box and then so many seconds before it changes where before the old mechanical clock used to just go spin so much time on the highway and so on the side streets and stuff and yeah >> councelor we're gonna >> yeah I can talk all day
>> rolling [laughter] >> it's 3:36 p.m. So I will call this special committee of the whole meeting to order. Councelor Fuller is absent and we have one item on the agenda for this
committee meeting and that is we have four folks here for presentation on the highway 1171 uh corridor study and I will let you introduce yourselves at this time. Thank you. >> Sure. Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, my
name is Alex Parrots. I'm our uh, Mandot project manager based out of Virginia. Um, so kind of uh, involved with almost every project that goes on in the north half of the district here. Uh, myself and Christian Louine uh, who's at the far end of the table here. He's in our traffic office. We're kind of co-pming the study that you're going to hear
about today. Uh, we also have Angie Bersa and Kelsey Larson here with Bolton and Mink. Uh, so they've been helping with our study as well. And uh just in general uh most of the the presentation is going to be done here by Kelsey and and Angie. Uh but I'll just do a quick overview of you know kind of why we're
here. So um our project uh you know we're looking at this 1171 corridor uh from 332 all the way up through downtown. Um that's for uh just helping us plan out for a future project or projects. Uh right now we are um looking
you know we have our 10-year plan and know that this is you know going to be coming up in our 10-year plan in a handful of years plus somewhere in there and this just is going to help us kind of refine what that uh what that project or projects are going to be. So I'm not going to steal all the thunder here from uh Kelsey and Angie but uh just want to
do a quick introduction and I'll turn it over. >> Right. Perfect. Okay. So I think you received the packet ahead of time but we'll just kind of work our way through this. Um, do you want to go to the next slide? This shows the study area that, um, Alex already
mentioned here. So, actually, County Road 91 all the way up to Highway 53, 2nd Avenue intersection is our study area shown in orange there. And, um, you know, a corridor study really does a comprehensive look at the corridor. uh
starting with what are the issues and needs that need what are the problems that we're trying to solve and for that we do um our own data analysis and engagement but we also consider previous plans and studies that have been done and one of the one an example of that is
the international falls um transportation area study that was done in 2021 and so we that was a good reference document that we brought into our work here uh that helped us with that first phase of if our goal of identifying what are the needs. Um and
then as the other study goals here mentioned on the slide, we work through a process of from that point developing and evaluating improvement alternatives and um looking at different recommendations which we're going to kind of walk you through all of those
steps with really a focus tonight though on those recommendations. Um, just because this is our first time in front of you, we want to kind of catch you up on everything we've done to date. And then, as Alex said, this is really to inform future transportation projects um
on the Highway 1171 corridor. So, this slide shows the the timeline and the different phases of work. We kind of break up this corridor study work into three phases. Um, we started last spring. Uh so our first uh phase
was really spring through fall of 2025. Again looking at what are the needs, what are the issues we're trying to solve for. Um and we worked through various um ways of engaging with the public and agencies and businesses, school uh we did different uh
coordination type uh or different uh school or coordination type meetings. And um and you can see on the screen here that who participated and we had good response with a number of surveys uh
people commenting online whether they came in person to a meeting or just decided to comment online and uh and those that actually did attend an engagement event. And then we kind of repeated that same process um over the winter when we got into our different
improvement alternatives and our evaluation. So we we had a detailed evaluation kind of in the background. Many different improvement alternatives uh for people to weigh in on, you know, what do you like, what don't you like, why? Um help us help us kind of break
this down. And we shared all of that as I mentioned last winter. Again, had a really great turnout with our various um engagement events as you can see on the screen there. And then we are going to repeat that again coming up here in August. So, you're going to see um you
know a pre a preview of what we're planning to present to the public in August and we're looking for council input on you know what what makes sense, what what don't you like, you know, just and and any input you may have on that early preview. >> Yeah.
>> You know, Angie, I'll just add one thing as well. you know, as part of the engagement, you know, we've we've been doing pretty extensive, but we've also had our project management team. And as part of that, we've had uh representative from the county and representative from the city on those our bi-weekly meetings.
So, you know, as we've been going through this, it hasn't just been us in a bubble. We've, you know, been making sure that we've had at least staff level, you know, to be to be at the at the meetings and whatnot to to be able to go through and provide feedback from a city or county stance. So, I just wanted to add that as well.
>> Good point. Betty's Betty's been great meeting with us every two weeks. Um, and then uh just to add on to that, our agency coordination, our focus group type meetings. We even had one where we included additional city staff with like maintenance perspective. You know, it's
always good to understand where are you going to put the snow, you know, how are you going to take care of it from a maintenance standpoint and to get those various perspectives, public safety. Um, so it was it's been good to evaluate all of those considerations.
So on the next slide um just a a review of what are the issues that we were finding in the corridor. So we first start with again our review of what what's the technical data showing us. We look at crashes. What's the history on
the corridor? We look at traffic volumes. We actually did go out and we we look at historical but we went out and collected traffic volume data in May and September of 2025. We wanted to make sure school was in session and we uh
both college and high school and you know elementary school um and so we were trying to uh get that updated. We are also collecting um volumes not only for cars but freight you know all types of vehicles using the corridor and then
also people walking along and across so people walking biking you know who's using the corridor. Um, we're also able to measure uh vehicle speed. You know, what are the average um speeds along the corridor? How how are people traveling?
And then look at traffic operations both along the corridor and at intersections. How are things operating? Do we have any areas of delay or concerns that we need to investigate further? And if you go to the next slide. So that that technical
information is really great, but then we also pair that and I'll have a summary of public engagement as well. You know, does our technical information match people's experiences, you know, that they're seeing out there as well. But here's a quick summary of the main
issues and needs that we are seeing on the corridor that really form the basis of how we then um evaluate our and come up with our improvement alternatives. So, there's a number of them here. Um, first and foremost, safety. We want to always make sure anything we do um
improves and and make sure we have a safe corridor uh for all modes of traffic, not just vehicles on the corridor, not just freight, not just bikes and pedestrians, but all of that together. You know, we want to make sure that this works for all transportation
modes. Um traffic signal um age and condition. The signals on this corridor are nearing their uh end of their service life and um we we have done an evaluation that shows that most of the
signals on the corridor are no longer warranted. So there is a a process that we go through to make sure that a a signal meets what's called warrants or that it's justified. If it doesn't meet that, you don't you don't want a signal on the corridor that doesn't meet those
standards. there's a reason for that because it otherwise it's not a safe condition to have that that signal. Um so we we go through that process. Um you know Mindot knew that those signals were aging so we we knew we needed to go through that and you look at that with
every corridor as well. Um we also look at the the lanes. You know what is the corridor itself? We've got a mix of of lanes out there from the the entire corridor. Is it three lane? Is it two lane? Is it four lane? Is it five lane? Um, so do we need all of those lanes?
You know, what do the existing volumes and what do the future volumes? So, we actually project out based on uh the city's projected uh, you know, population and and potential change in that over the next 20 plus years, what's
needed for capacity on the corridor. Um, and what we're finding is that both the existing and the forecasted volumes don't don't justify, you know, a four or a five lane. And I'll get into that a little bit further. Um, so a two-lane
roadway will work um just fine on the corridor. We'll talk more about that. We also know that uh we heard a lot about this in particular from the the public and our stakeholders about the location of the frontage road. um that you know there's the spacing between the
frontage road and the highway is very close. It's in it's about 30 ft or less and that is very confusing for people uh you know just there's a lot of conflicting movements as people navigate on and off the highway and turning on
and off that frontage road. Um you know trying to understand who's going where and as people are waiting and stacking up to make a movement onto the highway. um a lot we heard a lot about that. So improving there was a desire and a need
to improve that spacing um for safety uh reasons. And then I mentioned already uh pavement condition you know we know there's a known need and I guess I skipped over vehicle speed. Um our data did show that there are areas of the
corridor that do exceed the posted speed limit particularly in the areas where there are more than two lanes. Um and so it's just a wide open area and speeds are um in excess of the posted.
