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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-01-23 Stantec Ltr. Re. CSAH21 Improvements Provided @ Worksessionstantec Janaury 23, 2013 Stantec Consulting Services Inc. 2335 Highway 36 West St. Paul MN 55113 Tel: (651) 636 -4600 Fax: (651) 636 -1311 Dallas Larson Administrator City of Centerville 1880 Main Street Centerville, MN 55038 -9794 Re: CSAH 21 (Centerville Road) Reconstruction City of Centerville Temp. File No.: 193801639 Dear Dallas: At the request of the City Council, we have reviewed the county's preliminary design for the reconstruction of CSAH 21 (Centerville Road) from Main Street to the southern city limits. The following are our comments: Main Street to Heritage Street The county's current plan shows this area proposed as: Two -lane urban section roadway Right turn lanes /Parking lanes Mill and overlay Existing concrete curb and gutter would remain in place This segment is part of the City's Downtown Redevelopment Area. With this in mind, the City has a few options for this portion of the roadway: 1. Allow the overlay a. This would make it difficult to gain participation from the County if the road were to be reconstructed as part of a downtown redevelopment in the next 15 years. 2. Ask County to leave this section out of the proposed improvements a. This allows us to ask for participation from the County-if we decide to reconstruct this segment in the next 15 years. b. The one drawback here is that there may be some questions from the public as to why the whole road was reconstructed and just these two blocks were left untouched. Hopefully, a little communication can explain our reasoning. 3. Go forward with the full reconstruction at this time. a. One version of this option would be to just reconstruct the street between the curbs. Then, at a later date (with redevelopment), we would remove the curb and add on parking lanes, new curb and streetscaping. Page 2 of 5 b. Alternatively, you could undertake the full reconstruction with streetscaping at this time. However, that would involve property acquisition and building demolition (on the block between Main and Sorel). We recommend Option 2 —No Improvements. The roadway is Inadequate condition and is not in need of immediate repair. Choosing this option leaves us the most flexibility in the future. There would be no cost to the city for this section, if Option 2 is chosen. Heritage Street to Meadow Lane The county's current plan shows this area proposed as: • Two -lane urban section roadway • Right turn lanes • Ditch on the west side (even though there is curb and gutter) • Full reconstruction • Existing concrete walk on the east side would remain in place (or be replaced in -kind) We encourage the city to support the current design in this segment. The city maybe responsible for the cost of curb and gutter and its share of storm sewer in this area. Meadow Lane to Center Street The county's current plan shows this area proposed as: • Two -lane rural section roadway • Right turn lanes • 4' paved shoulders where there are no turn lanes Full reconstruction • No trails or sidewalks A previous version of the county's draft plan showed this area as urban section. We would still like to have the county explore this option for a number of reasons. • Minimizes impacts to adjacent properties • Allows the addition of trails /sidewalks in the future without property acquisition or re- grading. • Provides an urban, in -city environment which promotes traffic calming • Is more aesthetically pleasing (allows mowing) Our examination of making this area an urban section, without ditches, shows that the road must be lowered by about five (5) feet throughout this segment in order to eliminate the need for ditches. The county's plan already shows this area being lowered by I — 2 feet. Lowering the road by 5 feet causes driveways on the west side to become fairly steep and necessitates cutting the intersection at Center Street back about 80 feet or so. It appears that this area could be made into an urban section, without ditches. However, further, more detailed design is necessary to make sure this is the best alternative. We recommend asking the county to consider making this segment an urban section. Making this segment an urban section could add costs to the city for curb and gutter and storm sewer Stantec Page 3 of 5 Center Street to Hunters Trail The county's current plan shows this area proposed as: • Two -lane rural section roadway • Right turn lanes • 4' paved shoulders where there are no turn lanes • Full reconstruction • No trails or sidewalks A previous version of the county's draft plan showed this area as urban section. Our examination of making this area an urban section, without ditches, shows that the road must be lowered by about seven (7) feet throughout this segment in order to eliminate the need for ditches. There is only one affected driveway on the west side which may become fairly steep. The new elevation would also necessitate cutting the intersection at Hunters Trail back about 100 feet or so. While this area could be made into an urban section, without