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A-4 Update on Lake Drive and Dakota Avenue Traffic StudyCITY OF CHANNASSEN 7700 Market Boulevard PC Box 147 Chanhassen, MN 55317 Administration Phone: 952.227.1100 Fax: 952.227.1110 Building Inspections Phone: 952.227.1180 Fax: 952.227.1190 Engineering Phone: 952.227.1160 Fax: 952.227.1170 Finance Phone: 952.2271140 Fax: 952.227.1110 Park & Recreation Phone: 952.227.1120 Fax: 952.227.1110 Recreation Center 2310 Coulter Boulevard Phone: 952.227.1400 Fax: 952.227.1404 Planning & Natural Resources Phone: 952.227.1130 Fax: 952.227.1110 Public Works 7901 Park Place Phone: 952.227.1300 Fax: 952.227.1310 Senior Center Phone: 952.227.1125 Fax: 952.2271110 Web Site www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us 14-4 lac• IM N Dili u•J TO: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager U FROM: Paul Oehme, Director of Public Works /City Engineer DATE: June 23, 2014 G SUBJ: Traffic Study at Dakota Avenue and Lake Drive BACKGROUND City staff has completed a traffic study at the intersection of Dakota Avenue and Lake Drive East. The Sinclair gas station site was approved by the City Council for redevelopment into a strip mall at this intersection. When the nearby residents were notified of the redevelopment, the City received comments concerning the operations and safety concerns at the intersection of Dakota Avenue and Lake Drive East. Engineering staff investigated the intersection for safety and operation to see if modifications to the intersection are warranted. Staff will give a brief overview of the study and discuss with Council if any future action is warranted. Attachment: Traffic Study Analysis g:\eng \trafric counts\2014 \dakota n of lake dr\bkgd ws 062314 traffic study dakota lake.doe Chanhassen is a Community for Life - Providing for Today and Planning for Tomorrow CITY OF BACKGROUND Fax: 952.227.1190 MEMORANDUM The property at 7910 Dakota Avenue, formerly a Sinclair gas station, was approved CHONSEN by City Council to be redeveloped into a strip mall earlier this June. When the nearby Phone: 952.227.1160 residents were notified of the development, the City received comments concerning TO: Paul Oehme, Director Public Works /City Engineer 7700 Market Boulevard investigated the intersection for safety and operation to see if modification of the Finance PO Box 147 FROM: Stephanie Bartels, Project Engineer V�*V Chanhassen, MN 55317 CRASH HISTORY DATE: June 6, 2014 Administration Staff obtained crash history at this intersection from the Minnesota Department of Fax: 952.227.1110 Phone: 952.227.1100 SUBJ: Traffic Analysis of Intersection at Dakota Avenue and Lake Drive East Fax: 952.227.1110 possible injury accidents reported. Phone: 952.227.1400 Building Inspections Phone: 952.227.1180 BACKGROUND Fax: 952.227.1190 The property at 7910 Dakota Avenue, formerly a Sinclair gas station, was approved Engineering by City Council to be redeveloped into a strip mall earlier this June. When the nearby Phone: 952.227.1160 residents were notified of the development, the City received comments concerning Fax: 952.227.1170 the intersection at Dakota Ave and Lake Drive East. The engineering staff investigated the intersection for safety and operation to see if modification of the Finance Phone: 952.227.1140 intersection is warranted. Fax: 952.227.1110 CRASH HISTORY Park & Recreation Phone: 952.227.1120 Staff obtained crash history at this intersection from the Minnesota Department of Fax: 952.227.1110 Transportation (MnDOT), which keeps records of collision data throughout the state. Recreation Center In the past five years, there have been one property damage accident and three 2310 Coulter Boulevard possible injury accidents reported. Phone: 952.227.1400 Fax: 952.227.1404 Upon further investigation of the four crashes, two were caused by a driver reportedly chemically impaired. The remaining two were caused by distracted driving and Planning & Natural Resources involved drivers under the age of 18 years old. Phone: 952.227.1130 Fax: 952.227.1110 The crash data reported at this intersection does not indicate a safety problem. Public Works TRAFFIC DATA COLLECTION 7901 Park Place Phone: 952.227.1300 Fax: 952.227.1310 Staff set out speed counters on Dakota Avenue north of the intersection with Lake Drive East from May 13th through 16tH Senior Center Phone: 952.227.1125 The drivers coming south off of State Highway 5, had a mean 85th percentile speed of Fax: 952.227.1110 23.8 miles per hour. The 85h percentile speed is the speed the 85% of the traffic Web site observed was traveling under. This speed is well below the posted 30 mph speed www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us limit and doesn't warrant any changes. The drivers going northbound to enter onto State Highway 5 had a mean 85th percentile speed was 26.5 miles per hour. However there were some outliers in this g:\eng \traffic counts\2014 \dakota n of lake dr \140606_traffic analysis dakota ave & lake drive.doc Chanhassen is a Community for Life - Providing for Todayand Planning