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2023-10-04 TC Agenda_CombinedAGENDA RICHFIELD TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MEETING BARTHOLOMEW ROOM, CITY HALL Wednesday, October 4th, 2023, 7:00 PM Attachment 1. Call meeting to order 2. Review & approve agenda 3. Review & approve minutes for September 6th, 2023 meeting #1 4. Nicollet Ave a) Phase #1 Engagement Recap b) Problem Statement c) Project Toolbox Development d) Open House 2 Discussion 5. Upcoming Grant Solicitations a) Met Council: Regional Solicitation b) MnDOT: Safe Routes to School 6. Project Updates a) 65th St Reconstruction b) I-494: Airport to Hwy 169 c) 77th Street & Lyndale Ave Signal d) 71st Street SRTS Sidewalk e) 66th Street & Richfield Parkway Pedestrian Improvements f) 2023 Concrete Project g) CC Liaison/Other Commissions/Bike Advocates 7. Other Business 8. Upcoming events/meeting(s) a) Wed, November 1st, 7:00pm: Transportation Commission Meeting 9. Adjournment Richfield Transportation Commission Attachment #1 September 6th, 2023 - Meeting Minutes 7:00 p.m. | Bartholomew Room, City Hall Commission members: Husniyah Bradley (Chair), Jim Mahoney, Jeff Walz, Carl Woetzel, Louis Dzierzak, David Gepner, Rory Cook Commission members not in attendance: Michael Kohout, Liaisons: Councilmember Sean Hayford O’Leary, Michael Devane City Staff Liaison/Staff: Matt Hardegger, Olivia Wycklendt I. Call meeting to order Chair Bradley called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm. II. Approval of Agenda Motion by Commissioner Walz to approve the agenda. Seconded by Commissioner Dzierzak. Motion carried. III. Review & Approve Minutes for August 2nd, 2023 Meeting Motion by Commissioner Mahoney to approve the August 2nd, 2023 meeting minutes. Seconded by Commissioner Walz. Motion carried. IV. Nicollet Ave Transportation Engineer Matt Hardegger briefly touched base on the open house #1 for the Nicollet Ave reconstruction project. He and the other commission members present stated that the open house had good attendance. Hardegger notified the commission that the County is still working on compiling the data and responses from the open house, and that the County would present their findings at the next commission meeting on October 4th. Hardegger added that if any commission members were interested in seeing the feedback prior to then, Hennepin County has their GIS map which has a compiled map of residents feedback. V. ADA Transition Plan Project Evaluation Criteria Transportation Engineer Hardegger provided a follow-up to the prior meeting regarding the ADA Transition Plan Project Evaluation criteria. The City evaluated pedestrian curp ramps, sidewalks, and pedestrian signals throughout the City using MnDOT accessibility score credentials such as vertical discontinuities or a cross slope of no more than 2% slope. The data yielded that approximately 11.3% of pedestrian curb ramps, 35.7% sidewalks, and 44.3% pedestrian crossing signals were in poor condition. Poor condition is determined to be a scoring of less than 70% based on the accessibility score credentials. Hardegger mentioned that some of the infrastructure in place as likely installed ADA compliant, however over time settling or frost heave may have caused the infrastructure to become non-compliant. The City also evaluated these areas with a self-made equity score. This scoring system took into consideration age of the population, ethnicity, and population with a disability to name a few of the criteria. From there, the data was given a prioritization score, which was a combination of the two scores- weighted with 25% being an equity score, and 75% being an accessibility score. Areas with lower scores were higher on the prioritization list, with the ideal being that they be fixed within the next 0-5 years. Hardegger asked the Commission for feedback on the overall evaluation criteria. Commissioner Walz mentioned that he thought the equity score and the accessibility score should be weighted 50-50, while Councilmember Hayford O’Leary and Commissioner Woetzel agreed with the weighting. Commissioner Mahoney questioned the legality of using race as a parameter in the scoring system. Transportation Engineer Hardegger said he would check with the City attorney about the legality. VI. USDOT Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Transportation Engineer Hardegger informed the Commission of the USDOT Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods grant, which is a grant whose goals are to prioritize disadvantaged communities, improve access to daily needs, and foster equitable development and restoration. He stated that there is currently funding available for a variety of projects, such as projects that