Resident questions costs of Main Street project

Based on observations of the work between Caledonia and Spring Grove, MnDOT's goal is create a smooth ride, by removing a few inches of existing blacktop and replacing it with new smoothed-out asphalt.

All over Minnesota, cities and counties are chopping their 2012 budgets and anticipating that 2013 is going to have to see further cuts because state aid is likely to decrease or disappear.

People in Spring Grove have just been hit with property tax increases coming both from the loss of the homestead credit and the increase in Spring Grove City's spending. Isn't it time to opt for the simple, no-cost choice for Main Street?

Main Street Width- There have been suggestions to widen Main Street or to narrow it or to remove parking on one side. But we need parking on both sides and the current width is good because one can get out of one's car without getting into the traffic lane. Don't change what works.

Sidewalks- It has been suggested to widen the sidewalks to as much as 14 feet and put in decorative pavers, etc. and to turn the street and the alleys on both sides to a Green Alley Park.

Do we need to replace all the sidewalks or can we just replace these sections, which are uneven? Pavers, etc. make the sidewalk uneven and hazardous to wheelchairs.

We had treescapes on Main Street and they all had to be cut down. We already have a nice park as part of Main Street. There is no need to go overboard and spend more money on fancy sidewalks and more parks.

Streetlights- There is a push to put in fancy, antique-looking, expensive streetlights. As far as I can tell, Spring Grove (in the old days) never had fancy lights so why make Spring Grove into something it never was?

Stewartville and Caledonia both put these lights in years ago and their Main Streets have died anyway. The old-style lights look goofy with the modernistic storefronts.

Many of the Spring Grove streetlights have been replaced by the Public Works Department as the original ones died. As the original ones are replaced, replace them with low-maintenance poles with LED lights, which would decrease the electricity usage. A little bit each year is something we can afford using the existing budgeting.

Roundabout- There is a push for a traffic roundabout at the Main Street/Division Avenue intersection. I hope I am not tempting fate but the last accident was in 2006 and it did not involve traffic coming up in S. Division.

Instead, make Maple Drive one-way (to the east) along the park, with Main Street traffic entering Main Street from the east at the Trinity Lutheran Church intersection.

Spring Grove tried to get a stoplight years ago, but MnDOT apparently said the intersection wasn't dangerous enough. But that would be a less expensive solution, and the red would only be triggered when traffic is entering from Division Avenue.

Sewer and Water Mains- Do the sewer and water mains have to be done at this time? We kept hearing that we needed a new water tower, but investigation proved that the base was sound and an $18,000 repair inside made it good to go for many more years.