Balcerzak Drive Corridor Study Online Meeting 5-29-25

 0:00
 All kind of kick things off here.

 0:01
 First of all, just wanted to thank everyone that hopped onto the the meeting here tonight.

 0:07
 I know it's dinner time, so I appreciate you tuning in and learning about the study.

 0:11
 I'm just going to start by doing some introductions, so I'll kick it off here.

 0:17
 My name is Connor Cox and I am a senior transportation planner for Bolton and Mink.

 0:22
 We are the consultant that has been hired to work on this corridor study, and I am serving as the project manager.

 0:30
 So I'll kick it over to Chris.

 0:35
 My name is Chris Talamantes.

 0:37
 I'm the transportation planner for the Mankato North Mankato Area planning organization.

 0:44
 And hello, everybody.

 0:46
 Thanks for being with us.

 0:47
 I am Paul David.

 0:47
 I am the Director of Engagement and Communications at the City of Mankato.

 0:56
 Thanks, Paul.

 0:56
 John, can you hear me?

 1:01
 Yep.

 1:02
 Yeah.

 1:04
 Transportation Operation Supervisor, You're on Mankato Transportation.

 1:12
 All right, great.

 1:12
 And then in addition to the folks that are on the call here, we have several other staff either with Maple or with the City of Mankato that are on the project team.

 1:21
 But just we're not able to make the meeting here today, but have been involved in the past and will be involved throughout the study.

 1:29
 Those folks are listed on the right.

 1:32
 So before we get into the content, I just wanted to go over a couple meeting logistics.

 1:38
 So just the first thing I wanted to mention is that this meeting is being recorded.

 1:42
 So once the meeting is over, we will upload that recording to the project web page.

 1:49
 So folks that were unable to attend this meeting tonight will be able to go into the web page and, and watch the video of the meeting recording.

 1:57
 And then in terms of your interaction tonight, all participants are muted, but we will be using AQ and a chat feature.

 2:07
 We have a number of different kind of questions and prompts throughout this presentation.

 2:11
 So you'll see a little comment icon like the one on the right here throughout the presentation.

 2:18
 And when you see that, that's indicates a time when we'll have kind of a a discussion on a couple of topics.

 2:26
 So again, we'll be using the the chat feature for any questions and comments.

 2:31
 So you can you'll be able to you'll see a pop up as we go through the meeting and it'll it'll prompt you to to enter a response or ask a question as we go.

 2:43
 So keep an eye out for that.

 2:47
 So kick off the presentation here today just with an agenda of what we're going to be talking about.

 2:51
 So first we'll just discuss what kind of overview of the study.

 2:57
 So you know what is a corridor study, what are the extents of the study?

 3:01
 And then we'll get into some of the existing conditions that are out on Balserzak Drive today.

 3:08
 And then we'll transition into what we are doing for community engagement and stakeholder engagement for the study and fill you in on what we've done to date and then what we have planned for the future as well.

 3:20
 And then we'll just close things out with next steps for the study.

 3:24
 And at the end of the presentation, we have a opportunity for folks to ask questions to the the project team and, and get responses.

 3:36
 So a little more background about the study.

 3:39
 First, I wanted to just start explaining the study area itself.

 3:42
 So this study is looking at Balserzak Dr.

 3:47
 throughout the entire corridor.

 3:48
 So from Warren St.

 3:50
 on the West End to Victory Drive on the East End, and paying particular attention to those kind of four key intersections that are highlighted, So Warren St., Monks Ave., Pole Road and then Victory Drive.

 4:07
 This study is intended to be a collaborative process.

 4:11
 And so that's why we host meetings like this, to make sure that we are engaging with community members and other stakeholders and getting feedback from folks that use the corridor every day and really understand what the issues are and what the needs are.

 4:25
 So community members and stakeholders are going to play a large role in influencing the study, both in terms of identifying issues or challenges along the corridor, but also when it comes to recommendations for the future of the corridor.

 4:41
 And then we have a number of partners on the study.

 4:43
 So the city of Mankato is involved.

 4:46
 A couple of staff are here today.

 4:49
 Mapo, as Chris mentioned, is the Mankato, North Mankato Area Planning Organization and then again the consultant team.

 4:57
 I am with Boltman Menk and we are working on a number of the more technical aspects of the study.

 5:03
 So I just wanted to start with what a corridor study is and kind of what that entails.

 5:10
 You may be familiar with with other corridor studies, but if you're not, I'll kind of go through it briefly.

 5:16
 So a corridor study is a planning process that is fairly high level.

