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CEAM Project of the Year 2004

Brookview Neighborhood Improvement Project
City of Golden Valley, MN

The construction of I-394 severed the connection between former TH 12 and the Brookview area of Golden Valley that includes Winnetka and Laurel Avenues. Diverted traffic levels soared to 15,000 a day on these residential streets, creating pedestrian safety issues and causing residents and business owners to feel disconnected from the community and the City’s largest park.

Meeting twice a month for nearly a year, SEH helped a 14-member advisory committee evaluate options that would allow them to design a road that fit the neighborhood, rather than a road that fit the traffic. Traffic calming measures such as narrower streets, colored concrete crosswalks, medians, and new sidewalks and trails helped the City achieved its goal of “renewing a strong sense of community.”

Poor soils complicated the project’s implementation at the north end of Winnetka Avenue. SEH solved the problem with light-weight aggregate (LWA), a soil-like material of manufactured, kiln-fired clay. One-third the weight of soil, LWA significantly reduces the load of the underlying material. Its use meant sewer and water lines did not need to be relocated and allowed the road to be converted from a rural to an urban design to handle stormwater runoff, and permitted a sidewalk and new trail to be constructed adjacent to the road to address pedestrian safety issues.

Brookview Park, the City’s largest, runs along Winnetka Avenue. Improvements were extended to the park that included shelter rehabilitation, parking lot reconstruction, a new gateway, trail and lighting replacement, and a planting plan that added buffers and a 15-foot bench around existing wetlands that transformed the ponds into a flourishing wildlife habitat.

“The entire project and the process is better than I ever imagined it could be,” Golden Valley Public Works Director, Jeannine Clancy, said.