08-11-11 Planning Comm. Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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SEH MEMORANDUM TO: Robert Rimstad - Metro Transit FROM: Michael P. McCurdy, PE DATE: May 10, 2011 RE: Rice Street /CR B Park- and -Ride Additional Traffic Analysis SEH No. MCTOO 116535 SE]-] has completed follow -up traffic analysis for Metro Transit to initial park- and -ride analysis performed in October 2010, which was summarized in the "Rice Street /CR 13 Park -and -Ride Traffic Analysis" memo dated November 1, 2010. Initial analysis of the proposed 270 space park - and -ride lot in the NE corner of the Rice Street /County Road (CR) 13 intersection assumed that the Cub Foods access across from the proposed park - and -ride access would be right -in, right -out, and was not evaluated as part of the analysis. The Cub Foods driveway will have full access, and additional analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of a full access Cub Foods driveway across from the park- and -ride access. ]n addition, the CR B westbound left -turn lane length needed at Rice Street and CR 13 eastbound left turn lane length needed at the proposed park -and- ride /Cub Foods access intersection were re- evaluated as part of this analysis. Al the time of this analysis, construction of the Rice St/TH 36 Interchange was on- going, and it was determined by Ramsey County that Cub Foods volumes may be lower than typical conditions due to construction. Therefore. the 8°i Edition Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation Manual was used to estimate the number of vehicle trips generated by the Cub Foods development. The Cub Foods building has approximately 70,000 square feet of gross floor area. Using the ITE Trip Generation Manual rates for a supermarket like Cub Foods, it was estimated that the development generates at a rate of 3.59 trips per 1,000 square feet of gross area during the AM peak hour of adjacent traffic and 10.50 trips per 1,000 square feet of gross area during the PM peal< hour of adjacent traffic. It was estimated that Cub Foods generates 252 total trips (154 entering, 98 exiting) during the AM peak hour and 735 total trips (375 entering, 360 exiting) during the PM peak hour. The trips were then distributed through the five Cub Foods accesses using directional distributions based off of observations of entering and exiting vehicles during the PM peak hour at all five of the accesses. It was assumed that approximately 50% of trips enter from the two Rice Street accesses and 50% of trips enter from the three CR 13 accesses. It was assumed that approximately 20% of exiting trips would use the two Rice Street accesses and 80% of the exiting trips would use the three CR 13 accesses. More vehicles will exit the development via CR 13 because the north Rice Street access is right -in, right -out, and a left turn out of the south Rice Street access is more difficult for a driver during the peak hours than a left turn onto CR 13 during the peak hours. It was assumed that vehicles would distribute in a similar percentage in the AM peak hour. Based off the PM peak observations al the Cub Foods access across from the proposed park- and -ride access, it was assumed that there are 30 northbound lefts, 2] northbound rights, 15 eastbound rights, and 15 westbound lefts entering and exiting the access during the AM peak hour. During the PM peak hour, it was assumed that there are 112 northbound lefts, 76 northbound rights, 38 eastbound rights, and 38 westbound lefts entering and exiting the Cub Foods access. Traffic analysis was performed using SimTraffic computer modeling software. Forecast year 2033 AM and PM Synchro /SimTraffic traffic models developed for the October 2010 park- and -ride analysis were used for this analysis. The models were modified to include the Cub Foods full access across from the proposed park -and -ride Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc., 3535 Vadnais Center Drive, St. Paul, MN 55110 -5196 SEH is an equal opportunity employer 1 www.sehinc.com 1 651.490.2000 1 800.325.2055 1 651.490.2150 lax