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Foot traffic a concern at County Road 2/6th Street North public input meeting

Safety. Walkability. Lighting.

9/18/13 (Wed)

By Caroline Downs

Safety.

Walkability.

Lighting.

Kenmare residents living along Sixth Street would like to see those three elements improved as a project is designed for the heavily-traveled road, also known as Ward County 2, through town.

Those topics, and more, were discussed September 11th during a public meeting facilitated by Moore Engineering, Inc. and Ward County at the Kenmare Fire Hall.

“It’s up to you what direction you take this project,” said Brock Storrusten, branch manager of Moore Engineering. “Whatever we do today is going to be here for 50 years or more.”

Storrusten and engineer David Roedel addressed an audience of about 30 individuals, including Kenmare mayor Roger Ness and most of the city council members.

“There’s a lot of maintenance that’s continuing to be required on this roadway,” Roedel said about the 0.9 miles of county road through Kenmare.

He listed several factors to be considered in the project, including traffic, pedestrians, safety, pavement failures, storm water conveyance, utilities’ locations, traffic control, grading, and urbanization with sidewalks, lighting, drainage and storm sewer placement.

“We’ll be staying within the county’s current roadway,” added Storrusten. “We know we have to reconstruct the road, so we thought let’s get together with the city and do something the residents want.

“Our plan is to design a shovel-ready project by February so as additional funds come available, the county can go after that money.”

He and Roedel encouraged a broad vision for the project, which will be coordinated with the City of Kenmare.

Local residents had specific concerns, however, beginning with slowing the traffic and increasing awareness of the road’s use by pedestrians, especially children.

Other questions raised during the meeting addressed loss of yard and parking space to road improvements, responsibility for road maintenance, width of the road to accommodate farm machinery, drainage problems, steep inclines from the city’s avenues onto the road, and privacy for the residents living there.

“The road will go right by my dining room window,” Lisa Bartlett explained. . . .Read EVERY WORD on EVERY PAGE of The Kenmare News by subscribing--online or in print!