First Avenue

When I miss a day or two of reading the newspaper, I set them aside until I can catch up. My unwillingness to just keep going with today’s newspaper and forget about what I missed prevents me from throwing the old unread newspaper away (I mean recycle). So I was a little behind the other day when I picked up the March 26 edition of the Shakopee Valley News.

I don’t know if this was intentional, but all the stories seemed to have a connection. Four stories appeared on the front page with the following headlines: “Proposed median downtown divides,” “More, longer trains coming,” “Waters begin to recede” and “Green light, finally for Hwys. 169/494.” A fifth story had a photo that appeared next to it. It read: “SHAKOPEE IS CHANGE.”

So it seems that you will be able to get out town easier; but if you choose to stay, things may get a little frustrating with the change that is surely coming. The county, with the cooperation of some of Shakopee’s elected officials, seems poised to construct a four-lane divided road on First Avenue between Spencer Street and Marschall Road.

From my reading of the story “Proposed median downtown divides,” by staff writer Shannon Fiecke, it appears that a divided highway may make it more difficult to get to the other side of the road because of a proposed center median. Some business owners believe this would be bad for business.

But according to the article, Scott County Highway Engineer Mitch Rasmussen thinks medians are good for business. He said: “If you don’t feel safe getting in and out of an area, you don’t go there.” But Mr. Rasmussen, if you can’t get there easily, you don’t go there. Why didn’t the chicken cross the road? Because it couldn’t.

City Councilman Steve Clay believes that people rarely change their minds when driving. In the story by Fiecke he is quoted as saying “I would hope that 99.5 percent of people going to a business know they’re going there before they start driving down the road.”

I reject his premise. I think many people (including myself) are spontaneous when making decisions. Voting may be an exception. I would hope that most people know who they are not going to vote for before they get to the ballot box.

An alternative proposal to have a turn lane instead of a median isn’t favored by the county because $150,000 from the state of Minnesota may not be available to build the median at a later date. I think the county, or perhaps the city, maybe both, will be spending that money and more when they discover that neither Bluff Avenue nor Second Avenue are good alternates for moving traffic east and west.

Neither road is open all the way between Spencer Street and Marschall Road; both would need major improvements for them to handle more traffic, and Second Avenue is cut right down the middle by a train track. Putting more cars and truck on these two residential streets looks even worse when you consider that Second Avenue can only be crossed at three of its eight intersections between Spencer Street and Marschall Road.

But wait, there’s more.: From another story, “More, longer trains coming,” by Fiecke in the same edition of the Shakopee Valley News, we learn that soon we could be waiting twice as long with twice as many trains. Plus, they are getting rid of that wonderful, soothing “clickety-clack” sound.

Maybe I’ll just keep a stack of newspapers in the truck to read while I wait to cross the road.