2007-10-23_PWETC_AgendaPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Jeffrey Agnes 4 September 12, 2007 access intersections on Snelling Avenue and County Road B. We had to apply an adjustment process to estimate some of the volumes due to abnormal conditions created by the collapse of the I-35W bridge (County Road B was closed at TH 280 following that collapse) and operation of the State Fair during the period of this study. The adjustment process, which was agreed upon by City staff, is summarized as follows: a) Weekday p.m. peak hour volumes. For this purpose, we used the MnlDOT counts at Snelling A venue and County Road B, which were recorded in May 2007, together with the entering and exiting traffic at the Hal' Mar access locations on Snelling Avenue and County Road B. We adjusted the through volumes at the Hal' Mar access locations on Snelling A venue and County Road B to be consistent with the volumes recorded by MnlDOT staff at the Snelling A venue/County Road B intersection. b) Saturday mid-day peak hour volumes. We conducted full turning movement counts at the Hal' Mar access locations on County Road B before the I-35W bridge collapse and before the State Fair began operations. Comparing the resultant two-way volume on County Road B just east of Snelling A venue to the corresponding two-way volume from MnlDOT's weekday count, we determined that the Saturday peak hour volume was 10% lower than the weekday peak hour volume. We then applied that 10% reduction factor to all the weekday p.m. peak hour movements at the Snelling A venue/County Road B intersection to estimate the Saturday mid-day peak hour turn movements. Subsequently, we estimated full Saturday mid-day turn movement volumes at the Har Mar access on Snelling A venue by accounting for through traffic consistent with the preceding estimated volumes at the Snelling A venue/County Road B intersection, together with Saturday mid-day peak hour counts that we completed of all entering and exiting traffic at the Hal' Mar access location on Snelling A venue. We needed to account for two factors in establishing the 2009 no-build volumes. The first consideration is whether any increase in traffic volumes along Snelling A venue and County Road B would be expected by 2009 due to natural growth. For this purpose, we reviewed published average daily traffic volumes on Snelling Avenue and County Road B over the last several years. From this review, we noted that daily volumes on these two roadways actually have declined in recent years. To be conservative, we have assumed that the background volumes on Snelling A venue and County Road B will remain unchanged in 2009 from 2007 conditions. The second factor we needed to address for 2009 no-build volumes is to account for full occupancy of all former uses at the Hal' Mar Shopping Center. When our existing traffic counts were conducted, the following three uses were closed: . Space 27 - TJ Maxx Store with 24,211 square feet. . Spaces 41 and 42 - multiplex theater, which had a total of eight screens. . Space 82 - sit-down restaurant with 5,796 square feet. Since the purpose of this traffic study is to assess traffic implications of the proposed PUD uses, as compared to prior uses in the shopping center, we needed to adjust the existing volumes to account for full occupancy of the above three prior uses in the shopping center. This step was