La Crescent business owners petition for downtown road access

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Sep 22, 2004 | by Hollnagel, Gayda

LA CRESCENT, Minn. La Crescent business owners continued their fight Tuesday night to have an access road to the downtown business district included in Minnesota Department of Transportation plans for the reconstruction of Hwy. 14/61.

"If we continue to limit access to our business district, we won't have one," Dewey Severson of the Downtown Business Association said at a public hearing to review the final layout of the proposed improvement project.

More than 70 people, including many business owners, attended the two-hour meeting, which included a presentation by Gary Reihl, project engineer for the transportation department.

Reihl, noting that discussion of the project had begun about 10 years ago and the planning process started 4 1/2 years ago, said the City Council has 90 days to review the project. If approved, right-of-way acquisition could begin by the end of the year.

As proposed, he said, the $15.1 million project would affect 19 properties, including three residences and 16 businesses.

Eric Kiesau, a La Crescent chiropractor and president of the Chamber of Commerce, presented a petition signed by 46 business owners to the City Council, asking that any approval of the state project be contingent on access to the downtown via Walnut Street and also from Main Street.

He said the plan as proposed seems based on "how quick you can get people through La Crescent without stopping."

Reihl said it would be up to the city to decide whether to acquire the Pump-N-Munch gas station and convenience store at 304 S. Third St. to gain access to downtown via Walnut Street. He said the state doesn't have the money to buy the property.

Mayor Mike Poellinger said he doesn't know how soon the council will act on the plan.

"I anticipate it won't be approved as presented," he said, adding that he expects council members will ask the state to modify its plan to include access to Walnut Street and add traffic lights at North Second Street.

Poellinger said he doesn't have a firm figure for what it would cost for the city to buy Pump-N-Munch. But because the city would also have to pay for road reconstruction to connect to Walnut Street, it could add $500,000 to $750,000 to the city's total cost, which already is estimated at $2.18 million.

As presented Tuesday night, the plan includes:

* Construction of a new bridge, slightly north of the existing one, that will better align with South Third Street.

* Modifications to the Main Street intersection, which will have access to the east of the highway but not West of it.

* Modifications to North Second Street, which will be shifted to the north, straight into Elm Street.

* Construction of a park and ride in the southeast quadrant of the intersection along South Chestnut Street.

* Updates to the intersection of Chestnut Street and the highway, to make it safer.