Live, work, or play around downtown Prior Lake or the Highway 13/21 intersection? Or do you travel through this area often? We want to know how you use, get to, and move through the corridor.
Do you currently travel by vehicle through the 13/21 intersection?
No, I avoid it if I can.
Do you walk/bike through the 13/21 intersection?
No, but I would if there were safer options to cross.
If you do travel through the 13/21 intersection, why? (Select up to three.)
I use it to access Highway 13.
Other - I avoid it whenever possible
Where do you live?
Other - About 3 blocks from downtown and 1 block off Cty Rd 21
If you do travel through the 13/21 intersection, have you encountered the following? (Select up to three.)
Heavy traffic/long wait times.
Traffic crashes or near-misses.
Poor driver behavior (e.g. running red lights, etc.).
Please rate difficulty level of navigating or traveling through the 13/21 intersection, if you do so.
Very difficult, rarely easy.
If the 13/21 intersection is congested and I’m driving, I am most likely to...
Take an alternative route on a nearby street.
What, if any, safety issue are you most concerned about around the 13/21 intersection? (Select up to three.)
Vehicles running a light to get through the 13/21 signal.
Vehicles driving through stop signs at nearby intersections.
Cut-through traffic on nearby streets.
If you were able to choose only one, which of the following should be the top priority for improvements to the 13/21 intersection?
Other - Designate Eagle Creek Ave SE (Cty Rd 21) into a "Parkway." That would eliminate heavy trucks over GVW 9000, or bypass/reroute truck traffic off Cty Rd #21 around the downtown city area like Hwy #13 was done in the 1960s.
Do you have any additional comments, concerns, or would like to expand upon one of the survey questions? Please use the space below.
Concerning the TH 13/CH 21 Project Joint Meeting Set for Sept. 7
Following are my thoughts about the problem with traffic congestion on County Road #21/Main Street and Highway #13 in downtown Prior Lake.
This is a multifaceted problem (traffic noise, speed/safety and congestion). I'm not convinced the consultants (Bolton and Menk) are completely in tune with the effects on neighborhoods along County Road 21.
My concerns are not only with the congestion at Main St. and 13/Cty Rd 21, but also with the traffic noise and speeding vehicles that get to that intersection.
There are too many trucks that aren't using the truck routes that the state has spent so much money constructing and reconstructing. I have witnessed this many times. Semi-tractor trailers and heavy duty trucks are using secondary county roads to get to and from Interstate 35W and Highway #169. Truckers are using secondary county roads (#8, #14, #16, #17, #18, #27, #42, #44, #69, #78, #82 and #83) to access Cty Rd 21. (A detailed explanation is available on request.)
Many of the trucks coming and going from the Lakeville and Shakopee industrial parks aren't using the designed freeway systems, and they are abusing the secondary county roads to connect to Cty Rd 21.
It's time to face reality. Cty Rd 21 from freeway #169 to Interstate 35W going through downtown Prior Lake never was, and never can be designed to handle the amount of traffic and heavy trucks it is experiencing today or what is projected in the future.
Many cities did what Prior Lake did in the 1960s -- rerouted highways around their main streets. I'm not sure what possessed a quiet Prior Lake to even fathom the idea of turning an old railroad bed into "not only a two lane highway" but into a "four lane truck highway" extending from Hwy #169 to Interstate 35W!
One solution would be to designate Eagle Creek Ave SE (Cty Rd 21) into a "Parkway." That would eliminate heavy trucks over GVW 9000# going through downtown off the road and lower the speed limit to 35 mph. 35E through downtown St Paul is a parkway, so there isn’t any reason why Prior Lake couldn't do the same with Cty Rd 21.
The only other logical solution would be to bypass/reroute truck traffic off Cty Rd #21 around the downtown city area like Hwy #13 was done in the 1960s.
**Noise Abatement/Quiet Asphalt Pavement: In the world today, noise has become one of the most pervasive forms of environmental pollution.
Currently we have an average of 11,000 vehicles traveling through Prior Lake on Cty Rd 21 every day. Most of the traffic is probably within an 18-hour period.
That's averaging 611 vehicles in an hour, or 10 vehicles every
minute converging on us. As I'm sitting here writing this
in my residence with all the doors and windows closed and
the air conditioning running, I can hear the truck exhaust
drone/vibration, hum, rumbling sound or whatever you want to
call it, load shifting and rattling along with erratic shift patterns. You can hear noise resonating from before the Wagon Bridge to past West Ave in either direction. This goes on almost all day long, every minute and a half to three minutes lasting more than 20 seconds. This is sensory bombardment (noise) torture as far as I'm concerned, and a serious health hazard.
The vehicle noise restriction policy must be enforced. An all-vehicle and truck noise advisory sign should be placed at the city limits and upon entering town.
Can you imagine the traffic noise, speed/safety and congestion problems we would experience with the proposed 22,000 vehicles going through Prior Lake every day? It isn't sustainable, and I suggest every City Council Member, Scott County Commissioner, Mayor of Prior Lake, highway engineers and other decision makers take a field trip for about an hour, and walk the stretch of Cty Rd 21 on both sides from the Wagon Bridge to Main Street.
