Bloomington transportation policies

Related information

Alternative Transportation Plan

On July 21, 1997, the Bloomington City Council adopted the following 26 transportation policies.

Regional highways and local streets

Bloomington residents and businesses rely on the regional highway system and the local streets. Most of these facilities were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s and need appropriate investments to maintain their quality and increase capacity to meet today's travel demand.

Regional highway system

Policy 1:
The City's first priority is to add capacity to regional highways and arterials which currently operate at low levels of service, are costly to maintain and which will contribute to future regional economic growth upon improvement.

The City's priority order for highway capacity projects is:

I-494 including the interchange with I-35W.
I-35W.
Upgrade TH169 to freeway design.
Upgrade interchange areas including intersecting roads and bridged crossings.

Policy 2:
The City's second priority is to improve the highway and arterial system with geometric and operational adjustments. This includes improving safety, replacing bridges, reconstructing pavement, interim rebuilding of interchanges and adding high-occupancy vehicle lanes. Preferential ramps for HOVs should be added where possible.

Policy 3:
Join with the Metropolitan Council to focus on transportation investments in cities which are within and along the I-494/I-694 corridor.

Policy 4:
Encourages MnDOT to update its official map for regional highways and to acquire rights-of-way for future expansion of I-494 and I-35W when parcels come available for purchase.

Policy 5:
Bloomington, MnDOT, the Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County need to be open to innovative partnerships which allow development and preserve necessary rights-of-way.

Local streets

Policy 6:
Adequately fund the pavement management program to maintain 90% of city streets in a condition above the "problem" category.

Policy 7:
Endeavor to complete the 79th/80th Street Ring Route as funds become available.

Policy 8:
Use city-state-aid funds to upgrade collector streets.

Policy 9:
Bloomington's property owners and developers have dedicated street rights-of-way adjacent to their parcels. Where possible, the City will continue to obtain rights-of-way shown in its master plan by dedication.

Policy 10:
Place local service electric distribution lines underground whenever the adjacent arterial or collector street is reconstructed.

Traffic operations

Policy 11:
The City's snow removal policy is to plow when there are three or more inches of snow on the ground and to maintain streets in a safe driving condition.

Policy 12:
Continue management practices to:

minimize on-street parking;
place signs and signals based on the Manual on Uniform T;
Traffic Control;
design and control site access to enhance safety and efficiency.

Policy 13:
In appropriate locations, implement emerging intelligent transportation system technology to support appropriate transportation facility use and traffic law compliance.

Transit, bicycles, pedestrians and land use

A balanced transportation system needs to include safe facilities for bicycles and pedestrians and transit to serve employees and people without cars, encouraging a greater role for them. Development which results in less automobile use or reduced trip length will reduce the need for additional highway capacity without impairing economic growth. A balanced transportation system encourages transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities to serve employees and residents whether or not they own an automobile.

Transit

Policy 14:
Provide a transit system designed to give better access to jobs and services, promote higher-density, transit-oriented development in transit corridors and provide a level of service in these corridors which encourages all residents to use transit.

Policy 15a:
Develop a network of transit hubs and dedicated multi-occupant travelways to support express transit routes.

Policy 15b:
Explore a personal rapid transit (PRT) link between the Airport and Mall of America with possible future expansion along the Ring Road.

Policy 15c:
Support implementation of the Hiawatha Transitway if the first phase connects the Airport with the Mall of America transit hub.

Policy 16:
Place transit shelters along transit routes.

Policy 17:
Support aggressive use of travel demand management techniques which reduce peak period trips on regional highways.

Bicycle and pedestrian

Policy 18:
Develop, maintain and improve a safe, high quality bicycle and pedestrian system along arterial and collector streets and on connecting routes between trail systems.

Policy 19:
Encourage pedestrian and bicycle route connections between residential areas and transit hubs.

Policy 20:
Replace sidewalks adjacent to curbs with boulevard sidewalks when rights-of-way are available.

Land Use

Policy 21:
Coordinate transportation and land use decisions to reduce peak period travel demand by reducing automobile use and trip length.

Policy 22:
Encourage redevelopment of land along the Ring Route as a high density, mixed-use corridor served by transit.

Policy 23:
Retain and use existing linear rights-of-way (e.g. railroad and utility rights-of-way) for public use.

Funding

Existing federal and state funding is inadequate to build needed capacity improvements on I-494 and I-35W. Bloomington supports raising additional state funds for maintenance and reconstruction of regional highways. Bloomington's experience with the Mall of America highway improvements demonstrated that taxes invested in highway capacity improvements are repaid in a relatively short time by additional revenues from the resulting economic development.

Policy 24:
Actively supports an adequate level of transportation funding to address safety, maintenance and implementation of "mega-projects" on I-494 and I-35W and transit.

Policy 25:
The City's priority order for additional transportation funding is:

Use all state motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) and motor vehicle license revenues for transportation purposes
Increase gas tax

Policy 26:
Support metro-wide transportation pricing and other methods which raise revenue dedicated for transportation improvement directly from highway, transit and bicycle path users. The Council opposes collection of tolls on portions of the regional system.