10-24-2007 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Members of Little Canada City Council 2 September 26, 2007 indicated that the limitation is for emergency vehicle access as well as to limit the amount of traffic at the newly created intersection." From my 38 years of traffic engineering experience, I agree with the comments expressed by the City Planner. Safety problems with excessively long cul -de -sacs also are expressed in the following two traffic engineering resource documents: • "Neighborhood Street Design Guidelines," Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2003, page 32. "As the number of people exclusively served by a given roadway increases, the potential hazard or inconvenience of a temporary roadway blockage also increases. Blockages can result from numerous causes, such as a vehicular accident, utility break, fallen tree or pole and pavement repairs. While such occurrences are unusual, they must still be regarded in teiius of their effect on access by emergency police, fire, or ambulance equipment." • "Residential Streets, Third Edition," Urban Land Institute, National Association of Home Builders, American Society of Civil Engineers, and Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2001, page 36. "The longer dead -end streets get, the more isolated and difficult to reach because the properties along them are accessible only from one direction. Lengthy dead -end streets begin to assume the function of higher -order streets (local or residential collector streets) that provide access to more than a few properties." EXTENT OF ASSURANCES THAT THE NON - CONFORMING CUL -DE -SAC LENGTH WILL BE RESOLVED THROUGH COMPLETION OF ONE OR MORE OF THE CONCEPTUAL ROADWAY EXTENSIONS INCLUDED IN THE RICHIE PLACE PLANS One sketch included with the Richie Place plans shows a 140 foot northerly extension of the proposed cul -de -sac, in conjunction with adding four additional lots to the development. If this concept were implemented by itself, issues with the current proposed cul -de -sac only would be worsened due to: I) a greater variance from the maximum 500 foot length in City Code and 2) increased traffic volumes due to the four additional homes served by the cul -de -sac. Three concepts were included with the Richie Place plans that would connect the proposed cut- de-sac with another street, eliminating the issue of the l,050 cul -de -sac length. Those three concepts and comments regarding the extent to which the City could be assured the concept would be implemented are as follows: a) Extension of proposed cul -de -sac west to Arcade Street. This roadway option was addressed in a letter from the City Engineer, Lee Elfering, to Joel Hanson dated March 1, 2004. In the third paragraph of his letter, Mr. Elfering recommends that such a roadway connection not be pursued. Reasons that he expresses for this conclusion include a 40 foot elevation difference between the rear of the homes along