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MARSHALL -- The city of Marshall will be moving ahead with plans to add center turn lanes on Lyon Street and Southview Drive.
At Tuesday's City Council meeting, Marshall city engineer Jason Anderson said there had been "no real" negative reaction to the proposals from neighboring residents.
The center left-turn lanes will help improve safety on two local streets that see a lot of school traffic, city staff said. On Lyon Street, the new turn lane would also fit in with a planned pedestrian median in front of Park Side Elementary.
"We've talked about Southview Drive and about Lyon Street at a couple different meetings," Anderson said.
After a traffic analysis was conducted near the site of the new Southview Elementary, it was recommended that a center left-turn lane be added on Southview Drive between Saratoga Street and Main Street. To make room for the turn lane, a parking lane would have to be removed from the north side of Southview Drive, Anderson said. The current on-street bike path would be moved off of the street near the school site.
On East Lyon Street, the city is planning to build an updated pedestrian crossing with a median in front of Park Side Elementary, near the intersection of Lyon Street and Adobe Road. A center turn lane would help with traffic in front of the school, and fit well with the new median.
"We would propose to remove parking from Adobe Road to Minnesota Highway 23, and keep the painted on-street bike trails," Anderson said.
City council action is required in order to take parking off of streets, Anderson said.
Back in January, council members had asked if neighboring property owners and businesses had been notified about the planned turn lane, and the loss of on-street parking the new road configuration would make. Since then, the city has sent out letters to residents describing the projects, along with contact information if they had questions or comments, Anderson said.
"We received very minimal response. I think we received one response from each section," Anderson said. There was not much negative reaction, he said. "I think one individual was concerned if there would be any sort of change to property values with this project, and we don't believe that there is."
Council members voted in favor of adding the turn lanes, removing on-street parking on East Lyon Street between Adobe Road and Highway 23, and removing on-street parking on Southview Drive between Main Street and Saratoga Street.