So that was our more of our technical findings, but interest, you know, I I I mentioned this kind of giving you a heads up here, but our phase one community engagement showed that a lot of the key themes we heard from the public really matched what we were hearing or what our data was showing
were the needs on the corridor. as well. We heard um about safety and operational concerns about that frontage road um particularly uh the proximity at Shorewood Drive. That one was mentioned, that intersection was mentioned a lot.
Um there was also safety concerns um at 11th Avenue um with some visibility concerns and the gas station access being very close at that 11th Avenue intersection. And then at Sixth Street, um being a
skewed intersection that it's difficult to navigate near the football stadium, uh and that there's just there's a lot going on at that intersection, right? Particularly with events and just general pedestrian and bicycle safety concerns with um the roadway design.
We we did hear about some speeding concerns on the corridor and just general support for, you know, it'd be nice that this could work better for all modes of transportation. Um so that led us to get into our um
different improvement alternatives. Um so kind of our second phase of work and we had a lot of improvement alternatives. I we would be here all night if I showed you and went back and showed you all of the different variations of things. So, what I'm going to do is just highlight some of the
design features of both the corridor and the intersection uh different features that we looked at and then we'll focus more on where we ended up with recommendations so that um we can kind of come back to anything here. But just
wanted to give you a preview of some of the things that we looked at. So um first of all uh talking specifically about an intersection um design feature uh you know I mentioned already that the traffic signals are nearing the end of their
service life. Um so they either need to be replaced with a project in the future or um you know replaced in kind with a traffic signal or with some other type of traffic control. And what we found is that um some of the signals are no
longer warranted. So in those instances when they were no longer warranted, we looked at one type of uh intersection control here. Um uh stop control. I think you all know what stop signs are, but just on the side streets just stopping that side street traffic with
stop signs instead of a a traffic signal. Um we [clears throat] did consider this at several locations. Um, and uh, I think you'll see when we get to our recommended layout where we ended up with those locations. We had um, many
I'll just say we we kind of went through a process at each of these intersections looking at well, is it a stop control? Is it a roundabout? Is it a if it's not a signal, what is it? So, we worked through an evaluation process that looked at all of these various intersection types to really evaluate um
and I'll talk about our evaluation criteria. Does it work well for safety? Does it work well for moving traffic? How about for pedestrians crossing? How about for access to business? You know, we tried to be very holistic in how we thought about how each of these
intersection options and our entire corridor work together for what we're trying to achieve with the study goals. So on the next one, um there was one intersection um where
uh the only the only location where a signal was warranted was actually at um the intersection of Shorewood Drive and 1171. Um we I will say though that that was warranted there, but we do have other
options that we also looked at. So we did look at a signal. We also did look at a roundabout at this location and then we kind of look at the pros and the cons of each of those and and we'll talk about what we ended up with here. But this location did meet the warrants
based on, you know, the type of movements there and all of the different warrant criteria for this particular location. And then roundabouts. Um, we actually looked at two different types of roundabouts on the corridor at um,
certain intersections. Um, we looked at, uh, what you'd probably recognize as a traditional roundabout, uh, single lane roundabouts and mini roundabouts. Um, and when we get into where we considered mini roundabouts, I know Kelsey will get
into some more of the details about how a mini roundabout works and you know what what that that looks like and fun, how that functions, but really we we wanted to look at roundabouts because they do improve um safety and lower
speeds. you know, kind of provide a nice gateway kind of lowering the speeds as you're you're entering something, entering a downtown or entering uh you know, entering the town if you put them on, you know, a gateway to the town. Um, they also do improve pedestrian
crossings because as you can kind of see in this graphic right here with how the the crosswalks are striped in there, in between the crosswalk striping is a is a median which provides a nice um kind of two-stage crossing for pedestrians if
they choose to pause and look in one direction before they make the crossing to the next direction of travel. So, they have been shown to um be a nice feature to both lower speeds and to improve pedestrian crossings. Um
and again, they work well from a traffic operation standpoint. When we were looking at the corridor, they weren't going to increase delay or cause any major congestion. You know, they were a feasible alternative for those locations where the traffic signals were no longer
warranted in some of those cases. So, we'll talk more about the specifics of where and how it functions and the land uses around it uh when we get there, but just wanted to introduce that. And then um another design feature uh
was the for the corridor itself, we did look at a um the lane reduction as I mentioned before. So um as I mentioned the existing and the forecasted traffic volumes do not justify more than tra
lane in each direction. Um we have about at the the most the highest volumes on the corridor are about 7800 and a two-lane um two-lane can function very well up to 10,000 or slightly even
above. So, we've got room, you know, it's it's very capable of handling um handling that volume on the corridor. And that's for both existing and forecasted uh volumes on the corridor.
And um what we were finding and why we wanted to look at this option was that fewer travel lanes help with a couple different things here. Again, it does help encourage drivers to drive the speed limit because it's not this wide
open uh multiple lanes. I feel like I can just kind of drive as fast as I need to drive. Um there's nothing to slow me down. Um it also creates a much shorter crossing for pedestrians or bicyclists, those crossing the corridor. There's
less roadway surface area to cross. Um, it also is less maintenance, less pavement, less area to um, take care of from a pavement and a snow removal standpoint. So, lots of benefits there. And then Kelsey will talk more about it,
but as we think about that area where we have the frontage road in close proximity to the corridor, um, this gives us some flexibility to increase that space between that frontage road intersection and the actual highway
corridor itself. So, we'll have some good graphics to show you how that all works together here in a minute. I think this is my last design feature. Uh, well, two more here. Um, access restrictions. So, with some of our um
looking at the corridor in in whole, we do have some areas where we have uh proposed some access restrictions or closures. uh mainly because well the purpose is to improve safety. Um usually they have
access to a frontage road or can get access to a nearby intersection through a right in right out or um or maybe there's a duplicative access two accesses to one property, you know. So everybody still has access. It's just
how can we facilitate this in a safer way um to make sure that the corridor the highway corridor still works um very well from a safe safety perspective and and you'll see those on the layout.
