Dear Council Member

10/09/2013
Dear Council Member,
How the space in the #61 corridor between #96 (to Stillwater) on the north and White Bear Avenue to the south is used will speak volumes of our priorities. MNDOT will not be back for decades. This is a legacy decision that goes well beyond place-making design elements and decorative lighting.

Cities and towns built for walking do better. These are places people want to visit and live because it feels like a town. And for people of all abilities to want to walk and bike they must feel safe. Having adequate, defined space for walking and biking is a big part of feeling safe. When in close proximity to roads, the use of space needs to be balanced with speed to allow everyone to coexist safely.

Highway #61 through White Bear Lake has four lanes and no shoulder today. It was removed years ago. That’s where the bikes would be in the better weather and the snow would pile in the winter.  The posted speed limit on #61 through town is 40 MPH and the car count is at 30,000/day. Over the course of the 1.4 miles of #61 that is our main street there are five traffic lights at these intervals:

Highway #96 North to 7th Street........0.3 miles

7th Street to 4th Street......................0.2 miles

4th Street to 2nd Street.....................0.2 miles

2nd to Lake Avenue............................0.3 miles

Lake to White Bear Avenue..............0.4 miles......total is 1.4 miles

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  Why is the speed limit over a 1.4 miles distance through the center of our city, filled with lights set at 40 MPH? As cars work to reclaim the posted speed limit between lights, this generates excessive pollution, noise and exhaust.
  
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  Adopting a 30 MPH speed limit is safer for everyone. People who are walking or on bike and hit by a car at 40 MPH have an 85% chance of dying from injuries. At 30 MPH it drops to 45%.
  

Precedent for making Highway #61 our Main Street and dropping the speed limit comes from the town of Hastings. Hastings renamed its stretch of downtown #61 Vermillion Street, named for the nearby Vermillion River.  In 2008, the Hastings Economic Development Commission hired a planning firm much like McComb Group. They were tasked with examining business and residential use along their stretch of #61. They made plans for this prime section of road and recommended what needed to be done to make it safe and economically successful. Here are some comparisons worth noting:

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  Hasting's Vermillion Street district extends over 1.4 miles....just like White Bear Lake.
  
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  #61 through Hastings has a daily car count of 30,000.....just like White Bear Lake.
  
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  Both communities have four-lanes with a median and a mix of businesses and residential on both sides of #61.
  
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  Hasting's speed limit is 30 MPH and White Bear's is 40 MPH. Our community needs to ask why?
  

The upcoming re-surfacing of #61 next year is a pivotal and possible legacy event for this present town board. We urge you:

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  Demand a 30 MPH speed limit. It makes White Bear Lake safer, cleaner and easier for everyone to access up and down the corridor. Precedence for this is in Hastings.
  
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  Create a plan that connects everyone who lives and works and goes to school along or near the 1.4 -mile core of White Bear Lake.
  
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  Create a plan that includes facilities for safe biking and walking in parallel to #61. It's the law.
  
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  Follow our City’s own roadmap. Meet the objective stated in the White Bear Lake 2030 plan, "Establish a balanced, multimodal transportation system with emphasis on connectivity, safety and aesthetics.”
  

Sincerely,

White Bear Lake Bike Walk Task Force