 5:21
 It really looks to understand how a road works today and how it might be able to be improved.

 5:28
 So some of the things that we look at and focus on our safety, that's usually number one in our in our minds.

 5:36
 And then also looking at things like traffic flow and, you know, access and accessibility for everyone who uses the corridor, whether there's someone that drives the vehicle or they're walking or biking or riding the bus.

 5:49
 So this is it's a multimodal study kind of looking at all those different modes of transportation.

 5:56
 What we'll be doing, some of the things that we'll be getting into is identifying issues along the corridor and a lot of that will be done from your help.

 6:05
 So we'll be looking for feedback in this meeting as well as an online survey to help identify those issues.

 6:13
 And then our team will be analyzing a lot of the more technical data, things like, you know, traffic counts and, and crash analysis, things like that.

 6:21
 And using all this information to develop some different design alternatives or design options that may be recommended in the future.

 6:31
 And then the study will wrap up with the final report that will outline kind of a long term vision for the corridor and some recommendations for future improvements.

 6:44
 So a little bit more of a recap on kind of the study purpose.

 6:47
 So really, you know, the study will aim to evaluate a comprehensive improvements to the corridor that can really better serve all people that use it today, whether again, or whether they're walking or driving or biking or or taking the bus.

 7:04
 Some of the the needs and issues that we are looking to evaluate or identify might include things like intersection operations and safety, travel speeds along the corridor, pedestrian and bike, you know, connectivity and safety.

 7:21
 And then again, looking at transit stops, both in terms of what the accommodations are today, but also the placement of the stops at the locations of those stops.

 7:31
 We haven't got into the phase of the study where we're looking at improvements or identifying improvements.

 7:36
 But some of the things that we may look at down the road in the study are could be changes to the number of drive lanes or the width of drive lanes on the corridor.

 7:47
 We might be looking at turn lanes, you know, adding turn lanes potentially at some locations if necessary.

 7:55
 Looking into what we call traffic calming measures, which is just a, a kind of jargony term to mean different measures or ways to slow vehicles down to create safer streets.

 8:09
 Also look at enhancing pedestrian and bike facilities as needed.

 8:14
 And then again, getting into the transit stop locations and and amenities.

 8:18
 Based on the feedback that we receive, we'll evaluate whether or not some improvements to transit is needed.

 8:29
 So a little bit, I guess zooming out to, to give you a sense of what this study process looks like and our approach to the study.

 8:36
 So we kicked off this study a couple of months ago, just in the spring here.

 8:41
 And really what we've been doing up to this point is digging into those existing conditions on the corridor and analyzing what is out there today, as well as getting input from folks like you from from people that, you know, use the corridor every day or, or live near it or work near it to really understand how people use the corridor and what those needs are.

 9:05
 So we're kind of in that first, you know, third or first half of the study process.

 9:10
 Our next steps where we'll be going to next is starting to pinpoint specific issues and opportunities based on that feedback that we receive.

 9:19
 And then once we have those issues identified, we'll move into the next phase of the study, which is starting to understand or, or develop different design options or alternatives and then evaluate those alternatives.

 9:32
 So really have a better understanding of which alternatives are meeting the needs that were identified, you know from from the stakeholders and from community members that provided feedback.

 9:45
 And then towards the end of the study process, which will be wrapping up later this year, we will have a final study report which will outline a number of different recommendations for the future of bolsters that drive looking out into the far long term.

 10:02
 The city of Mankato would would look to implement the improvements that are recommended in in the in the corridor study.

 10:09
 So there's no planned projects at this stage, but in the future, the city would be looking to kind of implement the design options that are presented in the study.

 10:24
 So I'm going to transition now and and talk a little bit more about existing conditions on the corridor.

 10:28
 So what does the corridor look like today?

 10:30
 How does it function?

 10:33
 So a couple sort of high level overview points.

 10:37
 So most of the corridor today is a four lane Rd.

 10:42
 There are a couple sections really on the the far West and E ends of the corridor where may only be 3 lanes, but for the vast majority it's four lanes.

 10:53
 This picture here that you see kind of shows a typical design of the corridor with two lanes in each direction.

 11:01
 At some intersections that design changes a little bit to accommodate turn lanes, but for the most part this is the kind of most common design.

 11:11
 Speed limits along the corridor range between 30 and 40 mph.

 11:17
 Most of the corridor is 30, but there is a section that's 40.

 11:21
 And then land uses in the corridor primarily residential.

 11:25
 It's kind of a mix of low, low density residential as well as, you know, kind of mid and high density residential.

