Make Snelling Avenue safer

How safe could Snelling Avenue be for people on foot or bicycles had plans dating back several years been implemented? Members of Hamline Midway Coalition don’t want those plans gathering dust on a shelf at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).

A safer Snelling is the goal of an effort that includes area district councils, as outlined in a letter sent to the Minnesota MnDOT April 1, 2024. No hoped-for improvements are in MnDOT’s 10-year plan for St. Paul projects, which dismays neighborhood activists and members of St. Paul Planning Commission Transportation Committee.

The committee reviewed projects April 1 with MnDOT Metro District North Area Manager Molly McCartney. Committee members asked for an update in six months.

Snelling is State Highway 51. It is a major truck route through area neighborhoods. But it also goes through commercial nodes and residential areas, near schools and institutions.

The Snelling improvement effort is led by HMC, which represents neighborhoods north of University Avenue and south of Pierce Butler Route. District councils from Como, St. Anthony Park, Union Park, Macalester-Groveland and Highland have signed on in support. The combined population in the areas represented by the six councils tops 100,000, according to the letter. 

The letter is also going to local and state elected officials.

“How can we get this back on the agenda?” said Kevin Sands, a member of HMC’s Transportation Committee. He said community members are willing to lead walking tours and hold community meetings to discuss their concerns.

One point HMC has made is that neighborhoods south of I-94 have obtained needed improvements, including medians and new bike and pedestrian accommodations. Two projects are planned in Highland and Macalester-Groveland this construction season, and a third project is in MnDOT’s 10-year plan.

Other members of area district councils’ transportation committees agree, noting how traffic speeds up on the Snelling viaduct over the railroad tracks.

The Planning Commission committee members also took note of the situation. “When can we get MnDOT to do something?” said Planning Commissioner Brian Martinson. He noted the level of detail in the shelved plans and the unanimous support from elected officials.

McCartney said that while she doesn’t have a good answer, she has made MnDOT leadership aware of the desire for improvements. MnDOT staff are aware of the safety problems on Snelling and are reaching out to the district councils.

“We’re trying to figure out how and when we bring projects back,” she said.

Martinson said he and his family once bicycled from their home in Macalester-Groveland to the State Fairgrounds, along Snelling. It’s not an experience they would repeat. 

An example cited by HMC is the 2012-2013 Snelling Avenue Multi-Modal Planning Study. That study made many bike and pedestrian safety suggestions for Snelling between I-94 and the State Fairgrounds.

Another bike and pedestrian safety plan was prepared in 2014-2015, when MnDOT brought local stakeholders together to make bike and pedestrian safety plans for the stretch of Snelling between Hamline University and the State Fairgrounds.

By 2017, MnDOT had prepared fully engineered plans for a safe route. Those plans were also removed from the MnDOT website. Advocates were told that any changes would be delayed until the Snelling viaduct is replaced in 20 to 30 years.

While the city’s draft bike plan calls for a separated bike facility between Hewitt and Como avenues, that could also hinge on when the viaduct is redone.

HMC pointed out that the most recent work on Snelling was in late 2023, when more than 300 large new traffic signs were installed between West 7th Street and Larpenteur avenue at a cost of $425,000. The new signs included big new stop signs and one-way signs, and at least 80 new “Do Not Enter” signs. No signs were added to improve pedestrian crossings.

HMC called the 2023 project “another disappointment on Snelling Avenue after years of neglected plans for improvements.”

“The size and placement of these signs is a clear reminder of MnDOT’s primary focus on maintaining Snelling Avenue as a highway, rather than what it functionally is: a 30-miles-per-hour city arterial through residential neighborhoods and commercial districts.”