Brouhaha over closure of Birchwood Road heats up

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
·6 min read

When Washington County construction crews closed a section of Wildwood Road in Mahtomedi this spring, drivers immediately started looking for alternate routes.

The officially designated detour sends drivers on Interstate 694, Minnesota Highway 36 and Hilton Trail, but a more direct route, drivers soon discovered, is Birchwood Road in Birchwood, with a population of 875, just south of White Bear Lake.

“Our little road instantly became the new highway,” said Birchwood Mayor Mary Wingfield. “The traffic was overwhelming, basically nonstop. We had people who were disobeying stop signs, passing on a double yellow line and going 50 in a 25 miles-per-hour zone.”

One bicyclist was clipped and thrown from his bike, and there were “a couple of near-hits” involving children, she said. “It was just chaos.”

COUNCIL VOTED TO CLOSE ROAD

The Birchwood City Council met May 10 and voted to close the road. Barricades and “road closed” signs went up later that week.

“It was going to be a long summer if we had a caravan of vehicles going through our town all day long,” Wingfield said. “It was simply a matter of safety trumps convenience — nothing more than that. It’s not a thoroughfare. It’s a residential road. We’re allowed to do this, and it was in our best interest to do so.”

A few days after closing the road, Birchwood officials called a special meeting and voted to allow the eastbound lane of the road to be open from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and the westbound lane from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. to accommodate school traffic during the school year.

“But that actually ended up being more problematic for us because people were getting mixed signals,” Wingfield said.

The accommodation for school traffic ended on Thursday, which was the last day of school for Mahtomedi Public Schools.

Mahtomedi officials have criticized the Birchwood City Council’s decision to close the road, saying it has “created havoc” and “essentially locked out” Mahtomedi residents.

“We are extremely disappointed by the lack of notice we received about Birchwood’s decision, and your failure to engage or even discuss the proposed closure with Mahtomedi prior to the unexpected road closure,” Mayor Jud Marshall wrote in a May 17 letter. “Your action does a disservice to residents in both cities … and creates significant hardship for Mahtomedi residents who live in the vicinity of the closure.”

The closure, he said during an interview on Friday, has harmed local businesses and restaurants and made it difficult for emergency responders to enter Birchwood and serve residents in both cities.

HOTLY DEBATED ON SOCIAL MEDIA

The road closure has been hotly debated on social media. Some of those upset with the decision have called Wingfield at home. Others have moved the barricades when driving in the area — an action that Wingfield points out is illegal and could result in a $300 fine.

One person threw a sandbag, used to hold down the sign, into a nearby tree, she said. On Thursday night, someone stole one of the barricades.

“The backlash has been incredible,” Wingfield said. “You would think we killed somebody’s firstborn, and yet that’s what we are trying to stave off. We don’t want to see anyone get hurt. Why there is this huge hue and cry is beyond us. Is this the new reality where if something doesn’t go your way, you just throw a hissy fit?”

On Tuesday morning, a young man climbed out of the front passenger seat of a silver SUV and moved the barricade so the SUV could get through. Several other cars — heading in each direction — soon followed suit.

“It’s Whac-A-Mole,” Wingfield said, referring to the arcade game. “Someone will come out and put it back, and then they’ll move it again. No wonder why folks get irritated when they think it is open, but it’s not.”

SPECIAL MEETING

The Birchwood City Council is holding a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Birchwood City Hall “to review alternatives to the existing road closure,” according to the agenda posted online. Some of the options now being considered: temporary speed bumps, making part of the roadway one way, lowering the speed limit to 20 mph and installing a weight limit for the roadway.

“What we have now is not workable for the summer,” she said. “This is just a temporary stopgap solution.”

The $5.9 million construction project on Wildwood Road, also known as Washington County Road 12, is expected to be complete in October.

The project, which stretches from Century Avenue to Stillwater Boulevard, includes: pavement replacement, new signage and striping; improved pedestrian crossings; a traffic signal at Wedgewood Drive and a multi-purpose off-road trail on a portion of Wildwood Road. The project also will include the addition of dedicated left turn lanes at key intersections.

Birchwood officials have asked for an increase in law enforcement “both at the barricade and within the city to flood the zone and communicate to the public that compliance is mandatory,” Wingfield said. “We haven’t had that. As a result, there has been just higgledy-piggledy. There has been no uniform compliance, so there is basically lawlessness.”

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has received about 15 calls for service since May 13 related to concerns about the construction project; two citations have been written that directly relate to driving around closures/failing to obey signage.

Sheriff Dan Starry said his office has partnered with the county’s public-works department to increase patrol in the area.

“We understand the concerns of the residents, city leadership and adjoining neighborhoods related to the closure and increased traffic volume,” Starry said. “We will continue to increase patrol during the period of this construction project and urge all motorists to engage in safe driving practices and obey all posted speed limits.”

‘IT’S BEEN FRUSTRATING’

Kellie Cardinal, who lives on Birchwood Road, said she hopes the council will revisit its decision to close the entire road.

Cardinal is a general contractor who has an office at her house. She said the detour adds about 15 to 20 minutes to her trip home, which she sometimes makes three or four times a day.

“With the price of gas, it’s just super-expensive,” said Cardinal, who drives a Dodge Ram 1500. “It’s been frustrating. You’ll be told it’s open, and then you go there, and it’s not open.”

Birchwood’s decision “to unilaterally cut off public streets and access to local pharmacies and grocery stores is outrageous,” said Mahtomedi resident Emmett Coleman. “It makes the construction-related disruption dramatically harder on the entire community.”

But White Bear Township residents Lanny and Peggy Smaagard, who biked through the area on Tuesday, said they hope that the road remains closed to traffic.

“It’s unfortunate, but it makes sense,” Lanny said. “If you open it up for cars, the trucks are going to come through, and no one wants that. It’s such a narrow road. I can see why people are upset, but Birchwood has the right to do this.”

Related Articles