A sharply divided St. Paul City Council voted Wednesday evening to move forward with a citywide road repair plan that includes funding for deep changes to Ayd Mill Road, the pothole-infested highway connector that traverses the city diagonally from Interstate 35E but ends several blocks short of Interstate 94.

The “Short Line Road” hung in there, but barely.

In a partial rebuff to Mayor Melvin Carter’s office, the council debated at length whether to remove $6 million in proposed bond funding for Ayd Mill Road from the city’s $20 million street reconstruction package, which will be put out to bid in about 30 days. Passage of the package is a key step before public bond sales.

“I believe that this whole process was a surprise,” said Council Member Dai Thao, who said Carter’s announcement last August that the four-lane road would be reduced to two lanes with a new bicycle and pedestrian path lacked public process.

“I didn’t know about it,” Thao said. “Most of the council didn’t know of the proposal to turn it into a two-lane.”

Even many bicycle advocates are disappointed. In a cost-cutting move, a revised plan put forward by the mayor’s office and Public Works Department this month would convert the 1.5-mile highway connector from four to three lanes, halving the width of the proposed bike-and-pedestrian trail from 24 feet to 12 feet.

In the end, the council voted 4-3 against a resolution presented by Thao that would have dropped $6 million in bond funding for the $7.5 million project from the city’s five-year road repair plan.

Council President Amy Brendmoen, Mitra Jalali, Nelsie Yang and Chris Tolbert voted against the Thao resolution, and Thao, Jane Prince and Rebecca Noecker voted for it.

Changes to the design could yet occur. “It doesn’t mean that we will commit to this exact plan,” Yang said.

Noecker: “We’re being presented tonight with a take-it-or-leave-it plan…We do more process than this for crosswalks, and I know that because I’ve been trying to get a crosswalk outside Humboldt High School for a year and a half…I don’t think the plan in front of us is right.” pic.twitter.com/oqnSet7mE9 — Frederick Melo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) February 20, 2020

A second resolution, also presented by Thao, calls for Public Works to conduct traffic modeling to see whether changes to Ayd Mill Road will result in traffic backups affecting surrounding neighborhoods. It also calls for increased public engagement, including meetings with affected groups.

The second Thao resolution passed 7-0.

“I had not seen this language until Council Member (Chris) Tolbert’s aide gave it to me half an hour before the meeting,” Public Works Director Kathy Lantry said immediately prior to the vote. “What I can commit to is we will do everything in our power to meet the outcomes that you are looking for in this resolution.”

Carter sent each council member a four-page letter Monday urging them to embrace the $7.5 million project.

Lantry asked the council not to delay a vote on the overall citywide street reconstruction package, which requires a 30-day waiting period before it is put out to bid. She said the package, which the council approved unanimously, represents a maximum that could be raised through bond sales, and does not commit the city to a particular project design.

“Passing the five-year plan is critical,” Lantry said. “Otherwise, we will do no work in 2020.”