 11:32
 And then there is a good amount of parks and open space on the corridor as well as you are probably familiar with JC Park and some other open spaces along the corridor.

 11:43
 And then there is a little bit of mixed-use or commercial as well.

 11:49
 So this map here just provides a little more detail on some of those existing conditions.

 11:56
 As you as you know and you can see on the map, the MSU campus is very close to the corridor.

 12:02
 So that's a a big factor too.

 12:05
 There's a lot of, you know, students or faculty that use the corridor to to get to campus.

 12:13
 And one thing I wanted to point out, if you look on that kind of inset map on the top left is that Balsarzac Dr.

 12:20
 is that kind of middle orange line that's shown there.

 12:24
 This corridor is really one of kind of three key corridors that travel east West in this area.

 12:32
 So you know, there's there's Glenwood to the north and Stadium Road to the South.

 12:37
 And then Balserzak is kind of right in the middle shown there.

 12:41
 So it's a it's a really key corridor just because there's not a lot of roads that go all the way through east West in this area.

 12:51
 So because of that, it's a, it's an important corridor both in terms of, you know, all, all different modes, whether it's driving, transit or, or walking or biking.

 13:06
 So in these next few slides, I'm just going to show an overview of the street design today.

 13:12
 I mentioned earlier that for the most part it's a four lane corridor, SO2 lanes in each direction.

 13:19
 There is a little bit of variability along the corridor in terms of, you know, what the street design looks like depending on the location.

 13:28
 So this first segment that I have highlighted here, this is between Warren St.

 13:33
 and Monks.

 13:33
 So this is kind of that western, you know, quarter of the corridor, the top right has an inset map, so you can see that red line is showing where this this design is present.

 13:45
 So this angle is looking east.

 13:48
 So right now today there's that that's that trail or shared use path that's on the north side and then a 5 foot sidewalk on the east side.

 14:02
 The next middle segment.

 14:04
 So this is Monks Ave.

 14:05
 to Pole road.

 14:07
 Again, it's a it's a pretty similar design in this segment in terms of, you know, having a trail on the north side, sidewalk on the South side and then the the two travel lanes in each direction.

 14:20
 There's a slight variability in terms of some of the right away and easements along the corridor, but generally it's a similar sort of roadway design on this corridor.

 14:32
 When you get further to the east along the corridor, so the eastern sort of third of the corridor from Pole Road to Victory Drive, you'll notice a couple changes from the previous section.

 14:42
 So I guess the most obvious is that there's no sidewalk or trail facility on that South side of the road.

 14:50
 And then the north side of Rd.

 14:53
 still has the trail, but there's no, there's no buffer or grass space between the the trail and the roadway.

 15:04
 So I'll talk a little bit more about each of the modes specifically along the corridor.

 15:08
 So things that I sort of already mentioned, there's that shared use path that continues along the entire corridor.

 15:14
 It's 10 feet wide.

 15:15
 And again it goes travels along the entire corridor from Warren to Victory.

 15:21
 The sidewalk is on the South side, but again that that only exists between Warren and pole.

 15:27
 So there is that gap in the in the sidewalk network on the on the East End of the corridor.

 15:32
 And then there are some ADA issues or non compliance along the corridor with with curb ramps that are not compliant with ADA in terms of transit conditions.

 15:46
 There are four different bus routes that serve the corridor.

 15:50
 So those are routes 8/10/11 and 14.

 15:55
 And along the quarter, there are five different bus stops.

 15:58
 So there's two that are in the westbound direction and then three that are on the eastbound direction.

 16:03
 And then there are another 2 bus stops that are just off of the corridor but are located on Pole Road near the intersection of Balserzak Drive.

 16:14
 For the most part, there are no shelters or ADA pads, you know, like concrete pads for bus stops along the corridor.

 16:25
 And some of the stops do not have signage that indicate that the bus stop is at that location.

 16:32
 So this photo here does show a, you know, a bus bench and a sign.

 16:38
 But as you can see, there's these steps that go down to the curb, which can create some ADA challenges if folks are, you know, using a wheelchair, things like that can make it challenging to to get on and off buses.

 16:56
 Next, I'm going to talk a little bit about the crash data and, and sort of safety analysis along the corridor.

 17:03
 So what we're presenting here is 10 years worth of crash data.

 17:09
 So the chart on the top right, you can, you can see the number of total crashes along the corridor during each of those 10 years.

 17:20
 And I just want to start by saying crashes are incredibly important to a study like this.

 17:26
 Safety is, is always a top priority for agencies when we're looking at a corridor.

