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Minutes 09-08-04Richfield Transportation Committee Richfield Water Plant Conference Room Minutes September 8, 2004 Committee members in attendance: Steve Lindgren (Co-Chair); Barbara Kritzman (Co-Chair); Todd Nollenberger; Lezlie Vermillion; Don Anderson; William Kilian; Maureen Scaglia; Robert Shotwell; and Council member Suzanne Sandahl. Others in attendance: Council member Susan Rosenberg; Larry Wozniczka; Fred Wroge; Marc Soderberg; Scott B. Meyer; Vickie Staley; WSB Staff: Tony Heppelmann and Nancy Hanzlik; Mn/DOT Staff: Chris Roy and Alana Getty; City Staff: Samantha Orduno; Kristin Asher and Tom Foley. B. Kritzman served as Chair for the meeting. At 7:00 p.m. B. Kritzman called the meeting to order. It was proposed that the agenda be modified to move Item No. 5 (Discussion of Stop Sign Policy) up to Item No. 2A. The request was accepted S. Lindgren motioned to approve the agenda, second by W. Kilian, motion passed unanimously. W. Kilian motioned to approve August 11, 2004 minutes, second by S. Lindgren, motion passed unanimously. Discussion of Stop Sign Policy (Handout) Marc Soderberg (6445 16th Ave) addressed the Committee with neighborhood concerns about the uncontrolled intersection at 65th Street and 16th Avenue. He explained that this intersection is within 1 block of a school and a church, there are a large number of children in the street because there are no sidewalks for them to use. Mr. Soderberg lives on this corner and within a 3-4 week period, he will witness a near miss at this intersection, within a 6-7 week period it’s typically a fender bender. Because these collisions are only property damage, phone numbers and insurance information are exchanged and the crash goes unreported. In the past 7 months, there have been two injury-related crashes; one was a hit and run, the other was alcohol related and resulted in a fatality. Mr. Soderberg and his neighbors would like to see control at this intersection and he is concerned with the noticeable increase in traffic due to Taft Park. He requests that a public forum be used before any final policy changes are made. Mr. Soderberg suggests that the intersection be studied further. W. Kilian wondered if there would still be a concern once that area is redeveloped and 17th Avenue is closed. Mr. Soderberg felt the redevelopment would raise the concerns of the neighborhood. He noted once again that some of the traffic is due to the ball fields at Taft Park. Scott B. Meyer (614 E. 68th Street) addressed the Committee regarding an uncontrolled intersection in front of his house. He also lives on the corner and witnesses people not obeying the speed limit, people not looking either way before entering the intersection, and people not following the right hand rule. Mr. Meyer feels strongly that 68th Street should have stops signs in some capacity along the entire length. There are not sidewalks for pedestrians to use. He also suggests looking at other residential areas for similar issues. The committee had asked to review 2003 crash data before reviewing the City’s Stop Sign Policy. T. Foley informed the Committee of some problems Mn/DOT is having with the 2003 crash data. The Minnesota Dept. of Public Safety changed their reporting methods and consequently, retrieving the crash data has gotten difficult. Loren Hill of Mn/DOT said the 2003 data are incomplete, only 80% of previous years, and there is a high percentage of errors, about 60%, They are still working on it. T. Foley also mentioned that in order to use crash data for reviewing intersection operations, you want at least 3 years of data. T. Foley then presented an overview of intersection control options and the City’s current Stop Sign Policy. W. Kilian asked if insurance companies keep information on crashes. L. Vermillion stated that personal injury and fatality collisions must be recorded; however, property damage collisions do not always make it into public safety records. W. Kilian asked what is the percentage of uncontrolled intersections in Richfield. He stated that he suggests removing uncontrolled intersections and found the sub-collector option interesting. He would like to know how traffic patterns would change. R. Shotwell stated that having any control within an area increases the risk at the intersections without control. He asked why you would need more sight distance at a yield-controlled intersection, and he felt that yield controlled intersections give more control. M. Scaglia disagreed with his philosophy and felt that yield controlled intersections end up working like stop controlled. T. Foley said staff would have to check on the sight distance for yield controlled intersections. S. Sandahl remembered mixed support for the basket weave stop signs that went in by the Best Buy campus. She asked what the feedback has been since those were installed. T. Foley shared that he had 4 complaints within the first 4 months, but has not had any in the past year. L. Vermillion stated that crashes increase with the introduction of control; severity may reduce, but crashes almost always increase. W. Kilian felt that stop signs work to slow down drivers. T. Nollenberger shared that he has seen studies that show when drivers are forced to stop they accelerate to higher than cruising speed, then lay off for the upcoming stop sign. Essentially increasing speeds. Scott Meyer thought it was worthwhile to consider counter costs to installation cost. Meaning the decrease in crashes, fatalities, insurance costs, etc. T. Nollenberger asked that Staff research what happens when control is introduced to uncontrolled intersections. W. Kilian noted that if we are going to continue allowing uncontrolled intersections, then we better remove some stop signs. The current saturation level is too high. Either we expect the driver to proceed very cautiously or we go with predictability. S. Sandahl felt we needed an easy way to get out of the neighborhood. T. Nollenberger identified that the current policy’s weakness is that it is inconsistent and more information is needed from staff on the other options. I-494/35W Corridor (Handout) Alana Getty reviewed the current I-494 modeling limits and discussed the 9 (nine) deficiencies found through modeling. She expects the layout to go out to the cities sometime this fall for approval. Little discussion followed the presentation. Lyndale Bridge Tony Heppelmann informed the Committee that the primary issue with the layout is how to provide access to I-35W northbound at Lyndale Avenue. He then reviewed the current layout options including two new concepts for providing that access. W. Kilian asked if the 2000 layout is really still an option. T. Heppelmann replied that Mn/DOT has shown resistance and finds it unlikely. L. Vermillion asked what the demand to go northbound off of Lyndale is. T. Heppelmann explained that the actual ramp count showed 30% was going northbound onto I-35W, modeling only showed 5%. L. Vermillion then asked what the demand was at Penn Avenue. T. Heppelmann explained that the demand for eastbound I-494 to southbound I-35 was in excess of 2000 vehicles per hour (vph), at Lyndale the demand is closer to 7-800 vph and 30% of that is from the Lyndale access. T. Heppelmann went on to explain that Mn/DOT feels the 2000 layout is an unworkable condition. To show that it works will take time and the results are likely to show that it is a borderline condition. R. Shotwell asked if it was possible to come up with a layout that allows for flexibility to remove that movement if it becomes necessary in the future. T. Heppelmann agreed it was possible to come up with a very flexible design. Chris Roy was asked what Mn/DOT thinks of the new concepts. He explained that they only received the layouts 2 weeks ago and need a couple more weeks for internal review before Mn/DOT would be ready to comment. Regarding the 2000 layout he explained that not only does Mn/DOT object to it, but the Federal Highway Administration would not approve the layout based on the Highway Capacity analysis results. W. Kilian wanted to know when a final decision was needed for the Lyndale Bridge. T. Foley explained that the access issues are too important to worry about schedules, but hopefully we can all agree on something within two months. Updates T. Foley informed the Committee that Mn/DOT has agreed to design the bridges over I-494 at 12th Avenue, Nicollet Avenue and Xerxes Avenue to accommodate bike lanes. Richfield will need to ask Mn/DOT to request a delay in the 66th Street and Portland Avenue reconstruction due to the Crosstown project. The extension is needed for funding purposes. $1.7 million will come from Hennepin County’s Community Works fund for land acquisition. Motion to adjourn was made by T. Nollenberger. Second by W. Kilian. Meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m.