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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday, February 23, 2015 <br /> Page 14 <br /> Right-turn only as mitigation versus r/l <br /> Mr. Vaughn opined that his interpretation of that question was whether the study <br /> recommended restricted turn movements, which had not been reviewed as part of <br /> this study, and further opined that option would not be appropriate given the inter- <br /> sections being dealt with. If the suggestion was to not allow left turns to happen <br /> from Twin Lakes Parkway at Fairview Avenue or Terrace Drive in an effort to <br /> improve traffic, Mr. Vaughn opined that it would not be appropriate, but a use <br /> such as at a WalMart access point was a better use for that option, at a develop- <br /> ment's access point. <br /> Mr. Lux advised that he had interpreted the question yet differently, targeting only <br /> certain movements at some locations, which he thought about at Lydia Avenue <br /> and different southbound turn movements or adding lanes to target improvements <br /> without a large land impact. Mr. Lux suggested this may be a future strategy to <br /> consider. <br /> How is existing data used in regional trips and larger trips specific to this area <br /> Mr. Vaughn advised that there were few regional trips expected to use Twin <br /> Lakes Parkway, and cautioned that the system as it is today could not be com- <br /> pared to 2030 scenarios, improvements coming in, and with additional lanes add- <br /> ed. With the sub-regional or regional movements on major arteries (e.g. Highway <br /> 36, I-35W and I-694), Mr. Vaughn opined that without those regional system im- <br /> provements, then it may be possible to see future regional trips using the Park- <br /> way. <br /> Certain number of lanes east of Snelling and how that impacts analysis of this <br /> study or if it did <br /> Mr. Culver advised that significant back-ups are seen both east and west of Snel- <br /> ling Avenue, often associated with event-related times; or during snow or other <br /> incidents on the regional system. However, Mr. Culver opined that he had not <br /> observed any back-ups to or past on the east side of Snelling Avenue backing up <br /> Snelling Avenue itself, which from his perspective would be the only situation <br /> impacting demand on the west side of Snelling. Mr. Culver opined that it could <br /> be debated why the four lane County Road C had been reduced to two drive lanes <br /> with turn lanes, it did provide safety benefits in that design with a median divided <br /> roadway along with aesthetic values and traffic calming efforts versus the nar- <br /> rower medians with more turn lanes and/or drive lanes. Mr. Culver suggested <br /> there may be an opportunity to review that design in the future if significant ca- <br /> pacity issues develop on the east side. However, Mr. Culver opined that he had <br /> not observed any issues on the east side that impacted operations through the <br /> Snelling Avenue intersection, even though sometimes the back-ups are long into <br /> Hamline Avenue,but not impacting the west side of Snelling Avenue. Mr. Culver <br /> suggested traffic signal timing for more green time may help alleviate the issue. <br />