 17:31
 So from our perspective, any number of crashes is too many.

 17:36
 So we're always looking at opportunities to increase safety on the, on the corridor if we can through through St.

 17:43
 design.

 17:45
 So just a little more about the crashes, you you'll see a dip in the crashes kind of in that 2020-2021 and 2022 range.

 17:54
 And then it kicks back up again in 2024.

 17:57
 This is of course during the the COVID pandemic years.

 18:01
 And that is a trend that was that we saw, you know, all over the country.

 18:06
 And it really mostly related to the fact that people weren't driving as much.

 18:11
 So when you're not traveling as much, you don't have as many crashes.

 18:15
 So that was a not as surprising to see that dip there.

 18:18
 But unfortunately, the crashes have spiked back up a little bit in the the last year or so.

 18:26
 Throughout that 10 year.

 18:27
 There were a total of 114 crashes.

 18:30
 Six of those crashes involved a bike or a pedestrian.

 18:35
 Crashes that involve bikes or pedestrians are the crashes that we take the we take very seriously just because folks that get hit by a vehicle if they're walking or biking have a very a much higher likelihood of sustaining a serious injury from from the crash.

 18:55
 And so we look at those crashes with, you know, a little more detail just because they could end up in, you know, a serious or fatal condition in the future.

 19:07
 That's something that we obviously want to avoid.

 19:11
 There were two serious injury crashes during that 10 year.

 19:15
 And then in terms of the types of crashes, that's, I won't get into too much detail here, but we analyzed this crash data and we, we try to, you know, discover trends within the data.

 19:26
 The most common crash type that we saw was angle crashes.

 19:30
 So again, when one vehicle was ran into another vehicle at, at, you know, perpendicular angle run off road was the second most common crash type.

 19:41
 And then a rear end crashes was the the third one.

 19:44
 So this is all, you know, some more of that technical analysis that our team is digging into to try to understand trends and, and pinpoint some issues that we can look to address with our recommendations.

 20:00
 So this is the stage where we'd like to just pause a little bit and start getting your feedback.

 20:05
 So in just a moment, you'll see a pop up come up on your screen that'll show kind of AQ and a box.

 20:12
 And this will be the opportunity where we'd we'd ask that you share some feedback with us in this, in this case, we're we're interested in learning specifically about what areas along the corridor feel unsafe to you when you're traveling on the corridor.

 20:31
 So just a moment, you should see that Q&A box pop up here.

 20:43
 So if you don't see it, you can go to the top of your screen and there should be AQ and a tab and you'll see that Aiden has dropped a question in here.

 20:55
 And if you hit the comment button, you can leave responses to that question.

 21:01
 So we'd appreciate your feedback that you can provide here today.

 21:05
 And I'll just give it a few minutes of couple minutes of silence to let folks type in their thoughts to that question.

 21:29
 While we are waiting on some of those responses.

 21:34
 I saw that Brian Schneider asked the question.

 21:35
 So he asked, do you have a map or diagram showing where crashes happened along Bolster Zack Brian yes, we do.

 21:44
 I do not have a map in this presentation that shows that, but we do have that data and we we've been kind of digging into it.

 21:53
 That's something that's really important to kind of understand, you know, the crash densities and, and are there specific locations where we're seeing more crashes than than other locations, which can, you know, point to a safety challenge?

 22:08
 So that that is included in this study.

 22:11
 It's part of the, you know, part of the analysis that we're doing.

 22:14
 Again, I don't have a map in this presentation, but it'll be included in the in the report.

 22:59
 See one response from Deanna.

 23:01
 Thanks for your your comment, Deanna.

 23:03
 Maybe just give it another minute or two for folks to provide their thoughts.

 23:09
 This Q&A feature will will stay up throughout the presentation.

 23:13
 So if you have thoughts that you, you know, think about, you can go back to that specific question and provide your feedback there.

 23:25
 And Conard also looks like Mary put something in the chat that says Balderzac and Monks visibility for drivers, especially left turners going east must be a point of of issue.

 23:46
 Yeah, great.

 23:47
 Thanks for thanks for the comment.

 23:51
 I see another comment here from John, will there be pull out areas for transit?

 23:56
 So John that's something that we will be evaluating throughout the study.

 24:03
 Again, we're I guess right now we're sort of at the public engagement and issues identification phase of the study.

 24:11
 So we haven't started developing alternatives.

 24:13
 But that is something that we've been thinking about is, you know, are there are there specific locations where there's transit stops where a bus pull out?

