Polk County has gotten approval to move ahead with the planned reconstruction of County Road 10 on Maple Lake’s east shore to allow for back-in parking. Polk County Engineer Richard Sanders said work on the project will begin after the bid process in June. “We submitted the plan to MnDOT for approval with the variance for back-in diagonal parking,” said Sanders. “The variance was approved at the end of March. The plan was approved in the middle of April. The project will be let (out for bid) on June 3 and will hopefully be constructed this summer by the time construction season is done.”
The project will extend from the Maple Lake inlet to the existing approach into east shore. “The project will begin at the south end where county ditch 72 crosses County 10 or the inlet of Maple Lake,” said Sanders. “We’ll start reconstructing from there and go north 1,600 feet to where the first approach is on the east shore. We’re going to widen the road, and put curb and gutter in. There will be a curb 42 feet west of the center line to allow for 60-degree diagonal parking. You won’t have to back in square to the curb, it will be at an angle and when you go leave you’ll be able to oncoming vehicles easier because you’ll be looking out your driver’s side window to see if any traffic is coming.”
Back-in diagonal parking will be safer for beachgoers with a nine-foot buffer between the driving lane and parking stalls with an additional benefit of being able to see oncoming traffic more easily. “It sort of acts like parallel parking to begin with, because you stop along the road like you would if you’re going to parallel park,” said Sanders. “Instead of backing in parallel, you’ll back in diagonally. Then when you go to leave it’s just pulling out into the lane and being able to see traffic before you would if you were pulling out from parking parallel or had pulled in diagonally. It’s a safer way to park.”
A five-foot berm will protect the beach from cars backing into stalls and the beach will be widened to include the current east shore road. “This is going to allow for better use of our beach,” said Sanders. “We’ll no longer have that road along the beach, we’re going to remove that road, fill it in with sand, and get rid of the rocks and weeds. Hopefully, we have a much better-looking east shore park when all is said and done. It will be safer for kids because they won’t be getting out of a vehicle or swimming along the beach and be worried about vehicles traveling next to the beach. We’re hoping for a much better east shore experience for those that want to swim, fish or picnic there.”
Trucks pulling boats will still park down by the boat ramp as the parking stalls will be deep and wide enough for trucks, but not for trucks and boats. “It’s going to be a standard (parking spot),” said Sanders. “They’ll be 12 feet wide, so plenty wide for a truck to back in. There won’t be any boat parking. We have the boat ramp further south and there is parking there for trucks and boats. You’ll possibly also be able to park along the east side of the road. We’ll look and see if we’re going to allow that or not.”
Polk County is also working with MnDOT to reduce speed through the parking area to 45 mph. The beach should remain open for almost all of this summer’s season although Sanders said there is a chance they may have to close it for a short duration of time depending on the contractor’s plans.