And then finally um pedestrian and bicycle facilities. So we have looked at a couple different things here. Um we are looking at adding bicycle facilities in the downtown area. Um our our
recommendation you will see is showing an off streetet bicycle facility in the downtown sub area from basically that highway 53 2nd Avenue intersection to 6th Avenue. Um still keeping uh parking on both
sides. Uh two lanes of traffic. Uh just adding a off- streetet bicycle facility. There's there's a lot of room in in this downtown area. And then also in the neighborhood sub area, kind of filling a gap. Again, we've got um some extra
space in this area between 6th Avenue and 11th Street if we go to one lane in each direction. Um being able to add a shared use trail on one side to kind of fill a gap in the network. And then I did want to just I have two
last slides here before I'm going to turn it over to Kelsey. Um well, I guess I'll go through public engagement here, but we're almost to recommendations, but I did want to highlight what we have are we did dismiss. Um, I think that's important to let you know what we've
moved past. Um, for either based on public input or just based on the evaluation we as a project management team that that um, Alex mentioned, we dismissed early. So, um, the fourlane
and five lane roadway, again, this is basically in that area from County Road 106 to 14th Avenue, uh, River Riverview Boulevard area. um where we have four lanes and and five lanes in some cases. Um
because again of that excess capacity just not needing all of those lanes and for all of the benefits that I was already talking about um that was dismissed as something that the committee wanted to carry forward just moving forward with the one lane in each
direction. So you're going to see that on all of the recommended alternatives uh that we're going to show you. Um, we also have a couple locations where we were looking at mini roundabouts. you're going to see um one
location on the the recommended layout where we still have a mini roundabout, but there were a few other locations, Third Avenue and I believe 8th Avenue as well, um where we were looking at a a mini roundabout, but based on feedback
from mostly from our freight businesses on how they access the corridor, they're able to physically use the mini roundabout, but they weren't very excited about it being placed in it at Third Avenue or at 8th Avenue um in
direct meetings with um PCA mostly. Uh so we we because it was equal to one of the other alternatives in terms of all the other measures we were looking at, we we dismissed that alternative and you'll see what we are recommending at those locations.
And then finally we did look at you know a corridor study is a good opportunity to just kind of look at all the options. And another idea that had come up was well what what if we actually extended the frontage extended the frontage road
um you know from where it connects between Riverview Boulevard and its current endpoint at the wastewater treatment facility. Again, there's some access points that are directly on the highway and if we extended the frontage road, maybe that would, you know, that
could help us. But the b the value um versus the cost and the impacts just really didn't um weigh out there. There was going to be some impacts to properties and pretty limited use that we would get out of that. So we dismissed that um as a project
management uh committee and shared all of that with the public at the last um engagement event we had in February. And then finally um two more dismissed alternatives. Um we um these really have been dismissed
since the last engagement event and a lot of it I would say because of project management team input but also some feedback from those engagement events was the on street bicycle facility. So that you know you're going to see an off- streetet facility um recommended,
but we did look at what if we had an on street bike lane um in the downtown sub area from Highway 53 to 6th Avenue and uh didn't didn't hear a lot of support for that. actually had some concerns
expressed about just the conflict with potential door, you know, the parking being right there and people opening their doors and, you know, the travel the vehicles traveling a bike and people um parking and and doors. So, um decided
to dismiss that alternative. And then uh in the rural residential sub area, which we've been labeling that sub area as our southernmost area from County Road 106 uh all the way to the south end of our study area to uh Cass
332. We had looked at adding a shared use trail. I think there was, you know, some thought that that's that's attractive, you know, to have a nice trail there, but there was also a lot of thought that the wide shoulders work pretty well and that there would be a
lot of cost and um potential, you know, tree impacts, maybe some environmental resource impacts, and some of the property owners were concerned about potential property or visual impacts on their properties. um and all agencies
saying we don't have that funding, you know, to build this type of trail, mindot, county, city. So, um that was dismissed from from an alternative that was carried forward and I won't necessarily read all of
these. I think I've covered most of them already, but I'll just highlight a few. This was from our winter, I think it was February, um, phase 2 engagement. Uh, you know, I I think the the mini roundabouts and the roundabouts in
general are a still a new concept. So, there was kind of mixed feedback on those. Um, so lots of questions about maintenance um, and you know, how those work. um
some concern about truck traffic in the downtown area and just making sure that you know the options work with that and I would say after that meeting was when we did go and have some direct conversations with PCA and made some changes to some of the the options.
Um concern for students crossing at 11th Street if the traffic signal is removed. Um, and there was general support for bike facilities and just the different types
of pedestrian and bicycle improvements along the corridor, you know, so the the shared use path, the off- streetet bike, the shorter crossings for people getting across. Um, so and then I kind of already mentioned
just kind of mixed feelings on on the roundabout um at Shorewood and Keenan. All right, this is my last slide and then we'll get into the recommended alternatives here. But I've I've already kind of mentioned most of this, but we did as we were evaluating alternatives.
And what led us to the recommendations is we have a very detailed um evaluation matrix that looks at and measures quantifies as much as we can um things like how will how are crashes expected
to change and how are intersection operations expected to change. um how does this work for pedestrian and bicycles and um what did we hear from businesses and you know different uh connectivity for the community and and
the business access and then we also measure things that last bullet there um is really measuring impacts uh to environmental resources uh cost cost of the different improvements compared to
one another um and then kind of rolling that all up into what's a benefit cost and how do these compare. So very detailed but also taking into uh consideration that public feedback and you know that that isn't something you can quantify but it's also a very
important part that that has led us to where we're at right now. >> All right. And I'll walk through uh the recommendations. So, I have several slides uh starting on the west end of the corridor. Um and I'm going to walk
through all the way down to the southern end at CASA 332. Um I'll go through each intersection and you know give a quick summary about what we considered and why we ended up with the recommendation that's shown. Um, but we do have layouts
as well that we can pull up and kind of zoom in um at the end to specific locations if we want to discuss um any of the locations in kind of further detail. Um but starting on the right side of the screen um Third Avenue at that location, there's currently a
signal um as Angie mentioned, most of the signals on the corridor we found to not be warranted anymore. Um so at this location in particular, we considered um hallway stop. Um and this was the only location that we considered always stop
versus um side street um because we have a very heavy, you know, eastbound right movement um and northbound left movement at this location. Um so the allway stop uh worked best for keeping traffic moving through the intersection
efficiently. Yep. And that was this was the location too that we looked at the mini roundabout as Angie had shown on the screen. Um and there were concerns with at this intersection in particular, the building edges um just having a much
tighter right of way. Um, and even though the mini roundabouts are smaller in size and and typically fit in a standard intersection um, space, we were seeing that in order for trucks to still be able to efficiently make their movements, there were going to be some
impacts. So, that was dismissed. Um, at 4th Avenue, uh, really what's recommended here is largely what's out there today. The traffic control stays the same with um side street stop control. Um this location in particular
um along with Fifth Avenue, we did consider uh narrowing the intersection um so that only passenger cars would be accommodated um to really tighten up those pedestrian crossings and and make it easier to cross. Um but through
conversations uh with PCA uh this was one of the main intersections that they rely on for for getting um their large vehicles um in and out. Uh so ultimately we recommended um keeping the intersection
uh wider to accommodate those those large vehicles at this location. um at Fifth Avenue. This is a location that we considered um narrowing up the intersection and that is ultimately what was recommended. Um going to the north,
the Fifth Avenue only extends, you know, one block and then it's a pretty tight uh roadway. Um the PCA expressed how, you know, they really don't want trucks turning there is then they can get stuck pretty easily. Um and really our our
volume analysis showed that this is not an intersection that trucks are really using and and need to be using. Um so this was a location that we are recommending really narrowing the intersection so that only passenger cars are accommodated. Um and that really
allows us to significantly shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians. Um, and it also has just an overall kind of traffic calming um along the corridor as then the with those narrower crossings,
vehicles um tend to slow down. And then at at 6th Avenue on the left side of the screen, um this is another location where there is currently a traffic signal today. Uh but that traffic signal was not found to be
warranted. Uh here we considered both stop um side street stop control and a mini roundabout. Um and ultimately the mini roundabout was recommended. Um so to go into a little bit more detail too
on a mini roundabout. So it really is um a a single lane roundabout um that's just smaller in size. So the at a standard intersection uh that would be a single lane roundabout, you'd have a a larger um inscribed diameter for
vehicles to drive around and you'd have just a truck apron for large trucks to be able to navigate and then typically that kind of grassy median in the middle. But here you just have a fully traversible concrete median in the middle. Um, and that's because trucks
when they're making their turns are going to like fully use the the middle of the intersection. Um, so this was recommended at this location. Um, as it it really does fit well with this size. Um, it's it's on
the the west of the downtown area. So, it was a treatment um that would help slow traffic coming into the downtown area. Um, as Angie mentioned, we considered the mini roundabouts at at 6th Avenue, um, and at 8th Avenue just
to the west. Um, knowing that we really wanted to be able to have that treatment at one of the two locations for sure to try to help u mitigate speeds and have that traffic calming impact for vehicles coming into the downtown area. And here
it worked a lot better. There were some concerns with the impacts at 8th Avenue as well uh with the park um and the community or the the county property and city properties on three of the four corners that would be impacted where at
6th Avenue the impacts were much less with the mini roundabout just fitting better. Uh this slide here shows then changes to the overall corridor itself in the downtown area. Um so the left side of the screen shows what the existing
roadway section looks like. Um you can see some pretty wide lanes. Um parking. Um and then like a a shared sidewalk and landscaped area. Um and then the right side of the screen. Um this shows what's proposed throughout this area. Uh so
still retaining two lanes of traffic but narrowing of those lanes. Um parking is still maintained uh throughout this section of the corridor. Um and then the vehicle travel lanes are significantly reduced. Um trucks are still
accommodated at the intersections um as I discussed. Um but throughout the corridor you can see how much more narrow the travel lanes are. Um, and with that added space, then we're able to fit an off- streetet bicycle facility
to have a dedicated bike um bike roadway or a bike lane uh for for pedestrian or to separate out pedestrians, vehicles, and bikes. Um, and then there's a separate, you know, landscaped area that buffers that bike lane from the parking.
