José Flores scanned the parade of cars zipping down this dense thoroughfare in West St. Paul.
He waited on a bench for the bus, bags stuffed with groceries beside him. The nearby Walmart is one reason Flores, who lives on St. Paul’s East Side, frequents this retail-laden stretch of S. Robert Street. But his preferred shopping corridor, with two lanes in each direction and turn lanes at intersections, can be tricky to traverse.
“There’s too much fast traffic,” he said, explaining that drivers turning onto the main road sometimes cut off pedestrians making their way across.
Since February, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has been studying the corridor from Annapolis Street to Mendota Road to craft a plan to boost pedestrian and driver safety. The agency has solicited opinions from residents, many of whom want to reduce speeding and increase the corridor’s walkability.
MnDOT public engagement coordinator Alyssa Kruzel said the agency is considering various approaches to improving safety — from slowing traffic to modifying signals to slashing the number of parking lot entrances.
It will be the latest makeover for West St. Paul’s main thoroughfare. A multimillion-dollar revitalization push brought dozens of new businesses to a 2½-mile stretch of the corridor. Workers also installed center medians on parts of the road to reduce dangerous left turns.
But safety concerns remain, the MnDOT study states.
In May, a driver turned left onto the corridor from Wentworth Avenue on a flashing yellow arrow, ramming into a person crossing the road, a preliminary investigation found. The 36-year-old Brooklyn Park woman, who investigators said had the right of way, died days later.