5.12. SR 08-21-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

City of Elk River REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Agenda Section Meeting Date En · eerin Au st 21, 2006 Item Description School Street/] ackson Avenue Intersection Analysis Item Number 5.12. Prepared by Te Maurer, Ci Reviewed by Introduction This spring, the City Council authorized the analysis of the School Street/] ackson Avenue . . . mtersectlon operation. Discussion The analysis centered on the improvement to the intersection operation that could be achieved by adding left turn lanes to the southbound and eastbound legs, which currently do not have left turn arrows. To facilitate the analysis, turning movement volumes were counted on May 23rd and May 24th from 7 - 9 a.m. and 2 - 6 p.m. As is to be expected, there was a morning peak hour from 7:15 - 8:15 a.m. associated with the beginning of school. The same is true of a p.m. peak from 2:15 - 3:15 p.m. Also, there was a secondaty peak from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. As has been previously discussed, adding left turn arrows for southbound and eastbound movements would require restriping of J ackson Avenue. The proposal would be to restripe Jackson Avenue from School Street to TH 10 as a three-lane facility with a center left turn lane. This would serve two putposes; 1) it would add a long left turn lane at School Street for the morning a.m. school rush, 2) it would add a left turn lane for the proposed Jackson Villa T ownhome development on the west side of J ackson Avenue. This restriping would require a restriping of a portion of J ackson Avenue north of School Street to make the geometries work properly. The analysis of the existing traffic and future considerations at this intersection indicated that the restriping and modification to the signal to provide left turn arrows on all four legs would improve the overall operation of the intersection. The one exception to this, given the current configuration, was the southbound a.m. peak hour through and right turn lane which would be combined movements, had a relatively long queue length of 230 feet. Further analysis was done to determine whether or not the addition of a separate right turn lane for the southbound leg only would help the situation. The conclusion of this further analysis was a separate right turn lane approximately 200 feet in length including taper would significantly reduce the queue length for the southbound traffic in the a.m. peak. Adding this right turn lane to the southbound leg brings several other issues into play. First, additional right of way would need to be secured from the School District, since the existing right of way of J ackson Avenue would not allow sufficient room for adding a right turn lane. Second, adding the southbound right turn lane would require more significant modifications to the existing signal system. The signal controller which is located in this quadrant would need to be