Um and then a wider sidewalk area. Uh then moving um south on the corridor and our angle has kind of shifted uh north is now a little bit northeast. Um at 8th Avenue, uh we considered uh
both a mini roundabout and then retaining the side street side street stop control um but with still improvements I guess really throughout this stretch of the corridor. Uh being that we uh we did maintain parking where
it's um available today on the north side of the corridor. um removed parking uh between 8th Avenue and 6th Avenue. Um and then removed the wide shoulder um to the west of 8th Avenue. Um and in order
or removing that wide shoulder helped us uh create space for a buffered uh shared use path on the south side. So there is sidewalk today on the north side. um sidewalk on both sides from 8th Avenue to 6th Avenue. Um but we show a a
continuous um shared use path on the south side of the corridor. Um, also just another thing to note for the corridor overall in this section, um, we do show bumpouts at all of the
intersections. um as much as possible uh where we need to accommodate large trucks um such as 8th Avenue um and it's called out there how you know trucks are still accommodated between the east uh west
and the north legs as this was another location that PCA mentioned um is crucial to have um entering and exiting traffic using um but wherever we didn't need to accommodate large trucks we for pulling
out that curb line as much as possible. Um especially with the the parking on the north side to be able to um improve the pedestrian crossings, reduce the crossing distance, um help again with
traffic calming. Um and it bumpouts also help promote um better pedestrian visibility because they're they're getting them out there, you know, closer to that travel lane instead of uh further back. So, at at 8th Avenue, yeah, the side
street stop control was recommended um because of as I'd mentioned the impacts uh with the mini roundabout and then also knowing that we were recommending the mini roundabout at 6th Avenue um and there's far more truck usage at this 8th
Avenue location. Um and then yeah, so bumpouts really were the only changes at 10th Avenue and 9inth Avenue on the screen. You know, keeping the same traffic control but really trying to narrow the intersection um at 11th Avenue.
Um here we do show um a few changes. Uh one being uh so there is parking maintained on the the north side of the corridor. um specifically through this intersection. We wouldn't want people parking um in the intersection on the
north side. Um and we heard complaints um at our last agency meeting from the police uh noting that this is a popular location for when a vehicle is waiting to turn from um Highway 1171 onto 11th
um Avenue. vehicles will often use the shoulder to go around traffic um making that kind of illegal movement around someone waiting. So, we do show um the bumpout extending um and not having that shoulder on the north side of the
intersection. And then on the on the south side, we show um a few things. We show uh median along 11th Avenue just to help separate out uh the movements and again as a traffic calming uh measure to kind of
slow speeds going through the intersection. Um we also show the driveway for the gas station. They have two direct accesses um on 1171. And we show the driveway closest to 11th Avenue
um being closed um to just help separate out that traffic going to and from the gas station and from the intersection a little bit better. Um I know there was complaints of you know someone turning right out of the gas station and then someone is trying to turn left from 11th
Avenue and they're very very close. Um so some close calls and visibility concerns with that. And then um Fifth Street um to the south, we show a minor realignment of of that roadway to try to
it's not we're not able to significantly move that due to rightway con um constraints. Um, but we show a slight shifting of the roadway to the south to try to maximize that intersection spacing u between Highway 1171 and Fifth
Street. And then moving further west southwest on the corridor um here uh this corridor or this stretch of corridor really between 14th Avenue and um just past 6th
Street almost over to 12th Avenue. Um today there is a center left turn lane. Um so we do show removing that center left turn lane being recommended um just having a two-lane section um in place.
the recommendation really at Sixth Street um kind of in the center of the screen here. Um here we considered uh both side street stop control which was the recommended option and then we also considered um a single lane roundabout
at this location. Uh we knew that we really wanted to improve the intersection skew at this location. Um, also with the football field, we saw really high traffic or pedestrian volumes crossing the intersection at this location. Um, so that's why with
the recommended concept. Um, and another reason why we considered a roundabout was to try to improve the pedestrian crossings. Um, and shown with the side street control, um, we show a median on each side of the intersection really in
place of that center left turn lane. um or where that was in the with the old alignment. Um in order to allow pedestrians to have an improved crossing where they can cross, stop in the median, you know, wait for another gap
in traffic. They're only crossing one lane, one direction of traffic at a time. Um and that median also has um a traffic calming impact, you know, helping to slow the speed of traffic through the intersection.
Um, with the side street stop control, we also show a slight realignment to help improve uh the skew of that intersection um as well to try to address those those concerns with visibility at the intersection.
