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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: August 25, 2014 Item No.: 7.i Department Approval City Manager Approval Item Description: Declare County Road B an Urban Section and Establish a Speed Limit of 30 mph Along the Segment B ACKGROUND 1 th On August 12, 2014 Ramsey County took official action to transfer the jurisdiction of County 2 Road B from Cleveland Avenue to its western terminus of the City of Roseville. The City and 3 Ramsey County have been discussing this since County Road B was disconnected from Trunk 4 Highway 280 after the collapse of the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in 2007. 5 When County Road B was disconnected from TH 280, traffic volumes greatly reduced on 6 County Road B, but no other changes were made to the roadway to reflect the new character and 7 functional classification of this roadway. With the installation of a pathway along the south side 8 of County Road B and the official jurisdictional transfer of the roadway, the City has an 9 opportunity to review the speed limit on the roadway and take action to adjust the existing 40 10 mile per hour speed limit. 11 Speed limits are established by the provisions set forth in State Statutes 169.14. Within that 12 statute are several statutory speed limits for certain roadway types including urban sections, 13 interstate highways, alleys, etc. When a roadway meets the definition of one of these 14 classifications, the statutory speed limit applies unless a different speed limit is established by 15 the Commissioner of Transportation based on an engineering and traffic investigation. Any 16 agency can ask the Department of Transportation to conduct such a study and recommend and 17 establish a speed limit based on that study. 18 Now that County Road B is a City facility, the City can, per State Statute 169.14 Subdivision 5b, 19 declare this section of roadway as an urban district (defined as the territory contiguous to and 20 including any city street or town road that is built up with structures devoted to business, 21 industry, or dwelling houses situated at intervals of less than 100 feet for a distance of a quarter 22 of a mile or more). Once declared as an urban district, the City can then post the statutory speed 23 limit for that type of roadway, which is 30 miles per hour, on this segment of roadway. 24 Other options for the speed limit of this roadway are to leave it as it is today, at 40 miles per 25 hour, which would not require any approval from Mn/DOT; or request Mn/DOT to conduct an 26 official speed study and recommend a speed limit based on those results. When Mn/DOT does 27 th conduct a speed study, they primarily focus on the 85 percentile speed (the speed at which 85% 28 of the measured speeds is at or below). 29 The City conducted a speed study on this roadway in November of 2013 and found that on the 30 th eastern side of the roadway (east of Acorn Road) the 85 percentile speed was 46 miles per hour. 31 th Further west (east of Fulham Street), the 85 percentile speed was 36.2 miles per hour. 32 Page 1 of 2