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Johanna Blvd and depart from there. As long term residents, we know the travel patterns and <br />quickest ways in and out to Lydia and Snelling Ave. Employees will soon learn to use the <br />emergency exit, as will many residents and visitors on this end of the long building. To the best <br />of our knowledge, there has been no traffic study to refute our expectations or confirm the claims <br />that PHS has made. <br />Furthermore, if no access road was built on Shorewood Drive or County D, there would <br />still be two accesses to the development the main access off Lake Johanna Blvd, and another <br />access off Sandeen Rd. Does the city or fire department require a third access? The Sandeen <br />access is very close to the assisted living wing and the McKnight building. Are those the areas <br />most likely to need an ambulance? <br />Shorewood Drive was never designed for nor intended to provide access to three shifts of <br />employees every day. Why would anyone route traffic onto purely residential Shorewood Drive <br />when County Rd D is just as accessible and a logical location for PHS access if a four -way <br />intersection was created at Wheeler. <br />If the access is needed for emergency vehicles only, there are better solutions. One <br />possibility would be a gated road that only emergency vehicles could access. Northwestern <br />College has a gated access on Lydia one of two access points for the entire campus. Bethel <br />College also has a gated access on southbound Snelling Ave N. <br />Perhaps the best solution is simple and low cost. Ten -foot walkways with hardened five <br />foot shoulders are used within the PHS campus to allow access to the lake side of the facility for <br />fire trucks. That walkway could simply be extended to the same location as the proposed <br />secondary access on Shorewood and marked "emergency vehicles only" and perhaps curbed at <br />the parking lot. Emergency vehicles would have access; staff and residents would not. <br />In our analysis of PHS facilities, we examined the way PHS treats residential roads and <br />access to their facilities. PHS is to be commended for their efforts to keep facility traffic separate <br />from nearby residential traffic. Their entrances are often located on moderate to high volume <br />arterial streets, county roads, and highways and separated from all residential streets. Some of <br />them only have one access. Some facilities actively develop barriers to facility traffic on nearby <br />residential streets. Specifically, 85% of PHS facilities in Minnesota do not mix residential street <br />traffic with facility traffic. <br />Figure 7 shows The Farmstead in Andover. The 3 -story building appears to have one <br />access on the west side. Notice there are no SFHs on the streets with PHS accesses. Also notice <br />that PHS did not connect with Orchid St on the north side though it would have been a <br />convenient, low cost option. They chose to keep facility traffic out of the residential area. <br />Figure 8 shows Ridgeview Terrace in Bloomington. Located on W 98 St and <br />Normandale, Ridgeview has one entrance for the entire facility off 98 St. Even though <br />Ridgeview has extensive frontage on Utica a residential street PHS chose not to access <br />Utica, but to preserve separation. <br />Shorewood Drive. Page 8 of 15 <br />