible by design” drawings,
are already approaching a half-million dollars or more. The $27.1M
concrete project could end up being not only a lot more expensive, but
also a lot worse, than a $20M bridge project with no federal funding
and associated administrative costs.
Using the pictured design, try figuring out how a vehicle exiting
westbound 694 is going to cross 2? lanes of roundabout traffic to go
eastbound on Rice Street. Again, using this wonderful half-million
dollar drawing, try figuring out how you would get through the center
roundabout safely, without the aid of a signaled crosswalk, on foot or
by bicycle, while crossing multiple lanes of high-speed traffic moving
on and off the freeway. Maybe others see something I can't, but it
looks to me like either scenario would be more than a little risky, if
not life-threatening.
According to the story in the Roseville Review/Lillie News, the
elected officials touting their success in getting the money for this
insane concrete project, Shoreview Mayor Sandy Martin, State Rep.
Jamie Becker-Finn, and Ramsey County Commissioner Blake Huffman, say
the bridge, which will have a wider sidewalk, will be better for
pedestrians.
http://www.lillienews.com/articles/2017/07/10/legislature-approves-funding-new-rice-bridge-over-i-694
I suggest Mayor Martin, Rep. Becker-Finn and Commissioner Huffman be
the first to try crossing the 3 roundabouts, including the one in the
middle that will have vehicles racing onto and off the Interstate, on
foot or by bicycle during a weekday rush hour. If and when they do, I
suspect they will become much less enthusiastic about pumping asinine
concrete projects while chasing worse the worthless federal grants.
It might be funny if it wasn't real. Imagine, you're flowing along at
70 mph on 694, or better yet, you're one of the many morons going 80
trying to get ahead of those slow-pokes going 70, as you approach Rice
Street and prepare to exit. You now have maybe a block or 2 to hit
the brakes on a multi-lane exit ramp before you arrive at multi-lane
roundabout. While navigating the exit ramp, going from highway speed
to roundabout speed, presuming you haven't already crashed, you will
need to end up in the correct lane to go either north or south on Rice
Street, or, to get back on the Interstate to get to the exit you
missed. Sound confusing? It gets worse. Once at the roundabout,
assuming you've managed to navigate the multiple exit and multiple
roundabout lanes correctly, you will then need to either yield,
possibly coming to a complete stop – that's 70 mph or faster to 0 mph
in a matter of seconds – and allow the north-south traffic on Rice
Street to pass through, or, you will have to pray that the north-south
traffic on Rice Street yields for you. “Good luck Jim, this tape will
self-destruct in seconds.”
Picture this. 2, 3, or 4 vehicles arrive at the center roundabout,
where traffic is getting on and off the east-west Interstate as well
as passing through on north-south Rice Street, all at about the same
time. One vehicle is a large SUV or other large truck and another is
a much smaller subcompact. Who has the right-of-way? If your driving
the subcompact, and you think it's you, think again. And if you're in
the much smaller vehicle, and you stop to avoid getting creamed by the
moron that fails to yield, good luck not getting rear-ended by another
moron kissing your bumper.
The traffic engineers, those “experts” responsible for our ever
expanding traffic and road construction mess, tell us 3 roundabouts
would be faster, safer and cheaper than the current 4 sets of traffic
signals at the Rice-694 interchange. If that's the case, why don't
they knock out the 4 sets of traffic lights at the Lexington-694
interchange and see what happens? If the Shoreview mayor, the county
commissioner and the state legislator think the roundabout plan for
Rice Street is so wonderful, why not take it for a test run on
Lexington first before spending $30M to execute the asinine plan on
Rice Street? As someone who lives walking and biking distance from
the Rice-694 intersection, I would be more than happy to let Mayor
Martin stick the 3 roundabouts on Lexington in beautiful “downtown”
Shoreview and give the neighborhoods along Rice Street, including
mine, the 4 sets of traffic signals.
While it may look “cost effective” on a federal grant application,
replacing 4 stoplights with 3 roundabouts is penny wise and pound
foolish. When the crashes inevitably occur, as drivers, as they are
prone to do, fail to yield right-of-way, or do yield when they're not
supposed to, or go spinning and crashing as they try to speed around
the wet, snow and ice covered pavement, traffic could be backed up,
for long distances, for long amounts of time, in all 4 directions as
police, ambulances, tow trucks, and clean-up crews deal with the mess.
In a very short period of time, the costs of the crashes alone, could
easily eat up any savings derived from eliminating 4 sets of traffic
signals. As unsatisfactory and slow as the current Rice-694
interchange may be, $30M dollars and 3 roundabouts later, it's going
to be a lot worse, a lot more often. If you think it's slow now, and
except for weekday rush hours it isn't that bad, wait and see how fast
the traffic moves when the Hummer meets the Bug, the Prius meets the
pedestrian, or the mini-van meets the icy circular road. The asinine
concrete project, proposed by consultants collecting a half-million
dollars to chase a federal highway grant, is an accident waiting to
happen.