 24:24
 They make sense to, to make sure that traffic, you know, can continue to flow and doesn't, doesn't get held up behind buses.

 24:33
 So short answer is that may be a recommendation in some locations, but we we just haven't got there yet in, in the study.

 24:43
 But good question.

 24:49
 I think in the interest of time, I'm going to keep moving and again, folks can continue to answer that question as we go here.

 24:55
 So I wanted to provide a little bit more information on some of the existing conditions and we will have some more question prompts that come up here as we go.

 25:05
 So this map here is illustrating daily traffic volumes.

 25:11
 So this is, you know the number of vehicles that travel along the corridor each day kind of the the average.

 25:19
 So the way that we've illustrated this is the fatter, the fatter the lion corresponds with higher traffic volumes higher the higher number of people that are driving on that segment of the corridor.

 25:31
 So in terms of traffic volumes on Balser Zak Dr.

 25:35
 you'll notice that the East End is the segment of the quarter that has the highest traffic volumes.

 25:42
 So specifically we're we're seeing between 9400 and 9600 vehicles per day that use that segment between Pole Road and Victory Rd.

 25:53
 the middle segment that those numbers go down a little bit around 7800.

 25:58
 And then when you get to the far West End of the corridor, they go down even more, you know, between 6700 and 7000 vehicles per day.

 26:09
 This next slide indicates the amount of pedestrian activity at certain intersections along the corridor.

 26:17
 So same general idea here, larger the dot, the more pedestrian activity, the more, you know, pedestrian crossings we're seeing at certain intersections.

 26:26
 So what's interesting to note here is that the pedestrian crossings and the traffic volumes sort of have a inverse relationship.

 26:36
 So the, the higher pedestrian volumes are on the western part of the corridor, which is not, you know, shouldn't be too surprising with campus and some of the residential areas that are along that part of the corridor.

 26:48
 But on the eastern end, the pedestrian activity is, is a lot lower.

 26:54
 Part of that could also be related to the fact that there's, there's no sidewalk on the South end between pole and victory, but just generally we're seeing less demand for, you know, pedestrian activity on the South end of the corridor.

 27:09
 And this, this figure is just a combination of the two that sort of illustrates that.

 27:14
 So higher vehicle volumes on the East End, lower pedestrian volumes and then the opposite is true on the western part of the corridor with lower vehicle volumes, but higher pedestrian activity in that area.

 27:31
 So I'd like to pause again and ask a couple more questions for you.

 27:37
 So Aiden's going to drop a couple couple other questions.

 27:40
 So what challenges do you have while traveling on Balserzak Drive so that that popped up And then the next one would be what would you like to see improved on the corridor specifically?

 27:51
 So love to hear folks feedback.

 27:55
 And again, if there are additional questions, I'll do my best to kind of monitor the the chat and see if there's any questions that pop up.

 28:03
 But I would appreciate your perspective on those two different questions.

 28:08
 And you'll notice that those those questions are in sort of like separate boxes in the chat.

 28:17
 So we'll give folks a few minutes to respond to those questions.

 28:21
 And before I move on here.

 28:51
 Ryan had a comment here, Brian Schneider, I'll just read it.

 28:55
 He said I've noticed a lot more pedestrian mobility devices like scooters, E bikes and electric unicycles that travel very fast through intersections.

 29:04
 In recent years.

 29:06
 He's noted that that's an additional safety problem.

 29:08
 So yeah, it's a good comment, Brian.

 29:10
 Thanks for sharing.

 29:20
 John, John mentioned the curve by Cardinal Dr.

 29:24
 I think he's asking if that could be taken out.

 29:39
 Mary mentioned in the chat that the decrease in lanes at the east and West ends at intersections is dangerous.

 29:46
 So thanks for the comment, Mary.

 29:49
 So yeah, there are a couple different locations, as I mentioned in the introduction, where the lanes dropped from, you know, 2 lanes in that direction down to 1 lane at that intersection.

 30:23
 Maybe just wait another minute, let folks respond to these questions, and then we'll keep moving on here.

 30:44
 I'll keep moving.

 30:46
 Please do continue to share feedback in the in the Q&A chat box there as as I move along.

 30:54
 So in this next section, I want to share with you more about what we're doing with community engagement, our approach to engaging the public and key stakeholders in this process as we go through the corridor study.

 31:09
 So first of all, we have a dedicated project web web page.

 31:13
 You can visit that web page by going to everyvoice.mankatomn.gov and you'll see a number of different studies that are ongoing at the city.

 31:24
 And one of those will be the bolster Zack Dr.

