Project Area: Louisiana Avenue from W 106th to Old Shakopee Road
About the Project
The City of Bloomington received a neighborhood application for the 2021 Local Street Traffic Management program. This program is a resident option for people living on local, residential roadways that feel there is a traffic speed or cut-through problem. The residents along Louisiana Avenue have submitted an application for traffic calming along this roadway to address their concerns with the amount of motor vehicle traffic and vehicle speeds on Louisiana Avenue. The application refers to the segment of Louisiana Avenue between Old Shakopee Road and W 106th Street. The application specifically requested the installation of a series of speed tables along the Louisiana as the preferred traffic calming tool to reduce vehicle traffic and speeds on this local roadway. Staff proposed a second solution of median and turn restrictions at the intersection of Old Shakopee Road and Louisiana Avenue. This is the solution the residents and staff will be moving forward with.
Process Steps
- Data Collection - Staff has started gathering vehicle volume and speed data along Louisiana Avenue and surrounding roadways. This data will be compared with data collected during the temporary device trial.
- Device Trial - see below for more details
- Public Meeting - Discuss traffic calming goals, device trial and data collection, estimated construction costs, and feedback from residents in the project area and surrounding areas that may be impacted.
- Temporary Device Removal
- Added: Neighborhood Opinion Survey - An opinion survey will be mailed out to the entire neighborhood to gather feedback on the two device trials this summer.
- Surveys - input surveys with "Petition and Waiver of Hearing" forms will be mailed to the property owners in the benefited area. Input surveys will be sent to the surrounding areas that may be impacted. Notice of public hearings will be included in the survey mailing.
- Planning Commission Meeting
- City Council Public Hearing
- Permanent construction 2022, if approved
Trial #1 Speed Tables - Staff installed three rubber speed tables along Louisiana Avenue. Installation is anticipated to be the third week of June. The speed tables will remain in place approximately four or five weeks. Below is the preliminary layout and locations of the three temporary speed tables.
Temporary Speed Table
Temporary Speed Table Installation
Proposed Layout and Location of Temporary Speed Tables (3)
Public Meeting - July 13, 2021
A public meeting to discuss this project will be held outdoors on July 13, 2021 at Hampshire Hills Park, 10601 Louisiana Avenue, between 4 PM and 6 PM. The public is invited to a meeting to learn about and discuss the proposed project and the in-place device trial. Staff will be going over project information, next steps in the process, and taking comments, questions and concerns from the neighborhood about this project.
Informational boards presented at the July 13, 2021 Public Open House are located in the upper right hand corner of this page.
Photo from public open house
This project is part of the 2021 Local Street Traffic Management Program.
To find out more about this program visit the City of Bloomington webpage at https://www.bloomingtonmn.gov/eng/local-street-traffic-management-program
Trial #2 - Median and Turn Restrictions - September 2021
The device trial of three temporary speed tables on Louisiana Avenue has concluded with their removal on August 4, 2021. The trial demonstrated that the speed tables were effective in reducing vehicle speeds at or near the tables and resulted in a small reduction in vehicle volumes on Louisiana Avenue. However, some of the feedback received revealed concerns about maintenance of the roadway and snow plowing equipment with a permanent installation of these devices.
To consider options that may have less maintenance impacts, City staff is going to conduct a phase 2 traffic calming device trial that will place temporary curbing and turn restrictions at the intersection of Louisiana and Old Shakopee, that will test the traffic impacts when restricting left turns onto and off of Louisiana. After the phase 2 trial, the traffic calming effects of the access restriction will be compared to the effects of the speed tables. Please see the median layout on the right side of this page for the design of the right in, right out median.
Temporary median on Louisiana Avenue
Proposed layout and location of temporary median and turn restrictions
November 2021: Trail 2 Removal & Neighborhood Opinion Survey - October 2021
The median and turn restrictions will be removed and normal traffic restored the week of October 18th. Neighborhood Opinion Survey's will be mailed out the third or fourth week of October. (Check back here for a link to the survey document)
December 2021: Neighborhood Opinion Survey Results
Survey results are located in the side bar on the right of this page.
From the results of the survey staff will be moving forward with the median and turn restriction solution. (see trial #2 above)
February 2022 - Petition and Waiver of Hearing forms
The next step in the process will be to send out Petition and Waiver of Hearing forms to the 14 benefitting properties along Louisiana Avenue. The acceptance and return of this form indicates the resident wants a construction project to move forward and is willing to be assessed for a minimum of 1/14th share of a pre-established neighborhood cost for a median treatment (Local Street Traffic Calming Assessment Policy). To be a benefitting property under the Local Street Traffic Management Policy as currently defined, the benefitting properties of a central island are defined as residents/property owners within 300 feet along the block from the proposed central island location. However, in this instance the proposed median treatment provides a self-enforcing turn restriction/movement barrier and the affected or benefitting area is being delineated to include all of the properties adjacent to Louisiana Avenue, matching the original Louisiana Avenue neighborhood application for local street traffic calming. When the petition and Waiver forms are returned, if a minimum of 67% of the benefited area have signed the document, the Public Hearing process will begin and is anticipated to take place in late January or early February.
Update February 27, 2022 - 10 residents along Louisiana Avenue signed and returned the Petition and Waiver of Hearing forms. This represents a 71% return rate and meets the 67% threshold for the project to move forward. Staff will now send this project to the Bloomington City Council for is approval. If approved it will most likely be added to one of this years PMP projects. See above for public hearing notification.
Questions
Feel free to contact the City staff identified on the right side of this page if you have any questions about this project.
