2A, Guiding Plan for the B2 District - Update

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Traffic Plan Summary County Road E is under the jurisdiction of Ramsey County. The City will need to work - collaboratively with the County to gain approval for these recommended improvements. — Intersection of County Road E, the Holiday Inn Site and the Arden Plaza Driveway The driveways on County Road E for the Holiday Inn site and the Arden Plaza site will experience significant delay and queuing in the p.m.peak hour even though the overall intersections will operate within traffic engineering standards. This is acceptable as an interim situation because it is not expected to pose a safety problem, little queuing is anticipated on County Road E. Long term,the queuing will impact the vitality of the redevelopments and could lead to safety problems. These driveways should be realigned midway between Pine Tree Drive and Lexington Avenue to provide a four legged intersection that could be controlled with a traffic signal. Left turn lanes and shared right/through lanes should be built on the new north and south legs of the intersection to provide adequate egress. The signal should be installed when the traffic volumes at the intersection meet the criteria for installing a traffic signal per the Minnesota Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. When the traffic signal is installed at the new intersection it will operate at LOS B in the 2030 Build p.m.peak hour. This leaves capacity to accommodate significantly more redevelopment as long as the traffic from the redevelopment is focused at the signalized intersection. Short-Term Development Assumptions Used in the Traffic Study Three short-term redevelopment possibilities were identified through the planning process. Although redevelopment may occur outside these areas,the traffic study analyzed the effect of redeveloping the Pot o' Gold,Holiday Inn and northern Arden PIaza properties. These properties may redevelop differently but the below numbers were used to show the impact if they were redeveloped. Specifically; ■ The Pot o' Gold bingo hall was assumed to be replaced with 15,000 square feet of office. ■ The former Holiday Inn hotel was assumed to be replaced with 95 apartment units and 120,000 square feet of office. - ■ The 46,000 square feet of offices on the northern part of the Arden Plaza site was assumed to be replaced with a 14,000 square foot pharmacy and 5,000 square foot retail space. 6-2 Guiding Plan for The B2 District 21 October