5.3. SR 06-13-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Transportation Issues June 3, 2005 Page 5 pedestrian facility could be built on either or both sides with the narrowed roadway. The abutting property owners would perceive th~t they are losing less of their front lawns. The issue that would be opened up with a reconstruction project would be whether or not to bring City utilities (sanitary sewer and water) into the area. Watermain is currently looped along the Highland Road corridor, bl}t the abutting properties were not required to connect to it. The watermain was looped by the Elk River Municipal Utilities for continuity of their high pressure systems in the east and west parts of the City. The Highland Road neighborhood is within the Gity's Urban Service Area, but is a relatively large-lot development that has never express~d an overwhelming desire for City utilities. Attached is an aerial photo of the Highland Road corridor. 10. School Street/High School Driveway Signalization This is an issue that has been discussed manx times over the past several years in an attempt to minimize or eliminate exposure of the community service officers and school officials to traffic. The City could install a signalized intersection at the high school parking lot driveway onto School Street. We have explored with MnDOT all other possibilities and the only legal possibility is afull-ftedged operating signal which would obviously be green most times for the School Street leg. The signal would operate off loop detectors and timers. This would allow! a vehicle coming from Lions Park Center or the high school parking lot at off hours to trigger the signal to turn green for that leg, but the signal could also be timed so that at the end of the school day, it would allow a longer green time to empty the parking lot. With a signalized intersection, there would likely not be a need for a community service officer to place themselves in the middle of School Street exposed to vehicle traffic. It is! staff's opinion that this installation could and should be funded at least half by the School District. The City's portion of the cost could be funded with Municipal State Aid dollars, since School Street is an MSA route. The estimated cost of a signal system at this location would be $125,000 to $150,000. 11. Westbound 193rd Avenue at TH 169 I have discussed with Tom Davidson, the MnDOT Traffic Signal Technician who works on the Elk River signals, what it would take to make two through westbound lanes at 193rd Avenue and 1H 169. This would allow!more traffic to get through the intersection in peak times on a green cycle. Mr. Davidson has indicated that the loop detectors in place would be able to handle the changing of the lane configuration in most cases. So, simply the changing the signs on the mast arms and repainting the lanes to indicate the combined through/right-turn movement of ~he most northerly westbound lane would accomplish this. The two negatives that could potentially happen would be right turning traffic from westbound 19yd Avenue to northbound 1H 169 that could make their right turn on a red light may not be able to get to ~he intersection if they are waiting behind a vehicle intending to go straight through the intersection. The loop detector issue could arise if a single car wanting to go straight through 1H 169 westbound is waiting in the most northerly lane, it may not trip the signal and would have to wait for the timer, because the current loop detector may regist~r that car as a right turning vehicle. My suggestion would be that we change the sign$ on the mast arm and the striping on the street and let the intersection operate while observing to see if there are any significant issues with its operation before taking the more expensive step of changing the loop S:\Engineer\2005 CCmemos\06 0305 Transp issues.doc I