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The signal at Snelling Avenue and County Road C creates major gaps in the <br />traffic flow on southbound Snelling Avenue during every signal cycle so <br />that left -turns from northbound Snelling Avenue into the frontage road and <br />right -turns from the frontage road to southbound Snelling Avenue are able <br />to easily clear the intersection at least once during every cycle of the <br />signal at County Road C. The left -turn from the frontage road to north- <br />bound Snelling Avenue is the most difficult movement to make. However the <br />median on Snelling Avenue between the northbound and southbound lanes is <br />wide enough to allow a vehicle to wait in the median to find an adequate <br />gap in the northbound traffic. The only times when gaps are difficult to <br />find in the northbound Snelling Avenue traffic are during the peak hours <br />when volumes on Snelling Avenue are the greatest. <br />The proposed restaurant would generate approximately 30 vehicle trips on <br />the peak weekday during the PM peak hour. Of these 30 vehicle trips <br />approximately 20 will be Inbound and 10 will be outbound. Of the 10 out- <br />bound trips 7 will make a right turn to southbound Snelling Avenue and 3 <br />will make a left turn to northbound Snelling Avenue. In comparison a <br />24,000 square foot office building would generate approximately 70 vehicle <br />trips on average weekday in the PM peak hour. Approximately 10 would be <br />Inbound and 60 would be outbound. This woulG result in about 18 additional <br />left turn movements during the PM peak hour. <br />BRW observed the intersection and did a time -delay study during the PM peak <br />hour on Thursday, April 19th. The maximum observed queue on the frontage <br />road during this period was 4 vehicles and the average delay per vehicle <br />was 12 seconds. The maximum queue on the) northbound left -turn lane was 5 <br />vehicles and the average delay per vehicle was 10 seconds. The amount of <br />delay for any one vehicle depended on when they arrived at the intersection <br />relative to the signal cycle at County Road C. Every signal cycle at <br />County Road C created about 20 seconds of usable gaps in southbound <br />Snelling Avenue for traffic turning into or from the frontage road. This <br />translates into an available capacity on the frontage road approach to <br />Snelling Avenue of about 8 vehicles per cycle. A complete signal cycle at <br />County Road C takes 2 minutes so theme are 30 cycles per hour. Therefore <br />the hourly outbound capacity is approximately 240 vehicles per hour. The <br />current PM peak hour outbound volume is about 100 vehicles and hour. The <br />proposed restaurant would add about 10 vehicles in the PM peak hour. <br />The average vehicle delay encountered. on the frontage road in the PM peak <br />hour is approximately the same average vehicle delay which would be encoun- <br />tered at a signalized intersection operating at level of Service A (the <br />best on a scale from A thru F). <br />Modified Site Plan <br />One of the major problems with the intersection of the frontage road and <br />Snelling Avenue is that there is not adequate distance to allow vehicles to <br />approach Snelling Avenue at a 90 degree angle. Right turns from the fron- <br />tage road must make a 180 degree turn to go south on Snelling Avenue while <br />the right -turns from southbound Snelling Avenue can slip to the frontage <br />road without really slowing down. Because of the angle which vehicles <br />12 <br />