Minutes - Public Works Committee - 07/17/2018

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5.01: Consider Speed Limit Reduction on Quicksilver Street City Engineer Westby stated that the purpose of the case is to consider a request to reduce the th speed limit on Quicksilver Street, south of 167 and north of Elmcrest Park. He noted that staff received a request from the property owner at 16601 Quicksilver Street to reduce the speed limit th on Quicksilver Street, south of 167 Avenue and north of Elmcrest Park. This property owner has reported excessive speeds along this segment of Quicksilver Street, and recently experienced damage to their landscaping and mailbox due to vehicles leaving the roadway. He stated that this section of Quicksilver currently has no posted speed limit, but based on its functional classification as a local street and the properties it serves, the street could be posted at 30 mph. City Engineer Westby stated that local road authorities can determine advisory speeds for local roads and post the roads with advisory speed signs without authorization from the MnDOT Commissioner. He noted that local road authorities can also pass a resolution requesting a speed study investigation by MnDOT. The local road authority that owns and operates the segment of road to be studies is responsible for submitting the request to MnDOT. He stated that based on the speed study results, which often take in excess of one year to receive, MnDOT may authorize the local road authority to post the road with new speed limits. However, it is important to note that the study could find that the new speed limit should be greater than the existing speed limit, which is typically contrary to the desired outcome. In this case, staff would not expect the speed limit to increase, given the functional classification of the road and the properties it serves. City Engineer Westby stated that staff would not recommend requested a speed study from MnDOT. Based on the functional classification of the road and the properties it serves, staff believes the lowest posted speed MnDOT would authorize would be 30 mph. As such, staff recommends either leaving this segment of Quicksilver Street as is with no posted speed limit, or posting this segment of Quicksilver Street at 30 mph. Staff does not support posting an advisory speed of something less than 30 mph. In any scenario, the Police Department can only enforce a 30-mph speed limit. He noted that it is best to maintain uniform speed limits along roadway corridors where the functional classification does not vary, to meet driver expectation. City Engineer Westby reviewed the options available to the Committee and stated that staff th recommends leaving the segment of Quicksilver Street between 167 Avenue and Elmcrest Park unposted as to the speed limit and to direct staff to place the speed trailer along this street segment when the trailer is available. He noted that staff could also support the option to furnish th and install two 30 mph speed limit signs along the segment of Quicksilver Street between 167 and Elmcrest Park, one at each end in the direction of travel, and direct staff to place the speed trail along this street segment when the trailer is available. He stated that he spoke with the resident that submitted the concern and he was supportive of the speed trailer being posted for two weeks to see if that would detour high traveling speeds. Chairperson Riley stated that it appears that police activity would be pretty easy to enforce as most of the activity would be likely to occur from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. when the park traffic is increased. Public Works Committee / July 17, 2018 Page 2 of 7