Roundabouts are starting to be found in more Minnesota cities. St. Francis is looking at becoming one of those cities with construction possibly starting as early as the summer of 2015. If the proposed dual roundabouts are indeed put in; then St. Francis would be the first town in the Anoka county region to construct roundabouts as an answer to traffic problems.
Some of the issues that the county and city are looking to fix include improving the safety for motorists and pedestrians and providing better traffic circulation, especially during school starting and ending times.
The proposed project is a set of two roundabouts contracted to WSB and Associates. WSB has hopes that the roundabouts will be a perfect way to fix the problems. They are hoping that roundabouts would allow for better access to the businesses.
There was an open informational meeting to brief the community about the project that they have planned. The plan that is in place right now is a collaboration of multiple people. However, this may not sit well with some people.
“We are interested and would appreciate your feedback,” said WSB consultant Andy Palman. However, they are not very interested in making any changes to the proposed plan.
One of the main reasons for not wanting to change the plan is because of funding.
“The city would get 1.3 million dollars in federal funding,” said Palman.
This is a large portion of the total cost for the plan. The estimated cost for the whole proposed plan is 2.5 million dollars. The remaining 1.2 million dollars for the cost would be split up in between Anoka county funding and Saint Francis. The amount that each would pay is yet to be determined. The amount that they would pay could change depending on the changes that the citizens want to see added to the plan.
An addition that is being considered is the construction of a full sidewalk on one side of the road in order to allow for the easy cummute of pedestrians. However, this may create a problem because the funding for the sidewalk would add to the amount that the city would have to pay.
Despite the mixture of thoughts and feelings regarding the construction of the roundabouts, most people seem to be in agreement about one thing: St. Francis needs a solution for the traffic congestion.