5. HRSR 08-07-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Added to that will be the chaos that will be created by the start of the busy session for excavation of Jackson Square and the delivery of large planking to both the Bluff's and to the Bank of Elk River as well as the brick work on the exterior of the new bank addition. This will mean that for excavation alone, there will be a dump truck every 3-4 minutes backing into the Jackson Square site each day. Officers will have to stop traffic constantly to make this happen. They will also have to stop traffic frequently to get brick and planking deliveries in as well. The resulting schedule will mean that although the road will be open, it will be impassable or blocked more than it will be open. From a last safety concern, we will have the motoring public driving through the middle of three primary construction areas, with cranes and lifts being operated beside and above them, as well as equipment operating within the same traffic lanes, lanes that due to the latest fencing-are no longer straight, but actually angled as the cars get close to coming back out to the Jackson intersection. Then, four weeks later we close it all down again and have to reeducate the driving public for the remaining part of the closure-perhaps another 5-6 weeks. In closure, the purpose of this correspondence is not to deter the Council from standing by the decision to reopen the road, but to inform the Council of some of the factors that have changed or continue to impact our traffic situation downtown. I understand the predicament and pressure from the business community, and know that opening is what was promised. It may however create a more problematic traffic pattern than what currently exists, so we need to insure that in this case, we know exactly what associated issues will be created once the road is opened, so that we can be prepared to deal with those new issues when they arise.