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Minutes 03-10-04Richfield Transportation Committee Minutes March 10, 2004 Committee members in attendance: Steve Lindgren(Co-chair); Barbara Kritzman(Co-Chair); Todd Nollenberger; Don Anderson; William Kilian; Bob Elliott; Robert Shotwell; Lezlie Vermillion; Maureen Scaglia; Gary Ness; and, Council member Susanne Sandahl. Others in attendance: Ray and Judy Goebel; Dan Casey; Larry Wozniczka; Ken Meter; Gordon Maenke; Carol Swenson; Bill Murphy; Steve Hodek; George Holter; Elaine Bergquist; V. A. (Woody) Duvlea; Robert and Kim Carlson. Richfield staff: Tom Foley, Kristin Asher and Mike Eastling. MnDOT staff: Alana Getty and Chris Roy. WSB staff: Tony Heppelmann and Nancy Hanzlik. Steve Lindgren served as Chair for the meeting. The minutes of the February 11, 2004 meeting were accepted in a motion by Suzanne Sandahl, seconded by Lezlie Vermillion and passed. Lawyer Investigation – Mike Eastling reported that City Attorney Corrine Thomson is still researching ways to clear any restricted covenants on Donaldson Park. She believed that the City will probably have to condemn the property to remove any covenants. However, she did not think this should hold up the Committee’s recommendation on a preferred alternative. Once an alternative is selected as the preferred alternative, a park impact line should be established and reviewed with the City Attorney. East Side Residents Meeting – A report was included in the agenda packet of the comments received at a meeting with residents east of 35W for the Committee’s information. Response to Ken Meter’s Proposal for a 7th Alternative- Alana Getty reported that MnDOT staff had reviewed the proposal from Ken Meter. She presented MnDOT’s findings. The existing ramp would not be built today based on current MnDOT standards. Ramps should be built so that they intersect within plus or minus 20 degrees of a 90 degree angle with the local street. In the case of the 76th street ramp, the ramp intersects 76th Street at a 65 degree angle. To correct this would require the taking of homes. The current ramp has a curve radius of 250 feet that allows speeds of only 30 miles per hour. MnDOT now calls for a minimum curve radius of 500 feet for ramps. The length of the acceleration lane would need to be 500 feet long. Currently, the acceleration lane on the 76th Street ramp is only about half that length. The acceleration lane needs to be long enough to allow entering traffic to match the speed of freeway traffic so the entering vehicles can safely merge with freeway traffic. Evaluation Scores– Tony Heppelmann reviewed the results of the Committee’s scoring of the six alternatives for the 76th Street ramp. The results are shown in two tables attached to these minutes. The first table shows the raw scores. The second table shows the alternatives ranked from best, ranked 1, to the worst, ranked 6, by each committee member based on the scores shown in the first table. Discussion followed the score sheet presentation. Committee members asked that large differences in the committee members’ scores on certain factors be discussed next month. Tony Heppelmann will have time prior to the Committee’s April meeting to analyze the individual scores. Mr. Heppelmann will share this information at the next meeting when the committee reviews the detailed design of the remaining alternatives. Bob Elliot made a motion to accept alternatives #3(Compressed Diamond), #4(Fly Over) and #6(Half Single-Point) for further study, the motion was seconded by Bill Kilian and was passed unanimously. As part of the discussion prior to the vote on the motion, Ken Meter asked that his criteria be used. Bill Kilian felt additional criteria would just water down the result. Lezlie Vermillion believed the results of scoring the alternatives would not have changed if different criteria were used. Larry Wozniczka said he was concerned that excluding the No Ramps alternative would prevent consideration of access to 35W from Lyndale Avenue. It was explained that the 35W northbound access from Lyndale Avenue on I-494 would be considered separately. Gary Ness thought that if the freeway shifts farther west into Donaldson Park, we should give another presentation to the Community Services Commission. The committee suggested further study should be completed on the three preferred Alternatives (#3, #4, and #5) with respect to the following: Summary highlighting large differences in the committee members’ scores on certain factors. Generation of a visualization for Alternative #4. Either still pictures from different viewpoints or a movie would be acceptable. MnDOT may be able to help on this with work they have already done on 35W/494 interchange. Shift 35W further west to determine the impact to the park, on I-35W and on Humboldt Ave west of 35W. Open House - A discussion was held regarding the Open House on the18th Avenue Connection to Cedar Avenue as Part of 66th Street and TH 77 Interchange on March 24th at Centennial Elementary School. Steve Lindgren encouraged Committee members to attend the March 24 Open House. The Open House will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. 35W/62 Crosstown Design – Tom Foley updated the Committee on the changes made to the Crosstown Project and the information that was presented at the Public Information Open Houses held by MnDOT on March 9 & 10, 2004. The Highway 62 westbound access location alternatives include Portland Avenue, Lyndale Avenue and 66th Street at 35W. Meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Attachments Comments Received at Neighborhood East of I-35W Meeting on February 26, 2004 on the 76th Street/I-35W Interchange Evaluation Two tables showing the summary of scores by members of the Richfield Transportation committee on ranking of alternatives, no date.