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Mr. Edward J. Callahan, Chair <br />Page 3 <br />April 9,1998 <br />f-. <br />"--J c... f <br />D. To a considerable extent, the retaining wall/barrier problem on the north side is identical and Orono <br />opinions about it are identical. But a major portion of the north side faces the business district ofLong Lake <br />and we assume that the opinions and wishes of Long Lake in that regard will be receiving considerable <br />attention from the Department. The suggestions of that City in their recent report and in connection with <br />the barriers seems sensible. <br />I believe this refers to the request to reflect noise preferentially toward the north side of the corridor from <br />Brown Kocd to Willow Drive. Mn/DOT’s response was that this is consistent with Federal and State noise <br />policy and fvin/Di 'T will attempt to meet this request. <br />3. Trails <br />We oppose the concept of a trail on the south side of the newly aligned railroad on the portion of the <br />corridor easterly of the Fleming Addition. The City is concerned about minimiziug the impact of the, <br />Highway 12 project on the wetlands in the area. If a trail requires additional space, the wetland impacts <br />would be increased. Also, the trail would be in the now very much reduced backyard areas of the residential <br />properties, requiring additional condemnation. It is strongly opposed by the citizens of the area. <br />Mn/DOT is not developing this trail as a part of our project. <br />4 Brown Road Bridge <br />Although both ends of this bridge are technically in the City of Long Lake, the southerly end is a major <br />entrance to Orono. We believe, that serious consideration should be given to whether there is a need for <br />side walks on both sides of the bridge, and to the lighting proposal on the bridge. While we see that the <br />proposed construction of the City Hall and the Fire Station immediately on the south side of the new <br />corridor will be likely to increase greatly the lighting on the south side around those public buildings, and <br />see that for that reason the lighting on the bridge will not necessarily add a great amount of additional <br />intrusive lighting into a neighborhood which is presently private and residential, it does seem that it might <br />be a good idea to keep the intrusion of the lights as limited as possible, i.e. decorative. The corridor, itself, <br />after all makes a complete separation between the actual business district of Long Lake and the residential <br />area, to the south. <br />Mn/DOT’s understanding is that the lighting proposed by the City of Long Lake for the bridge is decorative. <br />Mn/DOT has agreed to provide sidewalks on both sides of the bridge because sidewalks to exist on both <br />sides of Brown Road at the railroad crossing today. <br />5. Willow Drive Bridge <br />This bridge is essentially on the town line between Orono and Long Lake and no construction of public <br />buildings is proposed in this location on the south side of'the track, or on the north side for that matter. So <br />our objection to lighting of that bridge is considerably stronger and the necessity of more than one side walk <br />is also much less apparent. <br />Your concerns are noted, we will insure this becomes a topic for the Design Review Committee.