And then moving uh further south. Um this stretch of the corridor uh today is where we have the fourlane um undivided um corridor. Again, as Angie mentioned, um we really don't see a need for the
four lanes. Um so here we show that proposed reduction um to two lanes. Um and in this stretch of the corridor, we don't, you know, there's no parking today. Um, and we don't show parking being added and we also don't show um a
shoulder. So, it's hard to see on the graphic, but I know that in the proposed typical section on the screen, it it shows that shoulder um on the the left side. Um, but the label for that, which is probably impossible to read, says,
you know, 0 to to 9 ft. Um, so this portion of the corridor um is where we don't have that accommodated. Um, also I guess so the two main intersections highlighted on this screen, we have um Center Street. Uh,
this is a location that we considered and are recommending um closing this access. Um, this is recommended uh really with vehicles um in the neighborhood being able to to easily access um Highway 1171 at either of the
two Riverview Boulevard accesses on the north or the south side. And then at 11th Street um and so the concept that's shown uh which is recommended is the single lane
roundabout. Um both I guess this is a location that we have a signal today but that signal is unwarranted. Um both options that were considered here include uh stop control and a roundabout. Um and with both stop
control and a roundabout uh we considered realigning um 11th Street on the east side. So today that that that intersection is a T intersection. So, this intersection is really shifted a
couple hundred feet to the north um and ties in with the Riverview Boulevard intersection. And really what that does is it allows us to um improve the intersection skew, but also um give the
school space uh for a loop in front of the school for for buses to be able to do uh drop off and pickup. that's then off of the county road, off of the main roadway. Uh where today it it's just directly on the on the street that
they're doing that. Um so as I said, the existing signal is unwarranted. Um I know right at the intersection itself, we intersection itself, we have four lanes plus the turn lane. Um so both of the options looked
at uh that reduced lane section um to significantly cut down on the crossing distance. Um ultimately the the roundabout was recommended at this location um as it's
safer um and provides improved connections for pedestrians. Um, so as Angie mentioned with roundabouts, um, you know, they have the median on each of the legs of the intersection. Um, so that allows pedestrians to only cross
one lane of traffic at a time, um, and one direction at a time and and wait for, you know, vehicles to stop uh, before making their crossings. Um, the crossings at roundabouts in particular are also pulled back. uh they're not,
you know, right at the edge of the intersection. Um and the benefit of that is that vehicles, you know, driving up or just exiting the the roundabout, they're able to, you know, a vehicle driving up, for example, uh would come
to the crossing first, be able to see, is there a pedestrian crossing? if there is, you know, stop, let the pedestrian go in front of them, and then they continue up to the edge of the circulatory um roadway at the roundabout. And at
that point, they're just focused on vehicles. They're no longer looking for pedestrians and vehicles. They're just looking for that that gap in vehicles to make their movement. And then they would drive through when there's a a gap in traffic. Um and again they'd be able to exit that
circulatory roadway and again if there is a pedestrian then um at the exit waiting to go they could stop safely let the pedestrian go and then continue on. So it it also has the benefit of separating out the pedestrian crossings
um from the vehicle crossings. Um and then the final reason that the rec that the roundabout was recommended was uh just you know again with the safety um really being so important especially with the school being so
close to this intersection. Um there's also spikes in traffic volumes um with that morning drop off afternoon pickup. Um, and a roundabout is able to to better handle that that increased uh
spikes in traffic than than a stop control would. Then moving uh further south on the corridor, uh we refer to this area as the commercial sub area. That's from just south of 11 Street um down to uh
just past Keenan Drive. Um for this uh we recommended the lane reduction from the fourlane with the turn lanes. Uh reducing the the number of lanes um really helped um and and these graphics are kind of small and I do have them
shown larger on the next slide which I'll talk about as well. Um but by reducing the lanes um this kind of shows if you look at the left two typical sections or roadway sections you can see how by reducing the lanes um especially
where we're really close to or we have that frontage road uh we're able to improve the the spacing of the frontage road to the highway. So it's only about 30 ft today. um by reducing the lanes and shifting the alignment uh we we can
get that up to about a 100 feet. So better spacing, you know, don't have the the two intersections quite as close um between the frontage road and the highway. And then uh throughout this stretch um the access shown in the middle um is the
access for the wastewater treatment facility. Um at this location, we did consider closing this access and having that traffic instead use the access um to the south um that provides access to the uh riverfront hotel and the Rainy
River College. Um, but there were concerns um about large trucks being able to make the turns uh from the highway then onto the frontage road to access this location. Um, and we also considered an option of um removing the
the frontage road completely and having access direct access to all businesses. Um, that was also dismissed. Um, one of the concerns too with that uh was people relying on the frontage road for
parking and if that frontage road isn't there then losing a lot of parking spaces. Um, and then at the Rainy River College itself um really that intersection remains similar to today but with the lane reduction um not having as many
lanes along the highway. Um and then we also show um improvements to the pedestrian facilities. So today there's sidewalk on the frontage road and that shared use path is on the south side of the corridor. Um but really if you're
trying to get between the sidewalk and the shared use path, you're you're just kind of walking in the road. So we show a sidewalk provided uh to make that full connection. And then yeah, this just shows those same um typical sections but just at a
larger scale. Um so looking at the left side of the screen, that's where we have um the frontage road and you can see a little bit better that increase um spacing of the frontage road and the highway. And then the the right side where we don't have the frontage road,
you know, that's from the wastewater treatment facility over to Terrace Lane. Um the main improvement there with the lane reduction is today the sidewalk is just on the edge of the roadway on the north side. Um but by reducing lanes
were able to have a a grassy uh buffered space. And then moving further south on the corridor um this shows Shorewood Drive um and Keenan Drive. um at at Shorewood Drive. Uh this is a location uh I guess both of these
intersections are signalized today. Shorewood Drive was the one location that we found uh warrants to still be met. Um but that just really means that we're going to consider a signal doesn't necessarily mean that it's it should be
installed and we still as Angie mentioned then considered a roundabout at this location as well. Um the roundabout was ultimately uh the recommended alternative. Um both the traffic signal and the roundabout um
considered you know the lane reduction along the corridor that was recommended. Um and both of them as well recommended the the median that's shown um on the on the I guess it's not the north side
really. North is kind of on the northeast or the the right side of your screen. Um but you can see median recommended um through the frontage road access. You know, we heard a lot of complaints about the interaction between
the Shorewood Drive intersection at the highway and Shorewood Drive at the frontage road. You know, we saw a lot of backups that extend from the signal, you know, back through the intersection. Um so we recommended with either option um
[clears throat] median that would restrict access um at the frontage road to write right in right out. Um and that would mean that you know vehicles that are coming along Shorewood, you know, from the neighborhood. Um if they're
trying to turn left onto the frontage road, they would simply make a Uturn through the roundabout and then be able to get onto there. If vehicles are coming from the highway and they would normally turn left um or turn right onto
Shorewood Drive and turn, they want to make that immediate left. You know, that that movement is also no longer possible with the right in right out. Um but with the two roundabouts paired together, um it really works well for traffic
rerouting and that traffic instead would continue on the highway down to Keenan Drive and be able to turn right uh to get to the front edge road there instead. Um the roundabout was ultimately recommended at Shorewood Drive as it,
you know, it does provide improved safety at this intersection. Um provides traffic calming. um and has would help improve traffic flow through the intersection. And at Keenan Drive, uh this was the
location um again that we had an we have an unwarranted traffic signal today. So we considered the roundabout and we considered side street control. Um both options considered the lane reduction. Um and we recommended the
roundabout for traffic calming um improved safety. Um and because uh with potential uh development in the area, uh the roundabout would be able to better handle increases in traffic volume um
compared to a stop control intersection. And then moving u further south um so again the rural residential area the northern end of that is the county road 106 intersection um just south of where the southern Menard's access is today um
all the way down to uh through CASA uh 332. Uh for this corridor stretch uh we do recommend retaining the existing lane configuration. Um so still two lane with the wider shoulder. The the lanes don't
change. The one thing that does change is with with re redoing this portion of the corridor. Uh we would recommend you know regrading the ditches to improve drainage. So there's a slight change in how the ditch is illustrated. um
comparing those two typical sections. Um also throughout this section of the corridor, uh we recommend some potential driveway closures for uh any location where we have um two or properties that
have two direct accesses to the highway. Um and then at the on the right side of the screen, um that County Road 106 access, uh we do recommend realigning that access, um in order to
um improve the spacing between the highway and where that county road access ties in. Um the access that we have or the really the alignment as we have shown is still within county rightway. So really no property impacts
with that change. And then at County Road 107, still on that on that same slide, uh we do recommend adding turn lanes um at that location. And then I jump down to the further
furthest end of the corridor here at CASAD 332. Um at this location um we recommend retaining um the existing traffic control with side street stop um but increasing turn lane. So we heard a
lot of um complaints about the the northbound right as you're coming into town. Um the turn lane is pretty short. Um, and we also collected or the county collected footage um that that shows how
trucks making um that right turn onto Cassad 332. Um, if there's a truck and then there's a passenger car vehicle going straight right next to them, that passenger car vehicle was a lot of times crossing into that striped center median
area. Just kind of being worried about uh encroachment from the truck or encroachment of, you know, they a lot of the trucks are the logging trucks that have the logs coming off the end and kind of fear of when they're making that turn that they could get hit by a log.
