Mayor, City Council Discuss Alternatives to Easing Congestion on Cedar Avenue

The Eagan City Council discussed ways to ease traffic along the Cedar Avenue managed corridor; the city's preferred alternatives were among those presented by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) at Tuesday's meeting.

MNDOT requested affected cities, including Apple Valley, Eagan, and Bloomington, to weigh-in and select two of the three options offered to be studied further.  

Of the three options presented, the council voted to endorse only one because the city would be, according to Mayor Mike Maguire, "exceedingly unlikely to support" the other two.

The council voted to endorse only that soluti0n the city is willing to support.

The three alternatives that were presented to the city for consideration are, briefly:

• Continuation of a third lane coming out of of Apple Valley that extends to Highway 13 (1B)
• Continuation of the same third lane up to the Cedar Avenue bridge and re-striping of the Cedar Avenue bridge to develop a fourth, high-occupancy/MNPass lane over the bridge (2B)
• Development of a contra-flow lane that automatically opens up for north-bound traffic in the morning and south-bound traffic in the evening to provide extra traffic lanes when they are most needed (3B)

While the council believes that none of the three options represent ideal solutions that would meet the needs of Eagan commuters, the council voted to endorse the contra-flow lane option.

Referring to the three alternatives, Councilman Paul Bakken said, "Because of the negative impact on our constituents, we can only endorse option 3B."

In addition, Maguire named Council Member Gary Hansen as the "acting mayor" should he be unable to attend a council meeting or other official events.

The council also approved the meeting schedule for 2011, following the usual pattern of holding regular meetings of the City Council on the first and third Tuesday of the month, except for weeks when they are precluded by holidays or other events, such as National Night Out. 

Other business included approving council member appointments to various boards and committees and the designation of  Thisweek Newspaper as the official legal newspaper of the City of Eagan for the publication of required public notices. 

On a lighthearted note, Maguire appointed Hansen to the post of assistant weed inspector (according to state statutes the mayor is the city's designated weed inspector) "with the same power, authority, and responsibility of the mayor in their capacity of weed inspector."

City council meetings are streamed live on Eagan Television Station 16 and are available to view on the city's Web site.