On Tuesday, a group from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) was in Crookston to catalog the condition and compliance of Crookston’s downtown sidewalks.
The cataloging is being done ahead of a joint corridor study between the City of Crookston and MnDOT to develop a plan to bring Crookston’s downtown pedestrian infrastructure into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), explained MnDOT District 2 Project Manager Matt Upgren. “Right now, a group of us from MnDOT are cataloging the existing conditions in Crookston with the sidewalk and pedestrian infrastructure,” said Upgren. “We’re gathering that information right now that we’ll use later in the corridor study process to make decisions off of what’s compliant, what’s not.”
Upgren said Tuesday’s cataloging showed a lot of issues with steep cross-slope (the slope from the face of the building to the curb), as was discussed by Upgren and the Crookston City Council at an October 12 Ways & Means Committee meeting (here). “There are a lot of areas with some pretty steep cross-slope,” said Upgren. “The sidewalks don’t look like they’re in the best shape, so that’s what we’re hoping to address with the upcoming study.”
In the previous meeting, a four-foot widening of the sidewalks was mentioned as a possibility to decrease the cross-slope. Upgren, however, emphasized that while MnDOT has initiated the conversation, they won’t move forward without involvement from the City of Crookston. “That four-foot seems to be the magical number,” said Upgren. “I just want to stress that we’re not moving ahead with any decisions without the business owners being involved and without the local elected officials being involved. Maybe some folks around town have heard about curb lines moving. I just want to stress that MnDOT is not coming in and doing this without complete and total involvement from the City of Crookston and those business owners.”
The first step involving the city and business owners is reaching a joint agreement, part of which is being prepared by MnDOT to complete the corridor study for possible review at next week’s City Council meeting. “Right now, MnDOT is working on getting the scope of work created,” said Upgren. “That will be coming soon, even as early as this week, getting that over to the City Council for review.”
The City Council and MnDOT had discussed starting with a corridor study because of the wide range of factors that need to be considered for a change to downtown Crookston. Upgren said the hope is to get everything on the table before any plans or decisions are made. “We want to know, first of all, what do we have to deal with here,” said Upgren. “What kind of condition is our sidewalk in here in Crookston. We’re going to use that to drive some of the discussions that are going to come up. We know there are some trickier spots along the corridor here – up where Highway 2 sort of doglegs to the north, there are some tight turns. We have truck drivers. We have freight loading and unloading areas, a lot of things to look at. We hope to look at all of those things and make sure everything is on the table before any decisions are made.”
If changes are made to make downtown Crookston safer and meet ADA compliance, it will need to involve the support of a wide section of Crookston said, Upgren. “We want this to be a community-driven project, a locally-led effort,” said Upgren. “This isn’t MnDOT coming into Crookston telling Crookston what they have to do with their corridor. This is something we want to partner with Crookston on. Make sure the local elected officials, the business owners, and a whole cross-section of community members are on board before we talk about any radical changes to town here,”
The group will finish their cataloging effort Wednesday.
