歪歪漫画

BEMIDJI -- The Bemidji City Council narrowly squashed a proposal on Monday that would have added three roundabouts to the Highway 197 business corridor.

Proposed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the three roundabouts would have been installed between Hannah Avenue and Gillette Drive, with the goal of helping to reduce the severity of traffic accidents and increase access to the area for pedestrians and cyclists.

鈥淲e鈥檙e either in the preservation mode or we鈥檙e in the reconstruct mode; and to be in the reconstruct mode, we have to address the safety concerns out there, 鈥� MnDOT representative Darren Laesch said about the corridor. He then added that roundabouts are an effective way to increase the safety of motorists. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a proven measure to reduce those injury-type crashes.鈥�

Council members Nancy Erickson, Jim Thompson, Ron Johnson and Mike Beard voted against the possible roundabouts. Mayor Rita Albrecht and council members Michael Meehlhause and Emelie Rivera voted in favor of the possibility.

Monday鈥檚 decision was only for the first phase of the proposal. A second phase, which would add even more roundabouts along the same road, was set to be considered at a later time.

Although the council ultimately denied the proposal, the reaction during Monday鈥檚 meeting to the possibility spanned the gap from support to opposition to requests for compromises in the scope of the project if the council did, in fact, allow it to move forward.

One of the community members who spoke on the issue, Wes Hegna, received an ovation from the rest of the those in attendance when he said he would like to see the council vote against the roundabouts.

Kevin Williamson of Super 8 said he was also against the proposal and said his business would lose quite a bit of property. He asked that his property be moved to the second phase if the council approved the motion Monday to move forward with MnDOT鈥檚 plans.

Both Erickson and Johnson voiced support for the businesses that would have been affected by the change.

鈥淚 have not talked to one business that wants this -- not one,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淗alf of our tax base comes from the business community鈥� If the business owners haven鈥檛 bought in, you haven鈥檛 done your job yet.鈥�

There was one community member, though, who voiced support for the project, saying she appreciated the fact that the plan would make the corridor more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists.

Meehlhause referred to the proposal as a 鈥渙nce in a 30-year opportunity鈥� to make the business corridor better.

Albrecht said the proposal was an opportunity to be forward thinking. She also said that while there were objections to the plan, there were opportunities to bring those forward at earlier stages before Monday鈥檚 meeting came around.

鈥淚 just think this is such a missed opportunity for this community to have a beautiful business corridor,鈥� Albrecht said. 鈥淚鈥檓 sad about the fact that folks were not willing to think about the broader context of how this could improve that corridor.鈥