Richfield Transportation Commission: Residents Should Expect Short-Term Road Closures, Long-Term Road Repairs

The Richfield Transportation Commission discussed long-term repair plans for a number of key arterial roads in the city before hearing about “traffic calming” methods currently being considered to reduce high traffic on 69th and 70th Streets, west of Interstate 35W, at its regular monthly meeting Wednesday night.

The commission also heard about upcoming 76th Street road closures related to the . Beginning May 5, 76th Street will be closed indefinitely at the railroad crossing between Lyndale and Nicollet Avenues, with further road closures on 76th Street and elsewhere unfolding over the summer.

Arterial Road Repairs

The commission is currently trying to establish guidelines by which deteriorating arterial roads such as Lyndale, Nicollet, Penn and Portland Avenues–along with sections of Richfield Parkway and 76th and 77th streets–might be rated in an effort to decide which roads are most in need of repair.

“The goal for this whole process is, we’ve got Penn, Nicollet, Portland and Lyndale [Avenues] that all will have to be reconstructed in the relative near future. How do we prioritize which one we want to put first?” asked Jeff Pearson, transportation engineer for the city.

“Basically [we’re] stepping away and saying, 'What are we really pushing for now?'" Pearson added. "There are different categories or items that would lead you to [repair] different roads."

Although the commission reached no decisions at Wednesday’s meeting, Pearson asked that members take into account the pavement conditions, traffic volumes and crash rates of each arterial road when considering a standard the city could adopt for future road rehabilitation projects.

In addition, no firm time line for repairing each stretch of road exists, over the next decade the city hopes all 18 of the presently identified arterial road segments will be addressed.

“We’re hoping by 2020 they’re all reconstructed, as far as [the project’s] time frame goes,” said Kristin Asher, city engineer for Richfield.

"What we want to do is not stop with [road construction] on 66th Street," Pearson said. "[The city] wants to move from 66th Street into some of the other [roads] that need to be worked on, and not just keep pushing them off."

"Traffic Calming"       

So-called “traffic calming” methods—which include speed humps, raised crosswalks and other measures designed to impact busy roads by slowing drivers down or discouraging them from using certain residential streets as thoroughways—were considered by the commission in response to complaints about stretches of 69th and 70th Streets west of I-35W.

Pearson reported that while residents have expressed concerns about segments of both 69th and 70th streets in particular, the city hoped to establish standards for implementing “traffic calming” methods more dispassionately in the future. Pearson said that, while neighboring Edina uses such standards and Richfield doesn’t currently maintain any.

“Edina has a policy where if someone wants “traffic calming” there’s a process they go through, and Richfield doesn’t have that now,” Pearson said. “Instead of looking at it item by item, [the city] would like to set a policy.”

In other news, the commission received a report from Asher regarding upcoming road closures on 76th Street as a result of the Metro Sewer Project. In addition to the railroad closure beginning May 5, starting on May 9, 76th Street will be closed at Nicollet Avenue for an estimated six weeks.

Between July 5 and Aug. 12 the Nicollet Avenue Bridge is also scheduled to be closed for resurfacing, and Portland Avenue will be closed along 76th Street at a date still to be determined.

The next commission meeting is at 7 p.m. June 1. Construction is still underway at the new municipal center and it is unclear whether the meeting will be held at the "old" Richfield City Hall or in the new facility. Richfield Patch will update readers as more information becomes available.