So, we were um in order to address that concern um that northbound through and the right turn lane, you can see a a striped gore area between the lanes to just separate out those movements um and improve improve the movements there. The
southbound left also shows a longer uh southbound left turn lane as well. Um at this location, we did also consider a roundabout. Um, it was ultimately not recommended here though, just as we were not seeing an existing crash concern.
Um, and since we didn't recommend uh the trail throughout this section of the corridor, um, it wasn't considered needed to help improve the pedestrian crossings. All right, that's a lot of information. I'll just wrap up and then we want to
hear questions and and your comments. But um I guess as far as what's next um as I we've mentioned several times, we do have we're starting to do the planning for a third round of engagement to share these recommendations in
August. And then we move into um the final corridor study report and implementmentation plan. and then we'll be back for council resolution of support um on the study recommendations. So, it's it's a nice way just to
illustrate that you were part of the process and um you know, if if you're so moved to, you know, show that support, a resolution is a nice way to do that. And then, you know, there will be a gap in time and and Alex can talk a little bit more about that, but maybe if you just
go to the next slide, I can just kind of introduce this here, but there's currently no um programmed year of construction right now. the project or any pavement improvements are in what's called the 10-year capital highway investment plan. So, it's a known need,
but it doesn't actually get programmed until there's funding attached to it, and that's when it's about 5 years out. So, right now, it's tentatively in that 23 2030 time frame, but that could change. Um, and that that schedule or timeline on the bottom just kind of
shows where we are right now with the study. And then, you know, in a normal project development phase, there's the funding piece and then it works through several phases of design before a construction project. And I guess the
point of showing that is that especially for the community and for public um sake, there's many additional opportunities to work through the dise details of the design and for engagement and coordination with property owners
and such like that. Yeah, and I'll just add add a little couple comments here right at the end and then we'll open it up. But it uh you like Angie said, you know, this is, you know, the pavement ages in there. Um you know, we're looking at this as you know, it's a it's a pretty long corridor, right? We're probably looking at this,
you know, as we implement this into probably some phases of construction where, you know, there might be a first phase that uh happens around 2030ish depending on on what it is and then a second phase, you know, a few years down the road. Um, you know what this really does for us, it's one, it gets all the,
you know, existing information out there, kind of vets through everything. And I always put this, it's it's akin to like building a house, right? So, what this does, it gives us an idea of like, hey, we need a three-bedroom, two-b house, and gives us the the generalities of there. And then as we get into that
preliminary design stage, which is next, is kind of where you start dimensioning out stuff like, hey, you know, this room needs to be uh, you know, 20 by 15 room and this, you know, needs to have, you know, a dual sink here because it's the master bath or stuff like that, right? So that is kind of what that preliminary
design is is actually going through into more of those details of okay what are the actual specific dimensions you on there to to the more detail than we have cuz what we're showing right now are our concept drawings but we ultimately have to go through and do geometric layouts
that have those more details on there. So, that's kind of that next stage once we get there. But, this also gets us an idea of, like I said, similar to building a house. It's you kind of at least know then what you're, you know, budget-wise, uh, a little better than just kind of winging it on that. So,
anyway, we've done a ton of talking. So, thank you all for just listening to us get through this. It's, uh, it's a it's a process. If you were and Betty and Mike can probably akin to this is sitting our PMTs. It's a it's a process going through and vetting through all this. Uh but you know it's it's a lot of work to get here. So I do want to thank
uh you know Angie Kelsey for that. But yeah, we'll we'll open up for questions. >> Thank you. It's a lot to um obviously digest and less than an hour, but um really want to thank you for the work
and we're all very interested in what the final design is going to look like down the road. So questions. Well, that I just like that to this day probably a week doesn't go by that I
don't get mentioned about the Hardies intersection there. >> Yeah. >> Somebody that cuz they actually came here as I went to the state. Well, it is what it is. But now we can there's a future. This was what it's going to look like down the road, you know, from all
the of course I haven't seen quite the traffic backups everybody is saying about there, but sometimes there of course here a traffic backup could be five cars. So, you know, and and I like how you kindly put there was a mixed
reaction to roundabouts. Yeah. Yeah. Mixed. Mixed to say the least, I'm sure. We've always had that stoplight there at third and fourth. So, third and for that whole reason, but whatever. >> That intersection there by Smokey the
Bear um on the highway, it's like it's been pounded and bombed and it's in pretty rough shape. So, that's, you know, a lot of people talk about that. We get blamed for it. um we patch it, but it's uh
yeah, that's on my mind. I mean, I don't know where you're going to start, but that's a good place as any to get started in that area because we have a lot of things going on in that Smoky Bear Park uh throughout the year. And it does look like bombing in Iraq. So, I
mean, on the highways. >> Yeah. And I will say one thing, you know, as we get into that preliminary design stage, the other thing that we get into is with working with city staff and figuring out what are some of the other city needs there, right? So I know there's certain sections of the corridor
as well that have um utilities that are pretty old uh for city utilities, right? So one thing we also this helps us do is is coordinate with the city and then why the process takes so long as well is just you know coordinating of what do the city needs. So, you know, right now if we're playing a mill and overlay
through there, but you guys all of a sudden need to replace utilities that are 100 years old, we want to know that and have those discussions so we can, you know, it's we don't go mill and overlay and then next year you guys go and replace the the water and sewer lines under there, right? So, >> so yeah, that's going to be some of us trying to figure out as well how this
gets programmed and what goes what goes where. Um, another thing I wanted to add on here as well is so we have a a website, a mindot website and probably the for the project and I know probably the easiest way is just go mind. International Falls and it's probably
one of the first couple links to see the corridor study and all of that on there. We'll have all the previous meeting information on there, all the different uh alternatives that we've shared and also in our upcoming engagement here in August once we get all the stuff finalized and posted that'll be on there
as well. So, if you are getting questions what we're going to be doing here in the future, um that will be on there. Uh we're also working on making like a one-page summary that I know Betty will keep here at at city hall as well that just kind of has a quick breakdown of where everything is and what the website is. So, we want to make sure that that information is out there.
So if folks want to look at it on their own time or if they can't make meetings, it's out there. They can kind of we'll look at the whole process and we've been at this now for about a year maybe a touch over I guess by now. Um so there's a lot of information out there. So just as if you guys get any questions as we have that like I said that's probably
source. I mean I know I go there a lot just to find stuff because it's the quickest way even for me to find stuff compared to going through uh you know emails some of the old files. So just wanted to say that as well before uh we go in there. I guess any other questions?
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have a few. Um, why this roadway? How does that come about? Do you just randomly select areas that you think we should change or >> No. No. So, so you are from here, right? Did somebody complain about this roadway or how does that work?
