As long as we’ve come to indulge the often extravagant diversion empowered by reimagining, how ’bout, in the course of envisioning a redesign of the Highway 61 corridor through Grand Marais, we reimagine a “town-hopping” freeway that bypasses the community of Grand Marais altogether?
This would leave Highway 61 to the people who want to pedal their bikes and put on their podiatrist endorsed walking shoes to promenade down to the pizazzy downtown plaza. No apprehensions about aggressive, gas-guzzling, motorized vehicles. No more nasty exhaust fumes …or orange flag cone holders for that matter.
I mean, back in the day (before the early 1960s), the main corridor between Duluth and the Canadian border bypassed the community of Grand Portage. It looped stubbornly off on its own through rugged territory, all but abandoning the historic village.
Most of us probably don’t recall this because it dates back to antiquity where trading posts emerged at cross roads between sparsely populated settlements.
Why not consider a bypass? Our own version of a beltway?
It would certainly assist in reducing the volume of traffic – in the heart of the “Coolest small town in America” – providing an alternate route for motorists who do not conform to our slow-moving standards?
If our objective is to make downtown friendly to pedestrians and cyclists, then why not eliminate those obtrusive modes of transportation that require a muffler?
After all, the most challenging undertaking for a motorist is attempting to find a place to park. If we want to transform our car-oriented street to pedestrian friendly, what could be an easier solution than to remove the need for parking and leave the elm trees standing and use the whole of the tarmac for bike racks and shoe boxes?
People in the “know,” know that on-street parking plays a major role in how fast traffic moves through a town. You’ve no doubt experienced this when entering a popular tourist haven; cars slow down to the point where drivers could be accused of loitering as they scheme for that all-important parking spot. When one isn’t available, they circle like vultures and try again.
If there’s no street parking, businesses will start to squeeze vehicles next to their buildings, or if parking availability becomes next to impossible, we might see something akin to parking during the Minnesota State Fair: downtown residences renting out their roadside frontage (great way to earn additional dollars to cover the ever- increasing property taxes).
This leads us to the second-most important ingredient of a successful main street: few to no curb cuts. When a main street has multiple ins and outs (entrances, driveways, alleyways, etc.) it immediately requires pedestrians and cyclists to virtually play a type of video game as they attempt to negotiate the area, dodging vehicles that are coming and going.
If all motorized vehicles were rerouted to the beltway around the town, Main Street could feature solid curbs. No more eluding transportation that holds a decisive advantage.
For businesses concerned about loss of traffic, new signage could be erected on the bypass – providing the scenic bypass committee would allow such reminders of commerce in the pristine wilderness backcountry.
As an added assurance to businesses, a variety of economic impact models could be developed and estimated using regression analysis of economic data from several sources. These models could then be used to quantify the effects of a bypass on business activity in our bypassed town. (Howbeit, somehow we would have to get over the social stigma of being “passed by.”)
A word of advice here …take information from state DOTs and other high-level transportation agencies with a grain of assault …oops, did I say that? I meant a grain of salt, of course.
When people start saying that some higher authority is requiring something, ask for documentation as many of the things we hear public officials and engineers say are not really true. (Aw, come on. You’ve got to be kidding me. Right?)
I recommend any concerned citizen “chase” those kind of statements “back to their source.”
For those who actually do decide they would like to venture into town; a multi-level parking ramp could be added to the present YMCA – as an actual revenue generator – and folks could park their vehicle and rent a bicycle surrey or purchase recyclable walking shoes to make their trek into nirvana.
Take into consideration, however, the experience in town may be somewhat short-lived as the time getting there and back could consume the majority of their weekend.
Hey, if Lubbock, Texas can have its Loop 289 and Paris its Boulevard Périphérique, no reason Grand Marais shouldn’t have its Backwoods Beltway!
Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works, as well as other topics. At times the column is editorial in nature.
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