Experience for yourselves what the neighborhoods along Cty Rd 21 are experiencing.
That isn't a lot to ask since any decisions you make will have short and long term effects that can change many lives, families and neighborhoods not only today, but for many years, perhaps a lifetime. Hopefully, the decisions you make will be the right decisions for the future of Prior Lake.
Thank you,
John K. Siskoff
Speak Up Scott County is not a certified voting system or ballot box. As with any public comment process, participation in Speak Up Scott County is voluntary. The responses in this record are not necessarily representative of the whole population, nor do they reflect the opinions of any government agency or elected officials.
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Do you currently travel by vehicle through the 13/21 intersection?
Do you walk/bike through the 13/21 intersection?
If you do travel through the 13/21 intersection, why? (Select up to three.)
Where do you live?
If you do travel through the 13/21 intersection, have you encountered the following? (Select up to three.)
Please rate difficulty level of navigating or traveling through the 13/21 intersection, if you do so.
If the 13/21 intersection is congested and I’m driving, I am most likely to...
What, if any, safety issue are you most concerned about around the 13/21 intersection? (Select up to three.)
If you were able to choose only one, which of the following should be the top priority for improvements to the 13/21 intersection?
Do you have any additional comments, concerns, or would like to expand upon one of the survey questions? Please use the space below.
Concerning the TH 13/CH 21 Project Joint Meeting Set for Sept. 7
Following are my thoughts about the problem with traffic congestion on County Road #21/Main Street and Highway #13 in downtown Prior Lake.
This is a multifaceted problem (traffic noise, speed/safety and congestion). I'm not convinced the consultants (Bolton and Menk) are completely in tune with the effects on neighborhoods along County Road 21.
My concerns are not only with the congestion at Main St. and 13/Cty Rd 21, but also with the traffic noise and speeding vehicles that get to that intersection.
There are too many trucks that aren't using the truck routes that the state has spent so much money constructing and reconstructing. I have witnessed this many times. Semi-tractor trailers and heavy duty trucks are using secondary county roads to get to and from Interstate 35W and Highway #169. Truckers are using secondary county roads (#8, #14, #16, #17, #18, #27, #42, #44, #69, #78, #82 and #83) to access Cty Rd 21. (A detailed explanation is available on request.)
Many of the trucks coming and going from the Lakeville and Shakopee industrial parks aren't using the designed freeway systems, and they are abusing the secondary county roads to connect to Cty Rd 21.
It's time to face reality. Cty Rd 21 from freeway #169 to Interstate 35W going through downtown Prior Lake never was, and never can be designed to handle the amount of traffic and heavy trucks it is experiencing today or what is projected in the future.
Many cities did what Prior Lake did in the 1960s -- rerouted highways around their main streets. I'm not sure what possessed a quiet Prior Lake to even fathom the idea of turning an old railroad bed into "not only a two lane highway" but into a "four lane truck highway" extending from Hwy #169 to Interstate 35W!
One solution would be to designate Eagle Creek Ave SE (Cty Rd 21) into a "Parkway." That would eliminate heavy trucks over GVW 9000# going through downtown off the road and lower the speed limit to 35 mph. 35E through downtown St Paul is a parkway, so there isn’t any reason why Prior Lake couldn't do the same with Cty Rd 21.
The only other logical solution would be to bypass/reroute truck traffic off Cty Rd #21 around the downtown city area like Hwy #13 was done in the 1960s.
**Noise Abatement/Quiet Asphalt Pavement: In the world today, noise has become one of the most pervasive forms of environmental pollution.
Currently we have an average of 11,000 vehicles traveling through Prior Lake on Cty Rd 21 every day. Most of the traffic is probably within an 18-hour period.
That's averaging 611 vehicles in an hour, or 10 vehicles every
minute converging on us. As I'm sitting here writing this
in my residence with all the doors and windows closed and
the air conditioning running, I can hear the truck exhaust
drone/vibration, hum, rumbling sound or whatever you want to
call it, load shifting and rattling along with erratic shift patterns. You can hear noise resonating from before the Wagon Bridge to past West Ave in either direction. This goes on almost all day long, every minute and a half to three minutes lasting more than 20 seconds. This is sensory bombardment (noise) torture as far as I'm concerned, and a serious health hazard.
The vehicle noise restriction policy must be enforced. An all-vehicle and truck noise advisory sign should be placed at the city limits and upon entering town.
Can you imagine the traffic noise, speed/safety and congestion problems we would experience with the proposed 22,000 vehicles going through Prior Lake every day? It isn't sustainable, and I suggest every City Council Member, Scott County Commissioner, Mayor of Prior Lake, highway engineers and other decision makers take a field trip for about an hour, and walk the stretch of Cty Rd 21 on both sides from the Wagon Bridge to Main Street.
Experience for yourselves what the neighborhoods along Cty Rd 21 are experiencing.
That isn't a lot to ask since any decisions you make will have short and long term effects that can change many lives, families and neighborhoods not only today, but for many years, perhaps a lifetime. Hopefully, the decisions you make will be the right decisions for the future of Prior Lake.
Thank you,
John K. Siskoff