>> Nope. So, how this works is we have our tenure >> and you guys travel through here. >> Yeah. Yeah, we do. We do. Uh but but no, in general, so we have our our 10-year program, which is our capital highway improvement program or CHIP, right? So that's there's sections and there's
sections of this roadway in that 10-year plan already. And how that gets in there is really based off of payment condition, right? So we have a van that drives the road and our materials engineer out of Duth goes with that van. And this this van goes throughout the whole state, but it has all different
metrics and pretty much we're able to score all the roads in our district, right? And then what that does is it tells us useful life left on either pavement quality, ride quality, you know, so how is it going and it ranks it compared to other roads in the district,
right? So it's not just preferential one way or the other. It's pretty systematic based. And so it'll end up in our 10-year plan. And we typically, so if we're doing a project, we'll just say in the middle of nowhere, right? It's about a four to six year process from us to
start scoping it to it actually starting construction. and that's in the middle of nowhere. With these in town projects, once they hit our 10-year plan, we start looking at that even a little sooner. So, we can go through a process like this because what this does is it helps us inform a little more on, okay, if we
were budgeting, and I'm just hypothetically throwing a number out there, but say we were budgeting $5 million for a pavement project. And after we go through and understand the needs and look at, you know, hey, we have signals that are that are at the end of their service life. we we start adding up all the sidewalk replacement and all that, that 5 million balloons
into 15 million that we have to budget as a state. So that's why we start looking at this early on and then that'll help us inform and figure out where the budget goes. So some of those numbers get a little fluid where if it's 2030, it might be 2031 just as funding goes. But to answer your question,
that's how we get it kind of in our our plan and how we started this process. It's a pavement driven uh process. >> Okay, cool. Um the other uh Angie you mentioned traffic volumes on this roadway and you guys said it was from
May and September. So did you look you have anything from November to March? >> Yeah. Council, you want to touch on our street light >> and I'll just say the only reason is that's that's heavy truck traffic, truck
traffic on this on this roadway. Yep. >> And that goes to what councelor Holden was talking about. That's what happens. And through the spring, there's a lot of heavy trucks coming that way. >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> Yep. So, the data that we went out and collected, again, we collected
throughout the whole corridor in May. Um that was just when the project was getting started. The school, the high school, and the elementary school, those were in session. The college was not in session anymore. Um so then we went out in September collected more data when
all the schools including the college were in session but then we also look at um it's a program called street light insight. It allows us to look at uh volumes throughout the entire year. So we looked back at how do the volumes
change month by month? how does the traffic pattern specifically with trucks change um throughout the year uh to be able to understand yeah peaks for truck traffic, peaks for tourism, you know, more people coming in in the summer. And then we also looked back at you know if
I I know there were concerns especially from the businesses about uh you know tourism is down or just visitors are down with um tariffs and and we don't see we're not seeing as much traffic coming in. So, we also looked back at at years in the past and kind of how the
volumes have changed to make sure that we're fully understanding yeah, not just this one moment in time, but how the volumes are changing throughout the year. >> I'll also add and Christian probably knows more more than I do about this being our traffic group, but you know,
Mindot does our traffic counts out there on a what is it? A every couple year basis. Um, every two to three years. So you'll see the little tubes that go across the road, right? So we go and collect our samples as well and go through and then we you know no seasonal
modification factors as well. So that's also goes into it. So it's, you know, not just uh, you know, one set of data that we're looking at. There's quite a bit that go behind us and doing that and and getting feedback too as well, you know, up here especially knowing like, hey, you know, winter's busy with the logging industry, right? So what does
that do? Talking to PCA, knowing their loads that come through, where do they go through? Having some of the uh, folks from like the uh, the timber industry, you know, being able to give us some information on what uh, you know, how they utilize the route, you know, do they use 332 as a cutoff or do they come
through town on stuff? So, like I said, we've that that all was part of some of the engagement we had. >> You just hit the nail on the head because we hear heard about it is how do we get these trucks to use 332 rather than come through here >> and hopefully uh >> that Yeah,
>> the round boat there will >> Yeah, that might make them go Yeah, >> go that way. Maybe we do need another couple in in town here to get out 332. Uh the other other one I have is another one is the Main Street. Is that going to
be uh reconfigured? Is that still going to have the big corner deals where you you know between the on the intersections? >> I'm looking at this picture of the mini roundabouts in St. James and and they don't have those. >> Yeah. So that's the mini
>> going away. >> So you're talking about the bumpouts that are there. >> Yep. So, those will still remain where we kind of have them. Some of them will actually increase a little more on there. Um, and with the mini
roundabouts, there are those are a little different configuration than even the the standard bumpouts. So, there's if you if you think of like the roundabout down here at 332, right? There's in the middle of there, right? There's the truck apron. So, that that and the there's the concrete and then
there's the the grass in the middle, right? So all of the medians and the area in the middle are all kind of like that truck apron height, right? So they're they're not flush, but they're up a little bit on there. So that'll be kind of what what the mini roundabout
would look like, you know, with that through there. But the bumpouts, we would keep those. And a lot of that comes into with our pedestrian side of it. So from an ADA stance, uh we're having to put those in because it like Angie and Kelsey said, it minimizes the crossing distance. That's one of the big
things. So, if you're crossing as a pedestrian, it's less openness to the cars, right? The more you're out in the traffic, the more likeliness you can get hit on there. It also puts you on the out area more where you can kind of see around those parked cars uh to be able
to, you know, hey, is a vehicle coming and and whatnot uh through there. So, they will remain to what dimensions those are. That kind of gets into that, you know, details of preliminary design like okay, how far do they go? what intersection might be a little different or not. You know, like we had the
conversation with PCA about fourth, you know, do we keep that or not? Um, you know, as as as similar to what it is or do we narrow it up or what do we do? So, there's some of that. >> Uh, so and then another mentioned uh recommends a lot in this. So, when you
when you say that, is that the group that you were talking about? We recommend not a traffic light but a stop sign or a roundabout not a roundabout or >> Okay. >> Correct. So we're at the stage where the project management team so city county MINDOT has um you know because it's just
so many options. So get to a place where we have a preliminary recommendation showing it to council here first um but then that's what it's going to be taken out to the next round of public engagement. There certainly could still be some tweaks after that um before you
see it again for uh recommended you know requesting approval, but um you know we're feeling pretty solid on just the detailed evaluation and and all of the parties at the table that we've we've got some pretty good solutions here. But yes, it's preliminary recommendations.
>> Yep. >> And then um how are traffic controls considered not warranted? Oh, I'm going to let the traffic engineer talk about that. >> Said that a lot. >> Yes, >> they got a lot of stop lights, but I see they're going away, which I that's great. But
>> yeah, so there are nine warrants that look at a various different things um such as traffic volume, multiple that look at traffic volumes, um that look at uh the number of pedestrians crossing, um a lot of different factors. So,
there's nine different warrants that could that are considered. And if any of them are met, we would consider the signal to be justified. So we, you know, took in all of the existing data, our existing counts, um looked at the
existing condition, um and the proposed condition with less lanes, um as that also impacts, uh the volume thresholds that are needed in order to justify a signal. um and found that none of the nine criteria are met um with the
current conditions that are out there. Um and so [clears throat] without any of the nine being met, we would not consider a roundabout or sorry, we would not consider a signal um at that location anymore. >> Did you look at past history and
fatalities? >> Um we did, I guess. So crash history is one of the nine criteria that is considered. Um but at existing intersections that are
signalized um I guess we typically actually see more crashes at signalized intersections um than other traffic controls with a lot of rear end crashes. Um, you would typically put in a a
signal to address if you have a lot of maybe right angle crashes, people, you know, t-bone crashes occurring. Um, >> how about pedestrian fatality? >> Yep. That also I guess what that considers if there are pedestrian
crashes at the end. at the intersection of Keenan Drive and um where you go across to go into Super One there. >> Mhm. >> That we were told, the city was told it didn't warrant it by Minnesota Dot.
