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Director of Public Works/Fire Chief Kapler replied no. Councilmember Cook stated that it clear based on the accident reports that accidents in the intersection have been increasing and he agrees that something has to be done, but he was not sure if constructing the median was the right choice nor was he sure that signalizing the intersection was the right thing. Mr. Hienrichs stated that with today's technology it is possible that lights on TH 47 would only need to turn red if there was a car waiting to turn from 142 Avenue. He personally did not think that . signalizing the intersection would impact the flow of traffic on TH 47 that significantly. Dave Engstrom, Program Support Engineer for MnDOT, explained that signal justification and speed zoning are part of his responsibility, at MnDOT. His focus has always been on safety and trying to improve highways and general speaking traffic signals provide a misconception. The reality is that traffic accidents go up with signals because they are focusing people to stop increasing rear -end accidents. Currently MnDOT has 120 intersections that are considered high accident areas and about 100 of those inters ections are signalized. When they look at signalizing an intersection they look at bettering the intersection and this particular intersection does not meet volume requirements on the minor streets so they have looked at the best option for the intersection. At this point the best option is completely closing the median, but recognizing the fact that he is a traffic engineer and doesn't deal with economics he does understand that some of the businesses might be impacted by a full closer of the intersection so he is willing to compromise with a 3 /4 median being installed at the intersection. Assistant Director of Public Works Olson asked Mr. Engstrom to address some of the comments made about the traffic volumes and the timing of the study. Mr. Engstrom explained that during a traffic analysis they collect an hour -by -hour scenario from Monday morning to Friday afternoon. He stated that it would be possible for MnDOT to do another traffic analysis in the spring to account for school traffic, but he would like review all of the information they have gathered on the intersection before committing to a new study. Assistant Director of Public Works Olson inquired if left turning vehicle counts were included in the most recent analysis. Mr. Engstrom replied that turning traffic is counted as part of the analysis. He noted that trying to account for traffic that may utilize the intersection would be difficult to count. Mr. Hienrichs noted that he knows for a fact that there were no bell hoses in the left turn lane on TH 47 at 142 Avenue so none of the u -turn traffic was counted. Many of the people that utilize the businesses in the area make a u -turn at the intersection to be able to get back to Anoka because it is a lot safer than having to take a left hand turn from 142 Avenue onto TH 47. Mr. Greb stated that the reality is that people are using the frontage roads rather than T.H. 47, Public Works Committee /January 18, 2005 Page 5 of 18 —257—