Agenda - Public Works Committee - 08/14/2000

Home

PW CASE UPDATE ON ALL-WAY STOP AT C.R. #116 AND DYSPROSIUM STREET By: Steve Jankowski, City Engineer Background: At the September 21, 1999 Public Works Committee meeting, the Committee recommended the passage of a resolution petitioning the County for the placement of a four-way stop at the intersection of Dysprosiurn/Th. urston Street and C.R. #116. This motion was ratified by the City Council on September 28, 1999. The Anoka County Public Works Committee considered this petition on November 1, 1999. The City of Ramsey was represented at this meeting by the City Administrator, the Chief of Police, the Director of Public Works/Fire Chief, and the City Engineer. Anoka County staff prepared an accident analysis of the subject intersection, which compared the accident rate and severity with other County Road intersections for which four-way stops had been considered. This analysis showed that the frequency and severity rates were lower than intersections that had been approved by the County for signalization, but the analysis did not include the recent fatality which occurred in September 1999. The County Public Works Committee passed a motion to post four-way stop signs at the intersection contingent upon the City of Ramsey removing the speed humps which are on Dysprosium Street. The recommendation was ratified by the Anoka County Board on November 8, 1999, without conditions. The four-way stop was installed on Wednesday, November 10. Recommendation: The Committee's conditional recommendation was made less as a requirement and more as an encouragement to remove the existing speed humps on Dysprosium Street. The reasoning for the County Public Works Committee's contingency stems from the fact that Dysprosium Street is a designated collector street, and traffic should be encouraged to use collector streets in order to reduce trips on residential streets. The use of speed humps discourage such use. Staff does not disagree with the Anoka County Public Works Committee's reasoning regarding the removal of the speed humps. The speed humps were installed in November 1994. Since that time, standards for the installation of speed humps have been adopted by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, which state that humps should be used on "local" streets. Such streets are defined as those offering the lowest level of mobility and deliberately discourage service to through traffic movement. If the speed humps are removed, however, we might anticipate concerns about safety along the street from the Dysprosium neighborhood. It is suggested that some modification of the streetscape could mitigate the neighborhood concerns. The streetscape modifications could include sidewalk, narrowing the roadway, terrace trees, and chokers at the crosswalks. Staff would welcome direction on communicating with the neighborhood. Committee Action: Based upon discussion. Reviewed by: City Administrator Chief of Police Director of Public Works/Fire Chief PW: 11/16/99