for Tomorrow data. 0.1 % of drivers were observed going 40 miles per hour or faster. Consistent high speeds were not observed on Dakota Avenue during our data collection. Police enforcement may be an effective tool for dealing with the few speeders. One May 140' and 150', 2014, staff collected traffic data at the Dakota Avenue and Lake Drive East intersection. See the table below for the mean number of vehicles observed during the peak hour. The major traffic movements are westbound Lake Drive E to northbound Dakota Avenue with a peak flow rate of 168 vehicles per hour and southbound Dakota Avenue to eastbound Lake Drive E with a peak flow rate of 120 vehicles per hour. See figure below: The traffic coming from Dakota Avenue south of the intersection is very low in comparison. This intersection functions at acceptable levels because of this. The small amount of traffic Dakota Avenue, allows nearly free right turns from westbound Lake Drive East. Truck count data was collected on May 150i during the PM rush hour. This data shows that truck traffic accounts for approximately 1.5% of the traffic at this intersection. The future traffic at this intersection could be impacted by a nearby warehouse facility at 19011 Lake Drive East. The approximately 157,000 square -foot building, which used to house SUPERVALU distribution, is currently vacant. If the site is leased again for a warehouse use, the percentage of gAeng\traffic coants\2014 \dakota n of lake dr \I40606_traffic analysis dakota ave & lake drive.doe Northbound Dakota Avenue Southbound Dakota Avenue Eastbound Lake Drive East Westbound Lake Drive East AM PEAK 59 232 122 152 PM PEAK 41 192 119 205 The major traffic movements are westbound Lake Drive E to northbound Dakota Avenue with a peak flow rate of 168 vehicles per hour and southbound Dakota Avenue to eastbound Lake Drive E with a peak flow rate of 120 vehicles per hour. See figure below: The traffic coming from Dakota Avenue south of the intersection is very low in comparison. This intersection functions at acceptable levels because of this. The small amount of traffic Dakota Avenue, allows nearly free right turns from westbound Lake Drive East. Truck count data was collected on May 150i during the PM rush hour. This data shows that truck traffic accounts for approximately 1.5% of the traffic at this intersection. The future traffic at this intersection could be impacted by a nearby warehouse facility at 19011 Lake Drive East. The approximately 157,000 square -foot building, which used to house SUPERVALU distribution, is currently vacant. If the site is leased again for a warehouse use, the percentage of gAeng\traffic coants\2014 \dakota n of lake dr \I40606_traffic analysis dakota ave & lake drive.doe traffic through this intersection would increase an estimated 10% during PM Peak Time, per the ITE Trip Generation, 6t' Ed. The percentage of truck traffic would increase as well. This increase in traffic would not likely warrant a stop sign or signal light at this intersection, nonetheless, any traffic impacts will be dependent on what type of future use or development occurs at this location. SIGNAL & 4 -WAY STOP ANALYSIS A multi -way stop sign warrant analysis was completed for the Dakota Avenue /Lake Drive intersection per the Minnesota Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices The results of the analyses are: • Criteria A — Interim measure until traffic signal is installed: The forecast traffic volumes will not meet the criteria for installing a traffic signal, therefore this criteria is not met. • Criteria B — Five or more reported crashes in a 12 month period that could be corrected by all way stop sign installation: From 2007 through 2012 there have been four total crashes therefore this criteria is not met. It should be noted, per MnDOT's Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook, that intersections controlled have all way stop sign control or side street stop sign control have crash rates twice as high as intersections controlled with side street stop sign control. • Criteria C — 300 vehicles per hour on the major street approaches and 200 vehicles per hour on the minor street approaches for each of at least eight hours per day plus minor street delay of at least 30 seconds per vehicle in the peak hour: Based on the data collected the volume criteria is not met plus the minor street peak hour delay is forecast to be 22 seconds per vehicle. This forecast was built in Vissim Traffic modeling software which was completed by a consultant. • Criteria D —80% of Criteria B and C are met: This criteria is not met due to the low number of crashes. Since a 4 -way stop sign warrant is not meet a signal warrant would also not be met. A 4 -way stop would also need to be approved by MnDOT. The Dakota Avenue & Lake Drive East intersection is approximately 290 feet from Dakota Avenue's intersection with State Highway 5. A 4 -way stop could cause traffic to back up to the Highway 5 intersection at peak hours of operation and interfere with intersection operations. It is unlikely MnDOT would approve a 4 -way stop installation at this intersection. Staff does not recommend a 4 -way stop at this intersection. 