Agenda - Economic Development Authority - 10/09/2014

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CORRIDOR CONTEXT Transportation Function Traffic Operations Highway 10 is a principal arterial with a primary purpose of providing direct, relatively high speed service for longer trips and large traffic volumes (data collected by AirSage shows approximately 53% of trips in the morn- ing peak hour and 48% of trips in the evening peak hour pass through the study corridor without stopping). The Highway 10 corridor transitions between a freeway and rural expressway corridor in Anoka and Ramsey. This segment of Highway 10 carries an average of 33,500 vehicles per day on the west end and 61,000 vehicles per day on the east end. There are five signalized intersections and 106 public and private accesses along Highway 10. There are 92 properties adjacent to Highway 10, sixty of which have direct access to the highway. Highway 10 also experiences multiple hours of congestion daily (see Figures 6 and 7). Speeds for eastbound traffic in the morning peak average 41 mph while speeds for westbound traffic in the evening peak average 35 mph. These are both compared to 61 mph average speeds in uncongested conditions. Evening back-ups on westbound Highway 10 extend from Fairoak Ave. to the Rum River, more than one mile. Significant peak hour back-ups also occur on the cross streets. Crashes, emergency responders and weather significantly impact travel time. Train crossings frequently cause delay on the cross streets and limit access to Highway 10. Kev Finding: Highway 10 has numerous public and private accesses that cumulatively degrade the safety and performance of the corridor. The capacity and mobility demands of the Highway 10 corri- dor are underserved. Safety Highway 10 is experiencing safety issues as shown on Figures 8 and 9. There have been more than 1,600 crashes on this segment of Highway 10 in the last 10 years which results in a crash rate more than twice that of similar metro area facilities. Of the 1,600 crashes, 58 percent were rear -end crashes at traffic signals and 55 percent involved a westbound vehicle. 494 crashes occurred during morning or evening peak periods on weekdays which averages to 1 crash every five days. Significant congestion often results when crashes occur. There have been 13 fatalities including four pedestrians. Five crashes occurred that involved a train. Figure 9 includes a graph of the relationship between crash rates and access density. Higher access densities tend to correlate with higher crash rates. The Highway 10 access density and crash rate are plotted on this graph as well, showing the relatively high crash rate along this corridor based on access density. Kev Finding: High numbers of crashes and fatalities are occurring on the Highway 10 corridor. Freight, Trains and Transit Burlington, Northern and Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway parallels the Highway 10 corridor in Ramsey and Anoka. In some locations along the west end of the corridor, the railroad and highway are separated by less than 1/8 mile. BNSF Railway is one of the largest U.S. railroads covering the western half of the United States and serves 32,500 route miles in 28 states. BNSF runs 67 freight trains per day at 75 mph through the study corridor (see Figure 10). The average freight train is 2.6 miles long. Several freight generators exist in the Cities of Ramsey and Anoka as shown on Figure 11. The percentage of HIGHWAY 10 ACCESS PLANNING STUDY 16