Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/03/2005

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City Engineer Jankowski stated since the open house, MnDOT has considered the public comments and has proposed an alternative to the full median closure. A sketch of this was provided to the Committee for their review. This alternative would allow left turns from TH 47 onto 142na Avenue, but would disallow left tums from 142nd Avenue onto TH 47. Increasing the safety of this intersection is related to reducing the potential for conflict points between vehicles. Unfortunately the reduction of conflict points comes at the expense of eliminating some permitted movement, which reduces the accessibility of this intersection. It was therefore staff's recommendation that the City support the modification of this intersection to a 3/4th access median. City Engineer Jankowski indicated the Committee made a motion to recommend that the City Council support the following changes: · Construction of a northbound bypass lane at 157th Avenue · A free right turn lane added for eastbound CSAH 5 to southbound TH 47 which will facilitate westbound Xkimo Street left mm lanes onto southbound TH 47 · The construction of a 3/4th access median at the intersection of TH 47 and 142nd Avenue NW · -The removal of the hump on TH 47 south of 167th Avenue · Further study ora pedestrian signal being installed in the vicinity of 142nd Avenue and TH 47 · The removal of the existing crosswalk at 142"d Avenue and TH 47 City Engineer Jankowski explained Assistant Public Works Director Olson informed the Committee that I gOth Lane is the only intersection that remains on TH 47 that does not have left turn lanes. It was his recommendation that left and right turn lanes be constructed at 180th Lane as welt as part of this project. The motion by the Committee was amended to include this recommendation. City Engineer Jankowski explained on Thursday, February 3, 2005, staff met with a consulting engineer to review the impacts of a number of traffic modifications in the vicinity of TH 47 and 142na Avenue. As a result of that meeting, it was agreed that there may be some merit in considering the expansion of the segment of TH 47 between CSAH 5 and CR 116 to a four lane section to alleviate congestion and accident problems located through this section. The consultant indicated he would contact MnDOT to see how they react to this suggestion. Assistant Public Works Director Olson explained the state is not in support of the expansion of the segment of TH 47 between CR 5 to CR 116, because the downstream capacity in Anoka would just create a bottleneck. He would suggest tonight they concentrate on the issues surrounding this particular intersection of t42nd Avenue and TH 47. He noted most of the' residents that were notified have left the meeting because the gate is not being considered tonight. He suggested the Council act on the following items tonight: · Construction of a northbound bypass lane at 157th Avenue P54 City Council/February 8, 2005 Page 14 of 30