5.3. SR 09-22-2003MEMORANDUM
Item 5.3.
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
Mayor and City Council
Pat Klaers, City Administrator
September 22, 2003 ~_~.
Consider County Road 12/Twin Lakes Road Intersection Signal
Warrant Study
Attached is a memo from City Engineer Terry Maurer regarding this issue. I recommend we
move forward with this signal justification study with the initial funding for the study to
come from the Street Reserve.
S:\COUNCIL\Pat\2003\WarrantStudy.doc
Howard R, Green Company
September 12, 2003
File: 900760CSM
Mr. Pat Klaers
City Administrator
City of Elk River
13065 Orono Parkway
Elk River, MN 55330
RE:
COUNTY ROAD 12/TVVIN LAKES ROAD INTERSECTION
SIGNAL WARRANT STUDY
Dear Mr. Klaers:
As was discussed at the last department head meeting, Jeff Beahen, Police Chief, has talked with me
about the procedure to start the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of County Road 12
and Twin Lakes Road. The Police Chief has indicated that they are experiencing an increasing
number of traffic accidents. To date, I do not believe that any of them have involved sedous bodily
injury or fatalities. The Police Chief is concerned that as traffic grows in the area, they will continue to
experience the larger number of traffic accidents, with potentially increasing severity.
As you are aware, this intersection is three legs County jurisdiction (County Road 12 both directions
and Twin Lakes Road to the north), and one leg City jurisdiction (Twin Lakes Road to the south). As
you are also aware, the first step in installing a signal is preparing a Signal Justification Report, which
measures eight different warrants for the installation of a signal. These warrants range from total
amount of traffic, amount of turning vehicles each direction, and amount of accidents. The warrants
generally measure whether there are situations at the intersection, such as traffic delays or traffic
accidents, that could be lessened or eliminated by the installation of the signal. Although three of the
four legs are under County jurisdiction, the traffic that generally is causing the accident history at this
intersection is likely generated by the residential developments and/or commercial and industrial
developments near the intersection. As such, my recommendation would be to have the City
undertake the warrant study to determine whether or not there are enough warrants met to justify the
installation of a signal. If so, I would then recommend presenting this information to Sherbume
County and discussing the most efficient way of getting a signal programmed and installed at the
intersection.
Generally the cost of preparing a signal justifications report, including doing traffic counts and tuming
movement counts, along with accident record analysis and preparing the report, is approximately
$3,000. My hope would be that if the City expends this money and a signal is justified and ultimately
installed at the intersection, the City could recoup their initial investment from the 25 percent of the
project that they should pay for based on legs of the intersection. Please advise me how you would
like me to proceed with this issue.
Sincerely,
Howard R. Green Company'
Terry J. Mabrer, P.E.
Ltr-091003-Klaers
1326 Energy Park Drive · St. Paul, MN 55108 ° 651/644-4389 fax 651/644-9446 toll free 888/368-4389