6.8. SR 08-18-1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item #7.7 Howard R, Green Company CONSULTING ENGINEERS July 18, 1997 File: 800420J-0601 COBI:LTING tNGIXEI~ Formerly MSA' Consulting Engineers Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Elk River 13065 Orono Parkway P.O. Box 490 Elk River, MN 55330 RE: 193RD AVENUE AND EVANS STREET INTERSECTION ANALYSIS Dear Council Members: As directed by the City Council last month, we have done an analysis of the traffic situation at the intersection of 193rd Avenue and Evans Street. In order to perform this analysis, we first took traffic counts of the number of vehicles entering the intersection from each of the four legs. These 24-hour, one-directional traffic counts were taken on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, June 30, July 1st, and July 2nd. This is after the recent opening of the Time Out Sports Bar and Restaurant. The results of the traffic counts are shown on the attached exhibit. As can be seen from the exhibit, the highest volume of traffic is on eastbound 193rd Avenue and southbound Evans Street. These two legs are in the 5,200 to 5,400 vehicles per day range. Evans Street northbound had an average of 3,266 vehicles per day over the three-day period. The lowest traffic count of the four legs, as might be predicted, was on westbound 193rd Avenue at 1,728 average vehicles per 24 hours over the three days. These traffic counts were compared against the warrants for a multi-way stop sign installation and the warrants for a traffic signal installation. The counts certainly meet the minimum traffic volume warrant for the multi-way stop sign installation, which requires an average of 500 vehicles entering the intersection from all approaches for any eight hours of the day, plus the minor street must have an average of 200 vehicles per hour for the same eight-hour period. The intersection does not appear to come close to meeting any of the warrants for a traffic signal intersection installation. However, this may change over time as Hillside Crossing and Hillside Crossing South continue to develop, and in the future as 193rd is extended to Tyler Street, providing a means of access from the eastern part of Elk River to TH 169 and the commercial opportunities located there via 193rd Avenue. Because of the relatively short distance this intersection is located away from TH 169, we would not recommend an all-way stop sign installation because of the potential to back traffic up to TH 169. However, we would recommend the installation of a stop sign on westbound 193rd Avenue. This would make the intersection operate essentially the same as the Elk Hills Drive/Dodge Avenue 1326 Energy Park Drive · St. Paul, MN 55108 · 612/644-4389 fax 612/644-9446 toll free 800/888-2923