Agenda - Council - 04/23/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ramsey Town Center Traffic Analysis Sunwood Boulevard is currently a two-lane local street that terminates in a tee intersection with Ramsey Boulevard and has four -leg intersections with Industry Avenue and Sunfish Lake Boulevard. All three intersections are under minor approach stop control with stop signs on the Sunwood Drive approaches. Volumes Volumes at all but two of the study area intersections were counted during December 2002 for both AM and PM peak hours. Volumes at the intersections of TH 10 with Ramsey Boulevard and with Armstrong Boulevard were obtained from Mn/DOT and were counted during mid 2002. Figures 2 and 3 show the existing AM peak hour and PM peak hour volumes respectively at all the study intersections. The volumes shown in these figures were extracted for the single peak hour (AM or PM) from two-hour count data. Operational analysis was performed using these volumes to ascertain the existing operating conditions at the study intersections. Average daily traffic volumes on streets and highways in the study area vary widely with TH 10 carrying about 42,000 vehicles per day (vpd) east of Ramsey Boulevard and 31,000 west of Armstrong Boulevard. By contrast, volumes on the other roadways in the study area range from about 5,000 to 8,000 vpd, with the exception of Industry Avenue between Ramsey and Armstrong Boulevards, which carries about 2,400 vpd. Planned and Programmed Roadway Improvements No roadway projects are currently programmed for the study area, but several regional studies are in process or recently completed that affect the study area. As noted above, improvements to the intersection of Sunfish Lake Boulevard and TH 10 to address existing congestion have been deferred because of current state budget considerations, as have improvements to the intersection at TH 10 and Ramsey Boulevard that would add a south approach to that intersection. The TH 10 IRC Study/Corridor Management Plan' is a regional roadway planning analysis for Mn/DOT that evaluated future needs on TH 10 through Anoka County. While the study findings have been adopted, the improvements suggested in the study have not yet been incorporated into the State Transportation Improvement Plan, nor are they yet in the Metro Division Transportation Systems Plan. Updates of these planning documents are expected to address the recommendations from the TH 10 study. That study estimates that traffic volumes on TH 10 will grow between 40 and 50 percent by the year 2025 to over 50,000 vpd in the study area. The report notes that to accommodate this level of volume, even if the Northstar Commuter Rail service and a new Mississippi River crossing are implemented will require TH 10 to become a six -lane freeway through Ramsey by 2025 with interchanges at Sunfish Lake and Ramsey Boulevards. In the interim by 2010, the report suggests that TH 10 in the study area be expanded to a six -lane expressway with improved intersections. In the near terms by 2005, the study suggests that signal timing optimization and improvements to Ramsey, Armstrong, and Sunfish Lake Boulevards are necessary. The report notes that one "concern with constructing a 6-lane expressway as an interim strategy to construct- ing a freeway is the roadway alignment. As an expressway, it is preferable to have TH 10 as far away as possible from the parallel railroad in order to allow for vehicle stacking at the intersections. As a freeway, it would be preferable to have the roadway alignment as close to the railroad as possible so that interchanges can provide grade separation over both the highway and the railroad. i2 1 H. R. Green Co., TH 10 IRC Study Corridor Management Plan, Mn/DOT, January 2002 2 ibid. Page 6-24. March 2003 Meyer. Mohaddes Associates. Inc. 4