The future of the Bridge Avenue/Fountain Street/Clark Street intersection is again uncertain after the Albert Lea City Council voted unanimously Monday to reverse a decision it made two weeks ago.

Tuesday, April 24, 2001

The future of the Bridge Avenue/Fountain Street/Clark Street intersection is again uncertain after the Albert Lea City Council voted unanimously Monday to reverse a decision it made two weeks ago.

At the request of Randy Kehr, Parish Council President of St. Theodore Catholic Church, the council decided to withdraw their selection of the concrete island option, also known as Alternative 1, and take another look at all the options available.

&uot;It’s our opinion that the plan approved two weeks ago does not best serve our parishioners or the city,&uot; said Kehr, adding that the prohibited left turns would route church members and visitors downtown. People desiring to reach the north end of town would have to loop back through downtown to head north, he said.

Kehr said emergency vehicles would also feel the impact of prohibited left turns, especially when trying to reach East Main Street or the north end of town.

&uot;We’re are requesting that you take a longer look at the solutions on the table,&uot; Kehr said. &uot;We believe it is in the best interest of the city to rethink the project and to have the planning commission make a recommendation based on all the information available to them including input from all the interested citizens.&uot;

Kehr suggested Alternative 2, or the rerouting of Bridge into Clark to form a single intersection with traffic light, as a better choice. Kehr also proposed a second cheaper option that would designate Fountain and Clark one ways, but the council did not vote to consider it on their list of solutions.

Joe Nelson, a local chiropractor whose office sits on the Clark/Bridge intersection, said he would rather see the city leave the streets alone. He admitted the intersections are awkward but wondered if any of the proposed plans would solve the problem.

&uot;How much demand is there for a change?&uot; Nelson asked the council.

Nelson said he rarely hears complaints from his patients, and doesn’t want the city to attempt to fix the intersection simply for the sake of trying.

&uot;If we’re going to actually take the time to do something as a city, we should make sure and not just create a different problem,&uot; Nelson said.

Paramedic Supervisor Brad Niebuhr said the concrete island plan creates some problems for ambulance drivers at Naeve Hospital. He said one way traffic in the area would also be problematic.

&uot;Keeping both streets open is probably the best situation overall, and then maybe some control methods or lights at the intersection would be helpful,&uot; Niebuhr said.

The council also decided to consider a new plan, proposed by Councilor Ron Sorenson, in addition to the other options already on the table. Sorenson’s plan would leave the Bridge/Fountain intersection largely unchanged except for a traffic light to allow for an easier left turn from Fountain onto Bridge and slow traffic coming up and down the Clark Street hill.

Sorenson said he doesn’t support the concrete island plan or the rerouting plan. He hopes to find a solution that could work with the city’s overall traffic patterns.

&uot;I think this is a unique problem. I think it’s a problem unique to our community because of our lake. We only have a couple of options to get to the north side of town,&uot; Sorenson said. &uot;I think this is an option that would keep the traffic flowing, because we have to look at flowing of traffic, not impeding traffic.&uot;

The council decided to send all the options to the city’s traffic consultant for computer modeling before submitting any more plans to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.