 31:26
 corridor study.

 31:27
 So the project web page is really kind of the one stop shop for everything for this study.

 31:32
 So if you haven't checked it out, I'd encourage you to do that.

 31:37
 And one, one thing of note is that we have an online survey right now that is currently live.

 31:44
 We've, we've had it up for a few weeks and we'll continue to run that through next weekend.

 31:50
 And so if you haven't had a chance to fill out that survey, I'd, I'd strongly encourage you to, to go to our web page and please fill out the survey.

 31:59
 Even if you attended this meeting tonight and provided some of those comments, we'd still appreciate you filling out the survey and and providing that feedback on the survey.

 32:09
 So we have also been engaging with MSU.

 32:14
 So a couple of different avenues.

 32:16
 They're both the Fountain faculty and staff intranet.

 32:20
 We've sent out information kind of a newsletter to that group.

 32:25
 We have also promoted the project in the Student Union weekly newsletter and as well as the Reporter student newspaper.

 32:34
 So trying to, you know, get feedback from folks at MSU, whether they're faculty or staff as kind of an important stakeholder given the proximity of campus to Bolsters Act Drive.

 32:47
 In addition, we've been using the city's social media to help promote the project and sending out information to e-mail subscribers.

 32:57
 And then all of the buses that I mentioned, there's four different bus routes that use the corridor.

 33:03
 We have currently have advertisements in those buses kind of like bus ceiling tiles.

 33:09
 It's like a, a long kind of narrow advertisement at the top of the bus.

 33:14
 So really trying to catch those folks that use transit on the corridor to better understand what type of improvements they'd want to see on the corridor for for buses.

 33:25
 In addition, we will be doing some kind of smaller group stakeholder meetings throughout the the study.

 33:30
 So there's going to be a couple of those and we're working on organizing those as we speak.

 33:36
 And then we will have in addition to this online public meeting, we will also have an in person open house.

 33:44
 And we don't have a date set for that yet, but the plan is to have that later in the fall.

 33:50
 So if you want to make sure that you're notified about that open house, you can go to our web page and subscribe for project updates and you'll get a notification of, of when that open house will be held and where it'll be held.

 34:08
 That the, the plan for that open house will be, you know, it'll be towards, towards the end of the study where we will share some draft recommendations and get feedback from, from community members on, you know, what they like or what they don't like.

 34:23
 And then use that feedback to, to modify our, our recommendations before finalizing the study.

 34:31
 And then lastly, we are also doing some pop up events.

 34:34
 So what we mean by pop up events is, is just means that we we go out and attend some kind of an existing event or go to a place where we know there's a lot of activity and we, you know, set up a board or provide materials similar to the photo on the bottom right there.

 34:56
 That is our staff at on campus at MSU engaging with students and we'll be doing a couple of more pop up events here in the future.

 35:08
 So we, as I mentioned, we have an online survey that is live right now and we have over 270 survey responses so far.

 35:17
 So we're, we're really happy about the, the amount of feedback that we're getting.

 35:22
 But if you haven't taken that survey again, I'd strongly encourage you to, to go to the web page and, and please fill it out.

 35:28
 So I just wanted to share a couple of the, you know, themes that we're hearing from, from folks as they're filling out that the survey.

 35:37
 So first thing we're hearing is, you know, concerns about pedestrian safety, so crossings that might feel unsafe, especially at some of those key intersections like Pole, Cardinal Warren as well as between the intersections that kind of those mid block locations that don't have any crossing opportunities.

 35:59
 We're hearing folks comment about the intersection operations, especially Pole Rd.

 36:03
 is, is one that's coming up a lot as you know, confusing and congested intersection.

 36:10
 So there's been a lot of support in the survey for some sort of modification to that intersection, whether it's a a roundabout or a signal.

 36:20
 And then folks have mentioned that Warren and Monks, those two intersections also could use a better or more clear design.

 36:31
 Vehicle speeding is another concern that we're that we're hearing.

 36:34
 So folks have mentioned speeding is as a concern, especially between monks and pole in that part of the segment of the corridor and then walking, biking and transit access.

 36:48
 So there's there's been some comments about a desire for sidewalks on both sides of the road.

 36:54
 As I mentioned, the eastern part of the corridor has that sidewalk gap.

 36:59
 And so we've, we've been hearing about that in the survey and, and then just a, a desire for improve bus stop amenities, you know, whether that's shelter or lighting, improving some of the conditions for, for transit riders.

 37:14
 And then lastly, Yep, go ahead.

