Change is Constant...but Hard
Every time a bypass is proposed around a city to alleviate traffic congestion, a few townspeople cry "foul". The latest I became aware of is Lindstrom, Minnesota.
According to TwinCities.Com...
Business owners along U.S. 8 in Lindstrom are steamed about plans to split the road, saying they worry it will cut off access to their businesses and take away from the Swedish town's old-time charm.
The highway runs right through downtown. But to help alleviate congestion and reduce accidents, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is proposing two new sections of the highway - one eastbound and one westbound - that would skirt the four-block business district.
Sound familiar? Here's the problem...
About 18,000 vehicles go through Lindstrom every day, and the downtown area has the highest crash rate of any U.S. 8 section in the 21 miles between Forest Lake and Taylors Falls.
And, they do go through Lindstrom every day. The vast, overwhelming majority never stop. I have driven through Lindstrom many times over the decades and other than the Dairy Queen, very rarely stopped.
Bernetta Coulombe, who has served up her famous cinnamon toast, ginger snaps and Scandinavian doughnuts at Lindstrom Bakery and Crafts for 35 years, said she's afraid the split will hinder her regular customers from the Twin Cities and Wisconsin from stopping in.
"They're just not going to stop. It's going to be out of their way," Coulombe said. "I can see Lindstrom being a ghost town.
Bernetta, I have something to tell you. If indeed your cinnamon toast, ginger snaps and doughnuts are are "famous", your regular customers will still stop in.
Will every business survive? Probably not. Without a new bypass would every business survive. Nope. Change is constant. Businesses come and businesses go.
My prediction for Lindstrom is... five years after the bypass is completed the citizens will wonder what their city would be like if the bypass hadn't been built, and they will be happy it was.
That is normally the case in these situations.
Al Arnold
in City Planning, Street Department
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