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6.2. SR 11-27-2000 . . . ITEM 6.2. Howard R. Green Company CONSULTING ENGINEERS November 20, 2000 File: 806610J-0325 Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Elk River 13065 Orono Parkway PO Box 490 Elk River, MN 55330-0490 RE: AUBURN STREET Dear Council Members: As directed by the City Council at the July 24, 2000 meeting, City staff convened a meeting to discuss possible improvements that could be made to the Auburn Street area to address citizen complaints concerning speed and volume of traffic. The meeting was held on August 17, 2000. Staff members in attendance included the following: Pat Klaers, City Administrator Tom Zerwas, Chief of Police Jeff Beahen, Assistant Chief of Police Bruce West, Fire Chief Michele McPherson, Director of Planning Phil Hals, Street Superintendent Terry Maurer, City Engineer Items which were discussed and a brief summary of the discussion are as follows: 1. 193rd Avenue/Auburn Street Intersection In the various public meetings that have been held, there has been a number of concerns voiced regarding the speed of traffic around this corner and the traffic cutting the corner, essentially going into the wrong lane, to maintain their speed around the corner. For several years, this has been a 90 degree corner with no development on the east or south legs. Recently, the developer of this area began construction on Woods at Hillside Phase II, which will create an east leg of 193rd Avenue at this intersection. Discussion was held at our staff meeting concerning two potential solutions here. The first was constructing medians on 193rd Avenue to force the traffic to stay in its own lane through the turn and/or creating an all-way stop situation once the east leg of 193rd Avenue is constructed. Concern was voiced by Phil Hals and myself regarding the median issue in that a short median will be difficult to plow around, and in relatively deep snowfalls, will be essentially hidden from traffic and/or snowplow equipment. It was the consensus of the group that an all-way stop situation will provide a means to slow traffic at the intersection, therefore causing it to stay in the appropriate lane, not cutting the corner. Ltr-112000-City Council.doc 1326 Energy Park Drive. St. Paul, MN 55108 . 651/644-4389 fax 651/644-9446 toll free 888/368-4389 . Honorable Mayor and City Council November 20, 2000 Page Two 2. Installation of a "choker" along Auburn Street As the Council will recall, the packet from the July 24, 2000 meeting included several traffic calming ideas. Creating "chokers" along the street was one of these. A choker is a relatively long area, approximately 200 feet in length, where the street is narrowed, essentially choking it down creating a situation where the motoring public will tend to drive slower. The concern with Auburn Street and trying to construct a choker mid-block between 193rd Avenue and 196th Avenue is that the street is only 32 feet wide. In constructing a choker, the street could not be narrowed below 24 to 26 feet in width, or it will cause an unsafe condition for two-way traffic. Narrowing Auburn Street by three feet on either side would not provide the motoring public the perception that the street is getting substantially narrower. It will also be difficult to accomplish because of the developed nature of Auburn Street with driveways and front lawns established. It would be very difficult to create the choker situation without major disruption to some of the driveways and front lawns along this area. It was the consensus of the group that in other major plats where one roadway has a wider width (36 to 40 feet) for carrying major volumes of traffic, designing a choker into the project in the initial construction stages would work rather well. . 3. Gateway From the July 24, 2000 packet, the Council will recall that a gateway is a narrowing with potentially some monumentation at the entrance to a street, essentially creating the same effect as a choker, but at one end or the other of a street segment. The concern here is very similar to the choker discussion above in that the street really is not wide enough to create a significant impact in developing a gateway at either the south or the north end. Also, it would be difficult to construct after the fact, with all of the properties developed along Auburn Street. Once again, the committee felt that gateways were appropriate in developing plats and should be considered in the future. 4. Sidewalks The committee discussed constructing a sidewalk on either or both the east or west side of Auburn Street. As the Council will recall, there was a number of concerns about small children living adjacent to Auburn Street. If the adjacent residents felt a sidewalk was appropriate as a means for pedestrian movements and/or children to play with bicycles and such, a sidewalk could be constructed. It is always difficult to build a sidewalk after all of the driveways are established, since the driveways generally have a straight grade from the back of curb up to the garage elevation. When a sidewalk is interjected five to seven feet back from the curb along this driveway, a relatively flat area needs to be provided for the sidewalk. This has the effect of steepening the driveway grade from that point up to the garage. We have not done a detailed analysis, but it can be assumed that to construct a sidewalk along Auburn Street on either or both sides, numerous driveways will have to be cut back substantially and the grades steepened. The committee felt that this option should be only undertaken if the neighborhood indicates a majority in support of sidewalk installation. . Ltr-112000-City Council.doc Howard R. Green Company CONSULTING ENGINEERS . Honorable Mayor and City Council November 20, 2000 Page Three 5. Traffic Cutting Corner at Auburn Street/196th Avenue Intersection The committee discussed the concern raised at the informational hearing regarding traffic cutting the corner on sodded lawns at the intersection of Auburn Street and 196th Avenue. The committee felt that perhaps a barrier type of concrete curb and gutter could be installed in this corner area, replacing the surmountable curb currently in that location. The committee also felt that an even better method of combating this type of vehicle movement would be to create some type of landscape element at the corner that would essentially prohibit any kind of vehicle cutting the corner. 6. Speed dips Speed dips were discussed by the committee once again. As the Council will recall, speed dips or speed humps were discussed nearly two years ago when this issue first appeared. The consensus of the committee was that speed dips or speed humps would cause significant maintenance concerns together with potential street drainage concerns, and should only be used as a last resort. As the Council will recall, the neighborhood was against the installation of speed dips or humps when they were originally proposed by the Police Department and authorized by the City Council. . In conclusion, the committee felt that on the Auburn Street issue, installation of an all-way stop sign at Auburn Street and 193rd Avenue together with potentially installing a landscape component or barrier curb at the intersection of Auburn Street and 196th Avenue may address many of the vehicle driving behavior complaints. We have done numerous traffic counts over the years, and have determined that the volume of traffic and/or cut-through traffic in the Hillside area was not exorbitant for the design of Auburn Street. Staff has worked with the developer of the Hillside Estates area to ensure that the further development of the area in the northwest corner of the development will not complicate the Auburn Street issue further. We are working with the developer to ensure that there are other means of ingress and egress to these developing areas other than Auburn Street. The committee did feel that the issues raised by the Auburn Street residents should be considered in all future large-scale developments in that main ingress and egress routes should be identified and all relevant design issues used to mitigate the future affect of traffic volume on the abutting residents. If you have any questions regarding these issues, I will be in attendance at the November 27, 2000 City Council meeting. Sincerely, Howard R. Green Company ~"C;;;;ptl/camJ Terry J. ~a'urer, P.E. . Ltr-112000-City Council.doc Howard R. Green Company CONSULTING ENGINEERS