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The Austin City Council, by a slim margin Tuesday night, approved its design choice for the massive one-way reconstruction project slated to begin in 2025.

By a 4-3 vote, the council adopted the second of three options that will narrow the overall width of Oakland Avenue and First Avenue by three feet from 44 feet wide to 41 feet. Driving lanes would be 11 feet wide each as opposed to 12 feet and parking would lose six inches from 10 feet down to nine and a half feet.

While the council voted 5-2 to move the option out of a work session earlier this month, this latest vote was much closer with those voting against the option worried about going against the wishes of the majority of 587 responses in a second online survey calling for the roads to be left at current dimensions when replaced.

In that most recent survey, 327 or 55.71% of respondents voted for the option that maintained current specs while 227 or 38.67% voted for the council’s choice.

Council member Geoff Baker said he struggled with the idea of going against the wishes of the majority, who he said they clearly wanted to maintain the roads as they were, a sentiment that was backed by both Paul Fischer and Joyce Poshusta Tuesday night.

“But we’re going to ignore that and we’re going to narrow it by three feet to add three feet of sidewalk,” Baker said. “Why are we ignoring these people?”

It was the same concern carried over by both Baker and Fischer, who were the dissenting voices in the work session. Assistant City Engineer Mitch Wenum answered Baker’s question by saying that people haven’t been ignored during the process, citing the first meeting where people pushed back on the idea of taking away street parking on one side. Based on that, the engineers and design firm went back to create three more options, all with parking left in on both sides.

Wenum also stated that the road width reduction down to 11 feet for the driving lanes still leaves it within the standard of 10-12 feet driving lanes.

Council member Mike Postma called Option 2 a win-win as it addresses slower traffic speeds among other concerns, and that the 55%-45% difference represented a tight window for and against.

“The other thing I heard loud and clear was the desire to calm down and slow down traffic on that road,” he said. “It is scientifically proven over and over again the wider the road the faster people will go.”

“While No. 1 might have been the most popular one, it was 55%, which means 45% of the folks wanted to do something different,” he added.

Council member Jason Baskin also questioned whether or not the sample size who wanted to maintain road dimensions was large enough to accurately represent Austin, something Baker disagreed with.

Baskin added: “I think the pluses outweigh the negatives. We’re making it more accessible and safer for pedestrians.”

Fischer countered arguments for the option by saying: “When you have 55% who want to leave it alone and us as a council voted in by those folks say your opinion really doesn’t matter, here’s what we want — that’s not right to me.”

The project, once completed, will replace a span of road on both one-ways totaling 25 blocks. The work will include Oakland Avenue from 12th Street NW to First Street NE and First Avenue SW from 12th Street SW to Main Street and will be done roughly in eight-block chunks each year. 

Construction time for the project will stretch from 2025-2027 and will take place alongside much of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s bridge replacement project on Interstate 90. That project will begin this spring starting with the Oakland Avenue bridge on the west edge of Austin.  

For more on the one-way project, visit: https://oakland-and-1st-austin-gis.hub.arcgis.com/

Whitewater project design gets $25K boost

On the heels of the one-way project discussion, the board also voted by a 5-2 margin to put $25,000 toward the proposed whitewater project that would be built into the Cedar River if approved.

The money would come from a budgeted $50,000 that was earmarked for a proposed new trail, which was to run from Highway 218 to East Side Lake, however, because easements couldn’t be obtained from property owners, the trail never came to be. The $25,000 will be used to help complete 30% of the design for the park and came about after the Hormel Foundation was approached in hopes of attaining a $7.5 million grant for the project. While not giving a yes or a no, the Foundation required more details of the project before committing.

The design is expected to cost around $75,000 to reach this more detailed preliminary design, which would include the city’s $25,000 in tandem with money the project is trying to gather from donors to the project.

While Laura Helle, Jeff Austin, Postma, Baskin and Poshusta all voted for the money, the move received considerable pushback both from Baker and Fischer

“I am not a fan of this whitewater project,” Baker said. “I think the economic benefits are fuzzy. Soft at best.”

Feeling the money was best spent elsewhere when considering issues like food security, better housing and under-funded public safety groups, Baker also questioned how much the park would actually be able to be used, pointing out a slim 20-40 day period that recreation would be viable given Minnesota weather and rate of river flow.

“You’re not going to find me on a surfboard in Austin, Minnesota in April,” he quipped, adding that he was also worried about water quality, something the project would require another $48,000 for in order to do sediment and depth studies of the Mill Pond area.

However, those who voted for the project, maintain that the project should be considered more of a beautification and enhancement project, with Baskin saying that the money needed to get further into the design is a chance to see what’s needed while at the same time, may also prove the project isn’t viable.

“We may have a different conversation when we get the design back,” he said.