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TRANSPORTATION & TRANSIT SYSTEMS: <br />Highway ~o/~6g <br />As the expert panel indicated, Highway ~o~~6g is the key for success of the ~7ist <br />Avenue FAST. The presence of the regional highway provides the traffic and visibility <br />making retail, commercial, office and industrial development possible. The transition <br />of Highway io~i69 to a freeway will be a significant trigger for development and <br />redevelopment and integral to the roadway change will be the placement of the future <br />interchange. <br />Futurelnterchange <br />The location of the future interchange has significant land use impacts. The master <br />plan examined two locations for the interchange. The first, a more northerly location <br />near the curve of the highway north of the RDF plant, would allow the interchange <br />closer proximity to the Northstar commuter station, Gateway property and existing <br />commercial uses and would provide more direct access to the study area. However, <br />land near the roadway would likely sit undeveloped waiting commercial development <br />with the future interchange, and the location here would likely incur increased costs <br />with relocating portions of the natural gas line. The second option would be south <br />of 65th Avenue, similar to the IRC location. In this option, more land in the Gateway <br />would not beheld for future right-of-way and could develop earlier, but the location <br />is more removed from the existing commercial uses and agricultural land would <br />likely occupy a primary corner of the interchange. The master plan recommends the <br />interchange placement should be at the northern location. The interchange is closer <br />to the built environment and will likely increase property values further into the built <br />area and increase the chances of broader development areas benefiting from the <br />interchange. <br />Additional Considerations for Highway ~o/~6g <br />In zoiz, MN DOT plans a resurfacing of Highway io~i6g. As part of this project, it is <br />understood that MN DOT will be closing all medians except for i7~st and 165th Avenue <br />for safety reasons. Altering access points in this manner will likely initiate some <br />turnover for uses along Highway io~i69 and strengthen the need for more internal <br />roadway connectedness. In the future, the city should work with MN DOT to further <br />investigate overpass options near i7ist Avenue to better connect the land uses west <br />of Highway io~~6g to the study area. <br />THE MASTER PLAN <br />