CC_Minutes_2014_0505 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday,May 5,2014 Page 12 b. Ramsey County Library Access—Hamline Avenue City Engineer Marc Culver introduced Ramsey County Traffic Engineer Erin Laberee and her presentation related to access on Hamline Avenue, a Ramsey County roadway. Ramsey County Traffic Engineer Erin Laberee Ms. Laberee provided the findings from their 24 hour study of this area; opining that they didn't monitor any conflicts during that time. Ms. Laberee noted heavier movements for left turns on to Commerce; afternoon peak left turns at 240, and 130 into the library itself. Ms. Laberee found 4-5 vehicles frequently stacked in the turn lane waiting for the green lights, as evidenced by traffic camera videos shot during their 24-hour review. Ms. Laberee advised that the only other obser- vation found was backups in the through-lane on southbound Hamline when the light was red, but no significant conflicts were noted for the one day camera de- tail. Ms. Laberee advised that, in her review of the crash history and driveway access from the MnDOT database, there was nothing noted since construction of the library access; with only one crash documented in 2004 and one in 2009, and both unrelated to the location of the driveway. While she recognized that this was not an ideal situation, Ms. Laberee noted that there may be several options to re- solve the problem and ease driver unease: the most costly a median constructed down Hamline Avenue to prevent left turns into or out of the driveway, even though that would cause some public concern with property owners in the area, and she would first want to talk to the library and other property owners about an- ything that affected their access. Ms. Laberee noted that another option would be to use signage, even though she anticipated people would usually just ignore that; or construction of a pork chop to make it difficult to make a left turn other than at an awkward angle. Ms. Laberee advised that any of those options would need ini- tial discussions regarding funding options, and impacts to the library and/or other property owners, none of which had been undertaken at this point. Councilmember Willmus suggested creating a right in and right out; and based on his personal experience in the area, he found a significant number of conflicts, es- pecially southbound Hamline when traffic stops directly in front of you. If the li- brary driveway was right in, right out only, Councilmember Willmus opined that it may alleviate that problem; and further noted the typical traffic patterns through the parking lot to access the book return, entered usually through that driveway. Mr. Culver noted that a pork chop island was generally a good idea; however, he noted that it could still be bypassed by a vehicle, which could and would occur. Mr. Culver opined that a median was the best option to restrict those movements, but recognized it as the most negative option due to the impact on property own- ers in the immediate area. At the request of Councilmember Willmus, Mr. Culver advised that he was not aware of any immediate plans for the State to close access to Highway 36 at Ham- line Avenue. At his most recent meetings with MnDOT regarding Lexington Av-