4.2.C. SR 07-10-2000 Howard R, Green Qompany
GONSULTING ENGINEERS
July 6, 2000
File: 808200-0060
Item ~ 4.2.C
The Honorable Mayor and City Council
City of Elk River
13065 Orono Parkway
Elk River, MN 55330
RE:
MAIN STREET STRIPING
CITY OF ELK RIVER, MINNESOTA
Dear Council Members:
As the City prepares to proceed with the overlay of Main Street between Trunk Highway (TH)
169 and the railroad tracks to the west, the City Council should consider the potential restriping
of Main Street after the overlay. Main Street is approximately 52 feet wide and is striped for two
lanes of traffic and two parking lanes. Consideration should be given to restriping it after the
overlay to eliminate the parking and provide more traffic lanes. The 1999 traffic count data
provided by Mn/DOT indicates the average daily traffic is 7,700. This number can be
anticipated to rise quickly when the commercial opportunities at Elk River Crossing open in the
fall of the year. Generally speaking, a two-lane road can carry up to 10,000 cars a day.
However, this capacity is reduced by the number of left turn opportunities along the roadway.
With Main Street, there are four intersections and a significant number of commercial and
residential driveways for left turn opportunities. Therefore, the total capacity of a two-lane Main
Street would be considered somewhat less than 10,000 cars per day.
I have visually observed the on-street parking uses along Main Street over the past several
weeks. It has been my observation that there are consistently a few cars parked along Main
Street. It is not clear to me whether this parking is due to convenience, being closer to the
businesses than from their parking lots, or a matter of necessity caused by a businesses' lot
being full. My guess is that the reason would be the former, the parking by convenience.
If the City Council wants to consider restriping Main Street to eliminate parking and provide
more lanes, there are two options available. They could restripe Main Street to a four-lane
roadway with two lanes in each direction or to a three-lane design with one lane in each
direction and a center left turn lane. Recent Mn/DOT studies have shown that the three-lane
design contributes to a reduction in accidents, versus a straight four-lane roadway where there
are significant left turn movements.
Ltr-070600-MayorCou ncil-Restripingdoc
1326 Energy Park Drive · St. Paul, MN 55108 · 651/644-4389 fax 651/644~9446 toll free 888~368-4389
The Honorable Mayor and City Council
July 6, 2000
Page Two
There is some time available to make the final decision on restriping three-lane versus four-
lane. I can follow up with the City Council and provide sketches of what the road section would
look like in both scenarios. I can also provide some of the Mn/DOT documentation relative to
accident history on both types of roadway. Following is the question I would like to have
answered on Monday evening: Is the City Council in favor of eliminating parking and restriping
the roadway to carry the increasing traffic on Main Street?
By the way, if the City Council decides to eliminate parking and restripe the roadway, it would be
the staff's intent to send a memo to every property owner and business owner along Main Street
informing them of this change. We would also include information relative to traffic during the
construction process.
If you have any questions regarding these issues, I will be in attendance at your July 10, 2000,
City Council meeting.
Sincerely,
Howard R. Green Company
Terry J. Maurer, P.E.
TJM/mjw
Ltr-070600-MayorCouncil-Restriping.doc
Howard R, Green Company
CONSULTING ENGINEERS