Garfield Street West - Road Closure

Proposed Street Closure:  Garfield Street West

UPDATE: At the November 3, 2025 Regular City Council Meeting, the council made a motion to explore a trail alignment through Green Haven Golf Course, to leave the closure of the road in place permanently, and adopted a resolution to vacate a portion of Garfield Street West.

At the October 20, 2025 Regular City Council Meeting, the council made a motion to set a public hearing date to vacate a portion of Garfield Street West between Green Haven Parkway and Wingfield Avenue. The public hearing will be held on November 3, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber of Anoka City Hall, located at 2015 First Avenue Anoka, to hear reasons for and against said vacation.

The City of Anoka is proposing to close a portion of Garfield Street West between Wingfield Avenue and Green Haven Parkway. As part of a scheduled trial, the city will close this segment of the road on Monday, October 6, 2025 to assess its future use and potential for permanent closure of the roadway, see image below.

We understand that the public may view this road as heavily used. However, traffic studies and observational data indicate that actual usage is significantly lower than perceived. Locally collected traffic data over a 10-year span (2016 through 2025) indicates traffic volumes have dropped significantly with a total decrease over 400 vehicles per day or about 60%. This is based on the Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) data from 2016, 2021, 2024, and 2025 which were 669, 394, 237, and 262 vehicles per day, respectively. 

 Additionally, other consideration for the closure of the road includes:

• There are now other safer routes in the City of Anoka. With the completion of Anoka Highway 10 construction including new frontage road connections and the new parkway on the north side of the highway, drivers can now enjoy faster, safer, and more efficient routes through the city. These improvements have ease congestion, reduce travel times, and enhance overall accessibility throughout Anoka. 
• If a road is expensive to maintain and sees very low-volume traffic, a closure is the may be cost-effective option. A very low-volume local road is a road that is functionally classified as a local road and has an average daily traffic volume of 400 vehicles per day or less. As mentioned above, today Garfield Street West has a AADT of only 262 vehicles. 
• Future maintenance and reconstruction cost of Garfield Street West is expected to be over $1M. By closing and reducing this cost, this would ensure the most effective use of taxpayer funds. 
• Improves safety at Green Haven Golf Course and Event Center ~ according to the former Golf Course Manager in 2017, during council discussions, “The elimination of a portion of Garfield Street and the addition of a trail connecting from the proposed development along fairway is absolutely fantastic for the course. That would eliminate one of our most dangerous situations of crossing a city street to get from one tee to the next and allow many new prospective customers an easy way to get to the clubhouse”.
• Eliminates the cut-through traffic concern in the Slab Town neighborhood and aligns with the Greens of Anoka Redevelopment Plan public feedback:
  1. “Residents in the slab town neighborhood expressed hesitation about the creation of a parkway along the railroad tracks and meandering through the neighborhood, as cut-through traffic and access into the neighborhood are already significant issue.”
  2. “Residents again voiced concern about what the impacts of an east/west parkway connect would mean for increased traffic through the Highland Park and Slab Town neighborhoods.
• Goals from the Greens of Anoka Redevelopment Plan were to explore ways to sell city-owned property and ultimately move more tax-exempt land on to the tax-rolls. Additionally, to improve the quality of life for residents and to enhance the golf course. 
• Supports the City Council’s goal to develop property owned by the City of Anoka. Ultimately, generating additional revenue to maximizing taxable land on the tax rolls.
• Improves development opportunities for the re-development of the Highland Park area.

Additionally, with the completion of Anoka Highway 10 construction including new frontage road connections and the new Parkway on the north side of the highway, drivers now enjoy faster, safer, and more efficient routes through the city. These improvements have eased congestion, reduced travel times, and enhanced overall accessibility throughout Anoka. 

During this period, no through traffic will be permitted and advance warning signage will be posted in the adjacent neighborhoods to inform motorize accordingly. This trial period will allow the city to gather public feedback.

To proactively address community concerns, the City of Anoka has created an online questionnaire to collect feedback on the proposed street closure. gather community feedback. Please participate in the QUESTIONNAIRE . The questionnaire will remain open until Friday, October 17, 2025. 

 PLEASE NOTE: At this point, this is not a final decision, but is the next step toward better understanding how the local traffic is affected. Your input is appreciated and we encourage for you to complete the brief online questionnaire. 

The schedule includes the closure of Garfield Street West and actions for the vacation of public right-of-way. Below is a detailed schedule for the closure of Garfield Street West:

• September 23, 2025: Advance signage installed stating “Road Subject to be Closed – October 6, 2025” and public feedback period opens
• October 6, 2025: Closure of Garfield Street West
• October 17, 2025: Public feedback period closes
• October 20, 2025: City Council discussion on public feedback of the closure of Garfield Street West through Green Haven Golf Course & Event Center and Council consideration of setting a Public Hearing for vacating a portion of Garfield Street West
• October 25, 2025 Notice of Public Hearing published in Anoka County Herald Union newspaper 
• November 3, 2025: City Council holds Public Hearing related to vacation of a portion of Garfield Street West and consideration of approving the vacation a portion of Garfield Street West
• Spring/Summer of 2026: Construction of Wingfield Avenue cul-de-sac

The construction of the Wingfield Avenue cul-de-sac completed in 2026. Wingfield Avenue would terminate prior to the sharp curve as the road turns into Garfield Street West, see image below.

For questions or comments on the road closure, you may contact Ben Nelson, Assistant City Engineer at 763-576-2980  or bnelson@ci.anoka.mn.us