3.0. SR 12-13-1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

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JI " e e e DEe 1 0 1993 ~(~\~NE~Sol4 1, ~ ..-:. ::tI ;;: t.".>- f?l OF Tf\f>.~ Minnesota Department of Transportation District 3 1991 Industrial Pk. Rd. Baxter, Minnesota 56401 Quality Service Through Individual Commitment (218) 828-2460 December 8, 1993 Mr. Leonard W. Levine Leonard Levine & Associates 2000 Piper Jaffray Tower 222 South Ninth Street Minneapolis, MN 55402 Mr. Pat K1aers City Administrator P.O. Box 490 Elk River, MN 55330 In reply refer to: C.S. 7106 (T.H. 169) Elk Park Center Additional Access from T.H. 169 Dear Sirs: The Department of Transportation was requested to evaluate the possibility of providing additional access from T. H. 169 to the proposed Elk Park Center development site. The request to study this additional traffic movement was made by Mr. Levine. Since our analysis and decision on this matter is of obvious interest to all parties, we feel it appropriate to share the District's position on this matter. The proposed access would be approximately midway between School Street and Jackson Avenue. The Department earlier concurred with an access at that location which would permit a right in and a right out from and to southbound T.H. 169. The additional access requested would permit a northbound left turn movement into the site at the presently agreed to right in/right out access location. With the proposed access, an engineering analysis performed by Mr. Robert Sands, P .E. with Edwards & Kelcey, indicates a modest improvement in the Level of Service (LOS) at the T.H. 169 and School Street intersection. Tf-is analysis also indicated that sufficient gaps would be available in the southbound T.H. 169 direction to allow the northbound left turning traffic to make this movement without encountering significant delays. The study was performed utilizing projected traffic volumes for 1997. The analysis also indicated that as traffic volumes increase in future years after 1997, a signal system could be added to create the needed gaps to accommodate the proposed left turn traffic movement. In consideration of the analysis performed, District 3 administrative engineering staff met to evaluate the proposal as well as discuss our position and philosophy of the entire T.H. 169 corridor. Our analysis took into account the future expansion of T.H. 101 to a four-lane facility and the obvious traffic growth that this encourages. We also considered the operational classification and function of T.H. 169; Le. a principal arterial that provides a transportation corridor to central and northern Minnesota. With this in mind, the District reached a consensus on our outlook and philosophy for the T.H. 169 corridor. An Equal Opportunity Employer