 37:16
 I'm sorry to interrupt it just since you're talking about every voice of Mankato.

 37:20
 Yep.

 37:20
 Real quick, if if you haven't already done so and you would like to get emailed updates on the study, when you go to every Voice Mankato and go to the study, it says subscribe for updates and you can just subscribe right there and then you will automatically get emailed updates on the study.

 37:39
 So just wanted to mention that.

 37:42
 Yeah, thanks.

 37:43
 Thanks, Paul.

 37:44
 Appreciate that.

 37:47
 So the last theme that we're hearing in terms of survey responses is, is Rd.

 37:52
 condition and layout.

 37:53
 Some, some people have been commenting that the pavement is rough, sidewalks might be uneven or those lane transitions are unclear.

 38:00
 So I think someone mentioned earlier in the chat that the that transitions when we go from 2 lanes in One Direction down to 1 lane that that is sort of unclear.

 38:12
 So again, we've been hearing that in the survey as well.

 38:20
 So just a few more slides here and then we can get into questions for that anyone has for, for the project team.

 38:28
 I just wanted to talk about next steps for the study.

 38:30
 So again, we're, we're probably a few months into the study now and, and up until this day, we've mostly been analyzing existing conditions to kind of understand what some of those issues are and getting feedback from the public.

 38:44
 And so the next couple of months here in, in June and July, our focus will really be on starting to pinpoint what we see as the biggest issues.

 38:53
 So once we close that online survey, we'll be analyzing the information and the data that's in that survey.

 39:01
 And that'll really be the driver for helping us, you know, identify things that need to be improved.

 39:08
 Then once we get into kind of that later summer and and early fall.

 39:13
 We'll start developing, you know, potential design options for the corridor that address the issues that are identified.

 39:21
 And again, in the fall time frame, probably, you know, September, October time frame, we plan to have another open house, but the, the second one will be in person, hopefully somewhere on or very close to the, the corridor.

 39:38
 And so at that point, we'll be getting feedback on the, you know, design options that are presented and using that feedback to, to sort of solidify the recommendations in the report.

 39:51
 So again, as Paul mentioned, if we'd encourage you to go to our web page and & up for product updates to make sure that you're you're on that list and we'll be notified of of when that open house will be held.

 40:05
 So before we close out, I just want to remind folks how they can stay involved.

 40:11
 So again, please visit the project web page if you haven't been on that.

 40:15
 You can pull out your phone and scan the QR code that's on the right there.

 40:20
 That's every voice.mankatomn.gov/bolster, Zac.

 40:25
 And on that web page, that's where you'll find our online survey.

 40:29
 And again, that's open for a little over a week here.

 40:33
 So we're planning to close that next at the end of next weekend.

 40:37
 So on Sunday, Sunday, June 8th will be the last date to take that survey.

 40:41
 So please do go to the web page and & up for e-mail updates and make sure that you're informed of future meetings and take the survey if you haven't already.

 40:55
 So before we we kind of wrap up, I wanted to just provide an opportunity for everyone to ask any questions for the product team.

 41:03
 So if you have, you know, more comments to share, we'll be documenting all these comments and combining these comments with the feedback that we get on the survey, but would also be happy to to answer any questions that that folks have.

 41:17
 So.

 41:34
 Just looking at the chat here I saw maybe 10 minutes ago Ben mentioned or asked the question what considerations are being made regarding pedestrian safety on Monks Ave.

 41:44
 especially in connection to Bolster Zac study in light of recent incidents.

 41:50
 So if I'm interpreting this correctly, you're you're asking specifically what will be done on Monks.

 41:57
 This study will be making recommendations for that intersection of Bolster Zac and Monks in terms of other, you know, recommendations on that corridor going North and South.

 42:10
 It's a little bit outside of the scope of this study, but we would still appreciate hearing any, any feedback that you might have.

 42:18
 So, and I just noticed Mary also added a question here.

 42:26
 So Mary said, please explain how traffic counts were made because in the past they have not been accurate.

 42:33
 I'm going to go back a couple slides here since since Mary asked that question.

 42:37
 So good question, Mary.

 42:41
 So we on on the bottom here, you can see the note there.

 42:46
 We, we went out and took traffic counts on April 22nd and 23rd of this spring.

 42:53
 So just about a month ago, we wanted to make sure that we took counts while students were still in session at MSU.

 43:03
 And so this is a pretty common practice for us to do 48 hour counts just in case there's any variability from one day to the next.

