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To: Jennifer Wiltgen <br />Minnesota Department of Transportation <br />From: Paul Morris, PE, SRF Consulting Group, Inc. <br />Haifeng Xiao, PE, PTOE, HFTE Inc. <br />Date: June 8, 2021 <br />Subject: Northwest Metro Mississippi River Crossing Feasibility Analysis: <br />Origin -Destination Analysis Technical Memorandum <br />Introduction <br />There are currently three crossings over the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities Northwest Metro <br />area. These crossings include Trunk Highway (TH) 101, US Highway (US) 169, and TH 610. There <br />have been multiple studies completed to investigate the need for additional capacity along and across <br />the Mississippi River in this area. An exclusive Mississippi River Crossing Study was completed in <br />2002. Since then, the traffic on the three river crossings and adjacent highways has increased <br />significantly due to continued land use development in the region. <br />As shown in Table 1 below, the overall traffic volumes crossing the river have increased by 22% from <br />2002 to 2016 while the TH 610 crossing has increased by 31%, followed by the TH 101 crossing (18%) <br />and then the US 169/TH 47 crossing (12%). The travel patterns have changed as well due to the land <br />uses development and transportation improvements on TH 10, TH 101, US 169, and TH 610 in the <br />region. <br />Table 1: Existing Traf c Volume Growth <br />River Crossing <br />2002 AADT <br />Current AADT <br />TH 101 <br />44,100 <br />52,000 (2014, 18% increase) <br />US 169/TH 47 <br />42,500 <br />47,500 (2016, 12% increase) <br />TH 610 <br />78,000 <br />102,000 (2015, 31% increase) <br />Total <br />164,600 <br />201,500 (22% increase) <br />Based on the latest 2040 comprehensive plans, growth is anticipated to continue throughout the <br />region. Therefore, discussions have recently revisited the need for a fourth river crossing in the region. <br />Origin -Destination (OD) analysis is one of the major tasks for the river crossing feasibility analysis. <br />The primary purpose of the OD analysis is to investigate the existing traffic conditions on the major <br />highways, as well as the traffic characteristics of the trips using the river crossings and identify <br />