A quandary over parking at the Quarry
As one of its stores prepares to expand, the Quarry is going to be considering changes to its parking lot layout, with hopes of improving traffic flow at the retail center.
"I don’t think it’s a pleasant experience for many people," said Gayle Bonneville, coordinator for Windom Park Citizens in Action, about the regular traffic tangles in and around the parking lot.
A representative from Inland property management will attend the Windom Park neighborhood meeting on Tuesday to participate in a discussion about the parking lot and traffic issues around it, Bonneville said.
The discussion is pegged to the expansion of the Quarry’s Target store, which plans to add about 5,000 square feet to the front of its building, Bonneville said. The expansion will involve moving the existing traffic lanes outside Target’s front doors.
The 280,000-square-foot shopping center at Interstate 35W and Stinson Boulevard is within the Northeast Park neighborhood’s boundaries but it abuts Windom Park, which is why both neighborhoods take up issues related to it.
Target will be seeking a vote of support from Windom Park for its expansion project. Also on Tuesday’s agenda is a continuation of the neighborhood’s Central Avenue discussion.
What do you think? Is there anything that could be done to improve the Quarry’s parking lot? Or are the traffic tangles just an inevitable part of the experience of shopping at a suburban-style retail hub? Click ‘comments’ below to join the coversation. Dan Haugen
The Windom Park neighborhood meeting is Tuesday, April 17, 7 p.m. at the Windom Park Community Center, 2251 Hayes St. NE. Anyone is welcome to attend. For more information contact the board at 788-2192 or info@windompark.org.
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Filed under: Development, Northeast Park, Shopping, Transportation, Windom Park
The parking situation can do nothing but improve @ the Quarry. I feel like I have gone to Maple Grove or Woodbury whenever I try to park there. It’s a cluster! Perhaps more entrances/exits would help?
We had a great meeting tonight at WPCiA. It was standing room only and we had a spirited discussion about Target’s proposed expansion and the traffic realignment.
Prior to this meeting, Target met with WPCiA’s land use committee. This committee requested that Target create a traffic realignment for the parking lot.
Target responded favorably and brought Inland and TCF (the three companies that own the property) together to create an option to cross the parking lot at the bottom (south) end of the lot.
The neighborhood voted in favor of Target’s expansion and in favor of the traffic realignment. Neighbors suggested a couple modifications to the traffic plan that Target will incorporate. Also, neighbors directed Target to include bike racks in the expansion plan.
Target’s expansion will begin in January 2008. The traffic reroute will occur prior to that time.
Doron Clark
Co-President, Windom Park Citizens in Action
Thanks for the update, Doron!
It has always irritated me that they have severely restricted east/west traffic thru this entire business area.
ESPECIALLY since the residential neighborhood directly north of the Quarry wants to (justifiably, imo) limit traffic thru their area.
We need to face the facts: People shopping in this area need to travel from east to west, and vice versa. And forcing them to crawl past all the pedestrian traffic directly in front of all the Quarry stores is stupid. Really stupid. Why did they prevent a continuous beltlane from the parking lot entrance on the west at Johnson from following a well-marked, continuous unobstructed path to Stinson Blvd??? I would invite any traffic engineer to enter from Johnson St and try to get to the McDonalds entrance on Stinson. And why did they prevent entrances to the fast food joints from New Brighton Blvd??? Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.
Heck, a simple traffic light could deal with the intersection of such a needed road and the access entrance from the on-ramp to 35w at the south end, and the access to New Brighton Blvd there. WHY was this not done??
As it stands, I always see many crazy folk weaving around all the obviously-designed obstructions to east/west traffic on the south end of the Quarry lot. Who is the fool who designed this lot???
They should be given a good thwack on the noggin!
We need a REAL road path there, not inneffective “traffic calming” engineering that will never overcome the obvious need for a EAST WEST PATH thru this maze that will avoid the pedestrians entering and exiting the shops!!!
I know this isn’ t a solution–but it’s my solution. I like to park on 18th, bring a bag/backpack, and walk to the stores. I like incorporating my exercise with shopping. It’s my personal way of dealing with the terrible parking design of the Quarry.
To clarify, the re-alignment will make it much easier to bypass the bottleneck at the front of the stores. It eliminates the island that prevents a straight path through the parking lot near TCF, and it adds landscape islands to channelize the flow around to the south end of the lot and discourage people from cutting through the parking area. It also adds a slip lane at the Johnson Street end that will make it easier for traffic to use the south loop.
It won’t eliminate the traffic in front of the stores altogether, but the merchants would never agree to such a thing anyway. Plus, emergency vehicles must be able to easily access the fronts of the stores. A proposal to block off the roadway at each end of the fronts of the stores was flatly rejected (by Inland and Target), as was a proposal to create a more defined roadway through the middle of the parking lot.
As a member of the Windom Park Community Land Use and Planning (CLUP) committee, I believe that this proposal will be a significant improvement. It won’t cost much, and Inland, TCF and Target are willing to do it because they are well aware of the traffic problem, too. If it doesn’t help, it won’t preclude looking at other solutions later if necessary (because of the minimal investment).
What I’m really proud of is how this process worked. The neighborhood was able to leverage Target’s plans to improve their parking lot and add on to their store (by suggesting that their proposal would be more appealing to the neighbors if it helped improve traffic flow). Inland and Target were engaged in the process, listened to the neighbors concerns, and responded with a reasonable proposal that addresses the concerns. This should be a win-win for the neighbors and the merchants.
By the way, Anne’s solution is great. If you live nearby and aren’t buying a huge load of lumber or groceries, why not take your bike or walk?