How to stop an unfair road project

[stopit]

Does anyone have info on methods to stop lousy road projects?

I live on a country road in a Washington County suburb. It is the primary artery for semi, dump, and other commercial trucks because the only other road is blocked for trucks by a low railroad bridge. It is also primary access for a local heavy haul company. So these trucks are the primary user of this road and destroyed it over time.

The city has decided to replace the road and charge local residents based on total acres and not on road frontage. The railroad owns a lot of frontage and is not being charged at all. And the plan is to expand and enlarge the road to accommodate all the commercial traffic.

So the local residents are being forced to build a commercial truck route basically. Feels like corporate welfare to me since the local company and other truckers will benefit while the local residents 'pay the freight'. I could get to my driveway before the asphalt was removed, I can get to it now on the gravel, and I will be able to get home after the road is built. So the thousands of dollars I will be assessed will buy me nothing. I'd get more if I wasted the money at the casino or burned it in the fireplace.

Anybody know who I can contact to stop this?

[stopit]

Yeah, with maps showing routes and locations of particular properties. I'm voyeuristically interested in this.

I'm not sure of any road project that has been stopped, if a road is crumbling it needs replacement. I do know that some road reconstruction projects were successfully "downgraded" in what engineers offered to do. That is, the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Edina, across the Minnehaha creek from Country Club, got the city to rebuild their streets without curbs, keeping a more rural aesthetic, it brought the expense down.

If you live on a country road, I'm not kidding in the least when I suggest maybe you demand the road be rebuilt as a very country road. Go gravel. It's probably what you can afford as property owners. If the county wants the road to be utilized regionally, they should chip in with county funds to bring it up to paved status.

[stopit]

Depends on the volume. Even for strictly-local roads, there's a traffic volume threshold where it's still more cost effective to pave than to keep it gravel.

[FISHMANPET]

From your description, it's not the project itself that's unfair, it's the method of paying for it. It sounds like it's certainly needed based on the businesses nearby, it just seems like those businesses should be paying far more of the cost than the residents.

[stopit]

What I'm looking for is who to contact about a road project that unfairly forces local adjoining residents to pay for a commercial truck route while exempting adjoining businesses. Who can I contact with the State, County, and Local government? And do I contact media or will they even care?

[HiawathaGuy]

Seems to me that you should be contacting whoever is responsible for the upgrade (City or County). There should have been community meetings about the project, or at least a way to find out more before it starts.

Aside from that, not sure that there's much you can do, sadly.
You could contact a news outlet, but I'm guessing that they won't bite... unless there's something incredibly fishy or off about the overall project, I can't seem them digging.

[stopit]

Yes the payment or assessment method is the problem. For example, the assessment is based on total acreage and not road frontage. So if I had 10 feet of frontage or 1000 feet I would be assessed the same for the road.

And the railroad and a large nursery are not being assessed...

[stopit]

The road was paved but it was destroyed by semis and dump trucks. It's the only route available because of a low railroad bridge. My problem is that these trucks won't be paying for the road. And us locals can expect to rebuild this road over and over.

I was thinking that this road should be reclassified as a commercial truck route which I imagine would allow for state or county funding with subsequent assessment relief for local residents...

[Anondson]

Charged based on acreage not frontage is odd. My own neighborhood had its sixty year old streets ripped out, narrowed, and rebuilt. Including sewer, storm water, gas, ... Everything. Friggan expensive as hell, I wish after the fact the city rebuilt it even narrower now and fully eliminating parking on one side. It would have saved some trees and reduced the price.

That's unrelated to your situation, but one point of comparison my neighborhood has is that entirely two city blocks are along the back side of a Supervalu warehouse. No access to it, except for emergency exits. Supervalu was charged for two full blocks worth of frontage and they can't even use the street.

I can see any way they come up with funding the road being viewed as "unfair" by some constituent.

You might have some cause to contact media, funding road construction is a hot topic with both branches of the legislature having dueling plans, MoveMN advocating, and our roads always aging. If you put in some research (traffic patterns, properties, business users) I think you could get Streets.mn to let you author a post laying out your situation to their blog. Streets.mn has partner websites that often crosspost. It's not a bad platform for getting an issue some time in the spotlight.

[FISHMANPET]

Also, you say the asphalt has been removed, so it sounds like this project is under way already?

[stopit]

They have removed the blacktop but I'd like them to leave it as gravel since the huge truck traffic will mean this road will have to be replaced every 10-15 years. This is like a permanent tax subsidy from us residents to the gravel company. Gravel is much more cost effective for us residents who get no benefit from our money building a truck route.