Austin City Council discusses 4th St. NW traffic and roadway design at Monday meeting

The Austin City Council discussed 4th St. NW traffic and roadway design on the street from 10th-13th Avenue with Public Works Director Steven Lang at a work session following their regularly scheduled meeting Monday evening at the Austin City Council Chambers.  MnDOT will be replacing the 4th St. bridge over Interstate 90 in 2023, and there was discussion at a recent council meeting about development along 4th St. NW and existing traffic concerns.  That was followed up by discussion during a work session to better understand what movement is actually an issue.  It was determined that some felt a left turn merge onto 4th St. NW was an issue, and Austin Mayor Steve King stated during the “Meet the Mayor” segment of “Wright Here, Right Now” on KAUS that seven different options were given as to how to improve the situation, and the option that was chosen would eliminate the parking on the south side of 13th Avenue, and would stripe a dedicated right turn lane…

4th St. NW was determined to be the busiest roadway in the city of Austin, with a traffic study showing 13,800 vehicles traveling on the road per day. The council also learned that the new bridge that MNDOT will be constructing over 4th St. NW in 2023 is being designed in a way to create additional gaps in southbound traffic, which will help left turn merges during the most congested part of the day.