 43:11
 So we have two different sample sizes to draw from and in terms of how we actually collected the counts, we set up cameras on the corridor and actually counted, you know, every vehicle and pedestrian crossing through those cameras at at different locations.

 43:27
 So they are very, very accurate.

 43:32
 And I'm not sure what what other counts you've you've been referencing, but these these counts are again, they're they're video recording.

 43:42
 So they actually are heavily accurate.

 43:44
 It's not it's not another method.

 43:52
 Ben Livingston had a follow up question.

 43:54
 Is there a possibility of expanding the study to monks?

 44:00
 I guess I can speak from my perspective and then maybe Chris or or folks from the city will have perspective.

 44:05
 But again, we we will have recommendations at that intersection of Monks and Bolsterzak, but the study will not, you know, have recommendations specifically to monks, Monks Ave.

 44:18
 So I don't know if if Chris or Paul have any other thoughts to to that question from Ben about expanding the study to monks or any future plans.

 44:29
 Yes, that's correct.

 44:30
 So the length of monks would be outside of our study area.

 44:34
 That would have to be a separately requested studies that we could go out for, but certainly a possibility if that's something that Mankato wants to pursue in the future.

 45:14
 Just going back and looking at some of the past comments that I missed in the last 10 minutes or so.

 45:20
 So Brian had a couple of comments.

 45:22
 Brian, thank you for the for the input and feedback.

 45:24
 We appreciate it.

 46:04
 I see Mary had a follow up comment about traffic counts and student counts specifically.

 46:10
 So thanks for the comment, Mary.

 46:20
 Any other questions from from folks, whether it's about what was presented earlier or if it's about, you know, the future of the study, we'd be happy to answer those questions.

 47:01
 Give it another minute or two, see if there's any other questions that that trickle in here.

 47:27
 Let's see.

 47:28
 I think I just saw another question pop up.

 47:31
 So yeah.

 47:31
 Deanna asks what will financial impact be to property owners?

 47:36
 So Deanna, there, there are no plans right now to to, you know, make any modification to the roadway.

 47:43
 So I, I really can't, can't answer that.

 47:47
 I don't know if city staff or Maple staff want to want to respond to that question.

 47:53
 But again, in terms of this study, this is really just is, is kind of setting a vision for the corridor so that when a, when a future, you know, project opportunity comes up, whether it's a reconstruction project or a resurfacing project, this study kind of informs what the recommendations would be.

 48:13
 But they're just to be clear on that.

 48:15
 There, there are no planned projects at at this time.

 48:18
 So Chris or others, I don't know if you have anything else you want to add to that.

 48:31
 No, the study's underway right now and that's what we've got.

 48:35
 So we don't have any recommendations.

 48:37
 And even once we do have a recommendation, that'll be up to the city of Mankato to select an improvement and a potential year for when it would be constructed, most likely go into the capital improvement program or capital investment plan.

 48:54
 And then the city would have to go through their assessment protocol at that time.

 49:05
 So a lot of a lot of words to say, no idea, but none planned at this time.

 49:23
 Not seeing any other questions, just double checking that I didn't miss anything.

 49:32
 All I know you were maybe going to close things out.

 49:36
 I just want to yeah, thank you Connor and the team at Bolton and Mank and and and Chris for putting this together and, and presenting it in such a, a fashion that we could follow along easily.

 49:54
 And I just wanted to thank everybody for coming and for your interest.

 49:58
 And you saw that the the plans for for what is next.

 50:04
 I do encourage you to go to every voice Mankato, if you have not already done so or if you have go there again, There's a lot of information on this.

 50:12
 Please let us know what you think like you, your thoughts have you as you have been doing tonight.

 50:19
 And and you can also do that in every voice.

 50:22
 And then I also encourage you to sign up for that newsletter.

 50:26
 If you have not done that, not newsletter, I'm sorry the e-mail updates if you have not already done that.

 50:33
 But, and I also want you to know that that we we do do this to hear from you and, and, and we listen and this is not just an exercise we go through.

 50:45
 So we are listening to you and this has been a recorded meeting is a recorded meeting.

 50:50
 So we can always go back and review it as well.

 50:52
 So thank you everybody and have a nice night.

 50:56
 Yeah, thanks everyone.

 50:57
 Appreciate you attending and feel free to visit that website if you have any additional questions.

 51:02
 The staff contact information is listed there, so you can also reach out if additional questions come up.

 51:08
 So, and this present, I'm, I'm sorry, this presentation will be out there as well.

 51:13
 Yep, we'll have the presentation posted.

 51:15
 So thanks for coming.

 51:17
 Thank you.