I have lived in this neighborhood for many years and travel Plymouth Road by Byerly’s and the Mall every day – often three trips a day.
I have witnessed many pedestrian incidents and several serious pedestrian accidents and recently asked for an received an incident report from the police department showing 42 traffic incidents where police were called over a six year period.
Many of these incidents include pedestrians and many appear serious. I will make this report available upon request (use the comment section on this site).
Below is a note I circulated to Minnetonka City officials and have been asked to present at the next park board meeting (the park board makes recommendations about sidewalks in this city) on October 5th at 7pm.
If you have a friend or family member that walks from Byerlys or the Ridgedale Mall to the library/courthouse or from the library to the Mall or Byerlys, or you are simply concerned for the many bus riding people that do the hard work of retail staffing at the 200 stores in this neighborhood, come and add to the discussion and learn how dangerous it is for pedestrians in this neighborhood today and how much more dangerous it is about to become when we add 500 more residents in these few square blocks.
Please add your comments to this site and share this conversation with your neighbors.
ps.. the photo is of a young couple crossing the street with a baby in a carriage – There is no crosswalk and on a January day with snow and ice at five pm drivers make this a take your life in your own hands crossing.
Pedestrian Safety at Ridgedale
500 to 600 people are moving into residences near Byerly’s on Plymouth RD by Byerly’s in our Minnetonka neighborhood.
At the 1st Highland Bank City project planning meeting, I was told by the City Planner that pedestrian safety issues would be addressed in this already highly trafficked area. I disagree – the current proposal falls short of making the neighborhood safe.
I live here, I shop here, I library and YMCA here and I travel this block daily.
I’ve had several close calls in my car with pedestrians trying to cross Plymouth Road and almost run over a man in a wheelchair when the car in front of me veered sharply at the last second to miss him.
I’ve witnessed a dozen pedestrian incidents here (including some with injuries).
Minnetonka police provided me a report showing 42 police calls for pedestrian/traffic incidents not including the speeding and other traffic tickets issued on these blocks since 2010 (and there are many traffic violations issued on these streets for unsafe driving).
There are no crosswalks, very few sidewalks, only tiny concrete islands for pedestrian traffic to cross these streets. During the winter, snow is rarely shoveled, it’s dark early and pedestrians face very real danger crossing from the mall, from the library/courthouse and from Byerly’s.
One of the people crossing Plymouth Road every day is a young man working at Byerly’s. He has had to cross this intersection almost every day for years.
It is fearful for him to cross this street but he has to for his job.
Imagine your child, your spouse or someone not youthful or in perfect health trying to cross Plymouth road on a January day when its’ dark early and there’s snow piled on the unmarked crosswalk islands and drivers are in a hurry to get home after work.
Holiday season drivers at Ridgedale intersections regularly create gridlock to where traffic lights are ignored and pedestrians find it almost impossible to safely cross the street.
