Highway 8 business survey indicates<BR>economic prosperity along the corridor

Posted 1/31/01

Highway 8 business survey indicates
economic prosperity along the corridor

A recent survey indicates a strong economic base for businesses located along Highway 8, with almost three-quarters of responding businesses reporting rapid or moderate growth.

In addition, most businesses have been located along Highway 8 for more than 10 years, and nearly all intend to remain at their current site.

According to the survey, a majority of sales revenue the Highway 8 Corridor comes from the local area, with two-thirds of all sales made to local customers.

Local sales are especially strong in the central section of the Highway 8 corridor, with 75 percent of sales in Chisago City, Lindstrom and Center City attributed to local customers.

Pass-through customers account for a much smaller portion of total sales, and typically spend less on their purchases than local customers.

Business owners were also asked to identify traffic problems on Highway 8. Among the areas identified were traffic congestion, safety, vehicle speed, crosswalk safety, and access to Highway 8 from intersecting roads.

Survey respondents suggested fixing these problems by increasing road capacity, adding turn lanes at intersections and adding signals at several intersections.

Conducted in late October as part of the Highway 8 Corridor Study, this survey will help to better define the economic impact of Highway 8 on southern Chisago County.

In addition, sales data obtained from the survey will be used to predict the increase or decrease in sales associated with prospective Highway 8 developments.

This information is vital for determining what type of road development would best suit local businesses.

The purpose of the Highway 8 Corridor Study is to evaluate the mobility, access and safety issues for the roadway.

The recognized needs are to improve the operation of Highway 8 as a regional highway while accommodating access for existing and planned developments.

Issues to be addressed include safety, congestion, impacts to private property, pedestrian and bicycle circulation, economic impacts, and construction feasibility and costs.

The end result of the study will be an overall plan for the corridor that balances the need for mobility and safety with the need to maintain a reasonable level of accessibility to support area businesses and residents.

This will be an overall blueprint to guide future planning for roadway improvements in the Highway 8 Corridor.