3 -WAY STOP ANALYSIS An additional stop sign installed on the southern approach of Dakota Avenue was also examined. It would be unlikely to improve traffic or safety at this intersection due to the relatively small amount of traffic that enters the intersection from this approach. During Peak Hour, less than 10% of vehicles entering the intersection come from the south approach. Adding a stop condition to the northbound approach also is not a recognized intersection configuration by the State of Minnesota. Staff does not recommend a 3 -way stop at this intersection. g9eng \traffic counts\2014 \dakola n of lake dr \140606_traffic analysis dakota aye & lake drive.doc Alternative to stop signs or signals, the engineering department has sketched some designs for the intersection that may improve operations and pedestrian movements. Staff examined the geometry of extending the median to provide greater pedestrian comfort and safety, installing a full -size or mini roundabout. Roundabouts have been used successfully to improve traffic flow, intersection operation and pedestrian movements. However roundabouts, like signals and stop signs, need to meet certain traffic warrant to be installed. Also impacts to the area need to be reviewed to determine the benefit of the improvement. Concept 1: Full -Sized Roundabout A full sized roundabout allows truck traffic to easily navigate the curves, while calming traffic as it goes through the intersection. Roundabout design is beneficial where there are a high number of left turns as is the case at this intersection. This concept is not recommended because of the amount of right -of -way acquisition that would be required. It would also limit or remove access for several properties near the intersection. Concept 2: Mini - Roundabout Mini - roundabout design has many of the benefits of the full- roundabout design. It provides traffic calming to vehicles entering the intersection. It can be beneficial where you have a lot of left - turns. The smaller radius (45 feet) would also reduce the amount of right -of -way needed to construct. McDonald's would likely be limited to one access and the driveway of the property on the southeast corner may have to be adjusted. The small roundabout radius makes the turning move more of a challenge for trucks and large vehicles. The center island is designed to be surmountable, so that trucks can drive over it for left turns. Truck may also make a full circle around in order to turn right at tight corners, like the southbound Dakota Avenue to westbound Lake Drive E. The location in the City's street network would also allow truck drivers to bypass this intersection if necessary. g:\eng \traffic comts\2014\dakota n of lake dr,140606_traffic analysis dakota ave & lake drive.doc Concept 3: Extended Median The extended median design keeps the traffic functions similar to the existing condition. However, in response to resident concerns about pedestrian safety, the extended median would provide a pedestrian refuge. The pedestrian refuge will permit pedestrians to cross one direction of traffic at a time, allowing them to focus on one or two lanes rather than having to anticipate traffic for the entire width of the road. If this improvement is constructed, a pedestrian will have to cross no more than two lanes of traffic (24 feet) of pavement at a time. This improvement is predicated on the Sinclair Station redeveloping since left turns on Dakota Avenue would be eliminated from the gas station if the median is extended. Adding painted crosswalks to the east or west approaches of the intersection is not recommended at this time because there is no sidewalk or trail south of the intersection to carry pedestrians. For a painted crosswalk to be considered, a sidewalk or trail would need to be installed on the south side of Dakota Avenue or Lake Drive East. Conclusions The speed and crash data show that the intersection does not meet stop sign or signal warrants. Therefore, a major reconstruction of how traffic operates at this intersection functions is not warranted at this time. The residents have expressed concern about pedestrian safety at the intersection. To improve pedestrian mobility, engineering staff recommends extending the existing median on Dakota Avenue down to the intersection with Lake Drive East as shown in Concept 3. The median would include a pedestrian refuge for pedestrians traveling through this intersection. This improvement is predicated on the Sinclair Station redeveloping. Adding painted crosswalks to the east or west approaches of the intersection would require sidewalk or a trail to be constructed. City staff will be discussion the traffic study with the City Council and see if they think improvements are necessary. Staff plans to meet with the Dakota Avenue neighborhood on the traffic finds soon. gAeng \traffic counts\2014 \dakota n of lake dr\140606_tmftic analysis dakota ave & lake drive.doc