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.-.. <br />Debra Bloom, P.E. <br />City of Roseville <br />Access Management <br />� <br />December 3, 2007 <br />Page 2 <br />There are multiple contributing factors that indicate closing this access is good engineering <br />practice and in the best interest of the motoring public (both on site and the adjacent roadway <br />network). First, typical access management practices prohibit this close access spacing (located <br />approximately 300 feet from Snelling Avenue). Ramsey County guidelines require a minimum <br />of 660 feet for the type of access and roadway function of County Road B. It is understood that <br />this is an existing site access that does not meet County spacing guidelines. It is in the best <br />interest of the City of Roseville to periodically evaluate their access management practices and <br />take advantage of the opportunity to modify access in accordance with current guidelines. <br />Furthermore, it should be noted that as the number of access points increase along a roadway, <br />there is an impact on the safety of the roadway. Increased access points reduce the mobility of <br />the roadway and its ability to efficiently move traffic. In addition, this particular access <br />encourages u-turn movements along County Road B at the Har Mar Northeast Access <br />intersection. While, the County Road B/Har Mar Northeast Access is a signalized intersection <br />with dedicated left-turn storage for vehicles making a left-turn from County Road B(or a u-turn <br />along County Road B), u-turns at this location are not the most desirable movement. <br />Crash Analysis <br />Wenk Associates presented a crash data summary stating that one u-turn crash was reported at <br />the County Road B/Har Mar Northeast Access intersection in the last five years. This is correct <br />with respect to the specific u-turn maneuver. However, SRF completed a more detailed crash <br />analysis for the study intersection with crash data for the last four years at this intersection (four <br />years rather than five due to potential poor quality of year 2003 data). Based on the crash data, <br />the average crash rate for this intersection is 0.68 crashes per million entering vehicles. The <br />Twin Cities metro area average crash rate for similar type intersections is 0.70 crashes per <br />million entering vehicles. Therefore, the study intersection crash rate is comparable to similar <br />type intersections. <br />U-turn Occurrence <br />Wenk Associates collected count data at the County Road B/Har Mar Northeast Access <br />intersection to determine how many u-turns occur during the restricted weekday time periods. <br />This data indicates that of the 82 u-turns that occur during these time periods, 37 of them are <br />from the Har Mar Mall RIRO access (45 percent). It should be noted that vehicles using this <br />RIRO access to make a u-turn at the signalized intersection represents approximately 10 percent <br />of the total volume during this same period exiting the RIRO access. These vehicles have <br />adequate access internal to the Har Mar Mall area to the signalized intersection of County Road <br />B/Har Mar Northeast Access to travel westbound on County Road B. Therefore, restricting this <br />access to a right-in only does not create an undue hardship on the development as a whole. <br />