Agenda - Council - 03/23/2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASt# }ti CONSIDER ADOPTION OF CR 116 CORRIDOR STUDY By: Steven Jankowski, City Engineer Background: In November of 2001 the Cities of Ramsey and Anoka along with Anoka County entered into a joint powers agreement to prepare a corridor study for the segment ofCR 116 west of 7th Avenue. The purpose of this study is to provide a vision for this important corridor that addresses both its transportation and access functions. The City of Ramsey and Anoka County recently held a public informational meeting on the draft plan in February of this year, and the document is being placed before the council at this time for adoption. A copy of the study has been included under a separate cover in your council agenda packet. One of the more difficult aspects in implementing the recommendations of this study is that of complying with the recommended access control. At the present time there are 74 access points through the corridor. Ideally this number would be reduced to 47 with full development of the corridor. Figures 20 through 23 illustrate both the accesses which are to be retained and those proposed for eventual closure. The study also acknowledges the fact that some access closures will be relatively difficult to achieve, and may not occur for many years. Most of these proposed closures are private accesses, however, access points 25 and 48 propose the closure of Iodine and Basalt Streets, respectively. Both of these access points were added as potential closures to the plan after review by the Public Works Committee review of the study draft in fall of 2003. Both these accesses are identified as difficult to achieve, but were added to add consistency with the access concept illustrated in Figure 18. Discussion: This corridor study will serve as a guide for the future development of the CR 116 corridor and will provide a significant resource for obtaining funding for construction projects. For these reasons it is important that this document be adopted. At the same time it is also important to emphasize that this study must be flexible in being able to adapt when individual projects require deviations from the ideals presented by the study. In adopting this study the City should emphasize that it will consider any access closures as it approves individual projects along the corridor. Staff would propose that this be emphasized by adopting this study by the attached resolution and that this resolution and that of the other two agencies, the City of Anoka and Anoka County be included as Appendix D of the study.