6.11. & 6.12. SR 05-17-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. Howard R. Green Company CONSULTING ENGINEERS May 13, 1999 File: 800112j-0240 Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Elk River P.O. Box 490 Elk River, Minnesota 55330-0490 RE: ELK RIVER CROSSING Dear Councilmembers: . At Monday evening's City Council meeting, the Elk River Crossing development will be back before the City Council. As the Council will remember, the last time this development was presented to the City Council, the one major issue that the developer was directed to do more work on was the design of the internal roadway and the access points from that roadway to the two major commercial sites. Since that last City Council meeting, we have had several meetings with the developer and his engineer to discuss these issues further. First, we asked the developer to have their transportation engineer, Benshoof and Associates, Inc., to do an analysis of the expected traffic volumes on the internal road. This would give us a basis by which to review the design of the roadway. We also indicated to the developer and his engineer that we anticipated no more than two access points to each of the major commercial sites. This is keeping in line with the City Council's direction to use Elk Park Center as a model. The supplemental traffic engineering report prepared by Benshoof and Associates, Inc., indicates that the expected average daily traffic on the internal roadway would be approximately 17,400 vehicles near the intersection of Main Street. This number would drop to 11,300 vehicles at the first driveway to the major retail sites. The traffic volume is expected to decrease further as the roadway approaches Tyler Street at the southeast corner of the plat. At this intersection, the anticipated average daily traffic is 4,100 vehicles per day. Although, it is possible for a two- lane road to carry these traffic volumes with the exception of the high volume new intersection of Main Street, we felt it was important to provide a reasonable bypass lane for the large number of left-turning vehicles expected to access the two major commercial sites. Therefore, the revised design for the internal roadway consists of a three-lane road 40 feet wide. Two of the lanes would be southbound and one would be northbound. This roadway design would be very similar to Dodge Avenue between Elk Hills Drive and 5th Street. The two southbound lanes would provide the opportunity for through traffic to bypass a vehicle stopping to make a left turn. . Near the intersection of Main Street, the internal roadway would have a six-lane design. Two lanes would be southbound into the site from Main Street. Four lanes would be northbound exiting the site at Main Street. Of these four lanes, two would be provided for left turning vehicles, one for through traffic, and one for right turning vehicles. This design meets the recommendation of Benshoof and Associates, Inc., in their October 8, 1998, Traffic Impact Analysis for Elk River Crossing. At the intersection of the internal road and Tyler Street, the three lanes would provide one inbound lane and two outbound lanes. Initially, the two outbound \\SPNWFS\VOL 1 'IDA TA\PROJ\800112J\0240\112-1203.may99.doc 1326 Energy Park Drive. 81. Paul, MN 55108 . 651/644-4389 fax 651/644-9446 toll free 888/368-4389