Okay. And so we wanted it there at the time, but they said it didn't warrant it. And then we had a 10-year-old girl that was killed right there on a bicycle. I just thought I'd throw it in there. That's past history. Mhm.
>> So, did you did you look at that or hear about it or >> Yep. That was mentioned at our engagement events. I know that was brought up if it was. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And part of it and and that will be brought up again >> and you're going to get a lot Well,
there's always been a stoplight there. >> Yeah. >> Especially down at >> third and third. >> Yep. >> So, yeah. >> I'm not saying right, wrong, or otherwise. I mean that's I mean they'll tell you about remembering when they used to string the light. Did you string
the lights? >> I strung the lights. >> Yes, I did all the Christmas. [laughter] >> I thought I'd give you give me your opportunity. Yeah, that's good. I like that. >> That middle like median hump in an area
that was like around years ago years ago. I can't remember. Yeah. Yeah. And uh since I haven't spoken really at all this evening, I guess I'll put in my two cents here. But uh just
speaking about the pedestrian, you know, over at Keenan, um you know, installing a traffic signal is uh probably safer for the pedestrian than versus the the two-way stop, you know, but uh actually the roundabout is safer than the signal. >> Okay.
>> Um it might not feel safer, but the data shows it is safer than a signal. um a signal. Everybody feels safe because I'm told I can walk now. But what happens is when someone's, you know, either making a right turn or a left turn, they're
focusing on traffic. They're not necessarily focusing on pedestrians. So, a lot of times what happens is that pedestrian can still get hit and either seriously injured or killed. We're in roundabout. Angie was discussing, you know, or Kelsey, I can't remember which one, um, was discussing how those
decision points are separated with a roundabout where you're concentrating just on pedestrians at one moment at the time versus concentrating on traffic at one moment in time. So, um, roundabouts are actually the safest option for pedestrians. And, um, just as an
example, um, we're doing a study up in Elely for El's two existing signals. And um at the time we had our first public engagement meeting and someone said, "Well, there's been no crash history here. There's no issue. There's hasn't been crashes here in the last 10 years. Why would you consider anything but a
signal?" And I said, "Well, there's still risk involved at a signalized intersection." And unfortunately, two months after our first public meeting, um a uh I think he kid was pretty young, probably about five or six years old, got ran over by a pickup truck cuz the
pickup truck was waiting to turn left on a green signal. And when a a gap was clear in traffic, the truck turned, but at the same time, the the kid had the uh the walk pedestrian signal on and he ran straight across. you know, he had the
right to he had the rightway, but this truck didn't see him and he he mowed right over him and drugg him an entire block. The kid was really lucky to survive. Um, he was seriously injured. But that's something where that's not shown in the crash history because that
might only happen once every 10, 20 years or something or might not happen for decades and then all of a sudden one day it does happen because that risk is there. So from MIDOT standpoint, we're trying to move from not just looking at crash history, but looking at the risk
of every intersection, um you know, the safety risk of the intersection, not just the crash history. >> Um so that's that's what we've done a lot of along here because there are a lot of intersections that that are operating acceptably. They they don't
have a serious crash problem today, but that doesn't mean there's not risks at those intersections. Yeah, >> it's a lot to I mean just thank you again for all all the work and you know you put all the work in then somebody complains and we make it
>> right >> but it's a lot to digest that [clears throat] >> I mean the first thought when you opened up was we're going to go from four lanes to two lanes and um as you walk through it it makes more and more sense and I
don't know that if we have a bunch of joy their concerns that we've got 25 minutes, so we're not going to do that today probably. But it's uh it's just interesting in the evolution of time how this >> I'm like you. Oh my god. Gosh, there's
not a there's not a stoplight there. Yeah. >> You know, it just seems really >> This comes from a guy still stops at I am going to get in that cuz I still stop at Lucas Grocery sometimes and not and not the block away from where they moved it. Hey, and that happened 25 years ago.
So, >> but it's >> well in our profession, engineering is the easy part. It's the communications that are the difficult part. But we really appreciate you guys, you know, you know, listening to what we had to present here and, you know, having an open mind about, you know, some pretty
substantial changes that are recommended for the corridor. >> I'm glad I'm not the one doing the sell one. [laughter] >> Well, maybe eventually, but Yeah. Yeah. But and and from my point of view, I I'm just mostly speaking from other people's thoughts. I understand I'm
>> not afraid of round them out anymore. And but we have a perfect example of narrowing down the lanes on 53 coming in because was the same like you said, people thought what they doing that are they going to get through and >> haven't seen a traffic jam there or
>> Right. Right. and that you're not race and uh we're just going to take some of mine and bandits fun way doing our blows through town over here when it changes into one. You think you're going to pass me? No, I don't think so.
Are we convinced that downtown with snow removal in a normal Minnesota snow winter that just knowing how we've plowed it to the center and then either scooped it in the dump trucks or there's more walking and bike area than
there's the greenery and then there's the narrowed down lanes. Oh, well, I mean, like I think you said something about slowing down traffic, which probably makes anybody who has a business down there happy, but that was
something that is looked like a pretty good change. >> Yeah. And there'll still be, I think, some boulevard area there as well, right? So, you know, there'll be some room from some snow storage on there. Um, you know, so I think, you know, right now there's obviously more pavement out there and probably less
boulevard area, you know. So, by having some of that, that'll that'll put uh, you know, put some room in there for for some snow storage. And, you know, will there be I mean, I I even look at this from, you know, all of our ends. I mean, there is going to be some difference. And, you know, just even with the roundabouts and everything and I I have
to sell this to our maintenance staff a lot of times on any project we do. It's, you know, we're doing a change in configuration on on anything and how are we going to do it? And it takes about a winter or so to kind of get everybody figured out. But, I know, you know, similar, you know, you mentioned the Highway 53 project. I mean, that was a big change for for you guys and even
just maintaining the the trails and the sidewalks through there, right? But I look at it from uh you know, I when I come up here every time, it just it just feels so much more different coming through and it feels a lot more inviting driving up through that corridor now. And I think, you know, it's similar
going to be with this opportunity here on 1171 is just make it feel, you know, fresh, I guess, is is kind of how I I look at it as coming up through there. Time flies. >> Any more uh questions? >> No.
>> For the team? >> Well, thank you very much for all the information. Um I'm sure we'll dig through this about three more times before we have another list of questions. >> Some of us have been through more well
the last change and the couple changes on 53. Yeah, >> there's two changes on 53 and the first one was in three different segments. >> Yeah, >> that's you come talk to old people
[clears throat] now and that's what happens. >> And if you guys have any questions after this, too. It's a lot of information. I think my contacts information is on there. I can't remember who else's we have on there, but but Margie, our public uh communications person. So, feel free to reach out if you do have questions. Um, you know, it's stuff we can can help answer. If I don't have the
answer, I'll go to the people that are actually smart sitting at the table here and uh they can help uh help get that. But yeah, if you guys, like I said, it's a lot of information, so if there's questions afterwards, just feel free to reach out. >> Okay, >> we'll do that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> And with no further business, uh we will adjourn this committee, the whole meeting. It's 5:06 p.m. and we'll reconvene at 5:30 for a regular city council meeting. You know, I'm sure some fellow ELS members
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