1994 06-20 CCP - Laserfiche WebLink

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* The overall land use mix of residential, commercial and industrial developments in the corridor will tend to encourage shorter trip lengths. Improvements will be needed to the local street system to accommodate this travel and to protect the metro highway system from undesirable ramp to ramp trips between adjacent interchanges. Through commuter trips using I-35E will continue to grow as development north of the study area proceeds in areas such as Hugo, Ham Lake, Lino Lakes, and Forest Lake. * I-35E is experiencing a peak hour "spreading" trend which has been observed throughout the Twin Cities area. The percentage of traffic in the peak hour has been found to be decreasing slightly while the period of high traffic has become more prolonged as drivers adjust schedules to avoid congestion, This trend of peak hour spreading is expected to continue into the future. * Access to I-35E and 1-694 will be more difficult during peak hours as most ramps are equipped with metering devices. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) improvement program has scheduled the installation of ramp meters on the I-35. on -ramps at CR-E, the southbound I-35E on -ramp from TH-96, and all I-694 on -ramps in the study area during the next 3-5 years. * Travel Demand Management (TDM) strategies such as staggered work hours, transit and increased carpooling can be most effective if implemented by major employers in the area. The measures will help maintain volume levels below capacity, but their overall impact on the overall corridor traffic levels will be relatively minor. TDM can have its most significant impact on local street intersections which are sensitive to the fluctuations of local trip making. The evaluation of the roadway system necessary to support the moderate level of land development identified a number of recommended improvements from major highway construction to relatively inexpensive intersection modifications such as adding turn lanes. It is difficult to prioritize between these widely differing types of recommendations which span varying lengths of time for implementation, have unique funding needs and require different levels of agency involvement. Priorities are easier to assign if the roadway improvements are grouped into similar categories. The improvements were found to naturally fall into the following categories; 1) Major New Improvements, 2) Planned and Programmed, 3) Short Term Improvements, and 4) Other Issue Areas. Recommended improvement pmjeets within these categories were prioritized and individual implementation strategies were developed. I-35E Corridor Study Sponsors: I-35E Project Management Team (PMT) Page 5 A-METRO-3354.00