ditches, it is probably not cost effective to do so. The county's plan shows only minimal grade change here, so lowering the existing grade by 7 feet would be a drastic difference in the amount of excavation, making it prohibitively expensive. We encourage the city to support the current design in this section. There should be no cost to the city for this segment. Hunters Trail to Dupre Road The county's current plan shows this area proposed as: • Two -lane rural section roadway • Right turn lanes • 4' paved shoulders where there are no turn lanes • Reclaim- shape- and -pave type improvement • No trails or sidewalks A previous version of the county's draft plan showed this area as urban section. Beginning just south of Hunters Trail, this area becomes more rural and probably lends itself to the type of design shown. We encourage the city to support the current design in this section. There should be no cost to the city for this segment. Stantec Page 4 of 5 Dupree Road to Southern City Limits The county's current plan shows this area proposed as: • Two -lane rural section roadway • Right turn lanes • 4' paved shoulders where there are no turn lanes • Reclaim - shape- and -pave type improvement • No trails or sidewalks This area is yet to be developed and lends itself to a rural section roadway. We encourage the city to support the current design in this section. There should be no cost to the city for this segment. Trunk Storm Sewer /Stormwater Treatment As you are aware, the City's ultimate plan for the Downtown Redevelopment and for its Downtown Stormwater Reclamation Project necessitates the construction of a 42 -inch pipe coming from the intersection of Centerville Road (CSAH 21) and Sorel Street, south to a discharge point leading into the ditch along the south side of LaMotte Park. The County will need to construct a storm sewer system in areas of urban section roadway and may need to provide stormwater treatment Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the project. Those BMPs could include infiltration features, storm ponds and the like. If the City wishes to construct the 42 -inch pipe now and enter into a joint powers agreement to share that pipe with the County, it could likely handle both the County's storm water and the City's future runoff from the Downtown Redevelopment. If not, a slightly larger pipe probably could. In either case, it would likely be mutually beneficial to share the pipe and therefore realize savings by sharing the cost. Each party might pay a percentage of the pipe's cost based on its contribution to the flow or the County could contribute the equivalent cost of the system they would have needed on their own. The pipe could be constructed under the county's contract, with the City's portion of the cost becoming part of its share of the project costs. Finally, a similar agreement could be reached to have the County share the City's Stormwater Reclamation Facility to the extent in needs to provide treatment or infiltration. Sidewalks and Trails During the course of several design meetings, the logistics of certain trail segments has been discussed. There are many factors which affect the viability of a trail. A few things to note are: • The County views trails as a City cost • If additional right -of -way is necessary because of a trail, they would view that as a City cost • If additional wetland mitigation was necessary because of a trail, they would view that as a City cost. There are areas of significant wetland impact between Hunter's Trail and Dupre Rd. stan>tc Page 5 of 5 The reimbursement program we took advantage of on CSAH 14, only covers the material cost of the trail and does not include any grading or other ancillary costs as mentioned above. Also, it is not certain that a trail along Centerville Road would be considered eligible for this reimbursement. The City of Lino Lakes has stated that, for a variety of reasons, they do not plan on pursuing the construction of a trail along their segment of this project (Birch St. to Centerville's southern City Limits). This means that an extension of a trail along CSAH 21 in Centerville's portion of the project would likely terminate with a dead end. Weighing all of these factors, if a segment of trail is to be constructed, it should be one of high priority, with a significant benefit to the safety and convenience of the public. The existing trail crossing between Hunter's Trail and Dupre Road is one which the County does not wish to perpetuate. If a trail was constructed along the east side of Centerville Road, between this crossing and the trail crossing at Meadow Lane, it may offer an alternative to trail users wishing to cross at a safer, better marked location. However, forcing people to use this alternative could be difficult. The council should weigh the pros and cons of the construction of this segment. Other segments do not appear to offer enough benefit at this time, to justify the added expense. Sincerely, STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES, INC. Mark Statz, PE City Engineer 651 - 604 -4709 Attachments: Marked up portions of the County's Draft Plan