are “shovel-ready” or already have a plan in place, or for planning future construction activities that would assist in improving the community. Hardegger announced that the City was looking at the 76th/77th St Corridor study being a candidate for this grant, as it is a high ADT and high speed reliver corridor for I-404, with the existing pedestrian infrastructure having room for improvement. The City would like to do an entire public engagement process for this study, as well as doing concept development and preliminary design for the corridor, which would the design “shovel-ready” and eligible for another future grant. Transportation Engineer Hardegger announced that staff is asking the commission for a recommendation to support to this grant and to take it to City Council for their approval. Motion by Commissioner Woetzel to recommend the application for the USDOT Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant to City council. Seconded by Commissioner Walz. Motion carried. VII. Active Transportation Action Plan Transportation Engineer Hardegger announced that the City has been working on their Active Transportation Action Plan over the last year. This included gathering data to identify current conditions of public infrastructure, and several public engagement activities including winter walks along City sidewalks as well as an online map where residents could provide feedback. The resounding themes heard from the community were a desire to lower speed limits, improve crossing locations for safety and visibility, improve pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure near and crossing over 35W, and prioritize the safe routes to school program to name a few. The commission was presented the full draft Active Transportation Plan as a part of their materials for the meeting. Transportation Hardegger asked for feedback from the Commission. Commissioner Mahoney suggested putting the goals and achievements of the Active Transportation Plan at the beginning of the document rather than at the end. Commissioner Walz mentioned that when using “rolling” as a term for transportation, he found it important to be consistent with what that includes throughout the document, as not all types of “rolling” were mentioned each time “rolling” was referenced. Transportation Hardegger reminded the commission that the plan is still in draft format and is subject to future changes as staff continues to refine it. The Commission decided not hold a vote on the approval of the Active Transportation Action Plan, and rather wait until the document is its final format. VIII. Project Updates • 65th St Reconstruction. Civil Engineer Olivia Wycklendt updated the commission on the project, stating that Lyndale Ave and 65th St would likely be open to north and southbound traffic by early November. She also mentioned that the contractors will be working on the railroad and a soil-retention system along 65th St over the next month. • I-494: Airport to 169 Update. Transportation Engineer Hardegger stated that most of the work is happening West of the 35W interchange. He mentioned that the next big impact would be the westbound ramp from Lyndale to I-494 would be closed for 45 days in tandem with the westbound ramp from I-494 to 35W. • 77th/Lyndale Signal Project. Hardegger said that the signal posts at the intersection are up, however there are some tweaks to the timing of the intersection that the contractor is working on. Concrete work for this intersection is currently ongoing, he added. • 71st St SRTS Sidewalk. Hardegger mentioned that there was a delay due to ROW acquisition issues with the project, which means that the permanent installation of the project will be pushed to summer of 2024. • 66th St & Richfield Parkway Pedestrian Improvements Hardegger announced that the City received grant funding for pedestrian crossing improvements at 66th and Richfield Parkway. This will include flashing beacon push buttons for pedestrians. Construction will likely begin in Summer of 2024. • 2023 Concrete Project Civil Engineer Wycklendt mentioned that there is a wide variety of locations throughout the City that will be on the replacement list this year. Hardegger added that some of the non-compliant areas assessed in the ADA Evaluation from this summer will be on the list to get fixed. • Liaison Updates. Liaison Michael Devane and Councilmember Hayford O’Leary did not have any updates for the commission. IX. Upcoming events/meeting(s) The next regularly scheduled Transportation Commission meeting is Wednesday, October 4th, 2023. There will be a project update from the Nicollet Ave Reconstruction project team at this meeting. X. Adjournment Chair Bradley adjourned the meeting at 8:42 pm.