05-26-2004 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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515 Little Canada Road, Little Canada, MN 55117 -1600 (651) 766 -4029 / FAX: (651) 766 -4048 www.ci.little-canada,mn.us MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Fahey & Members of the City Council FROM: Joel Hanson, City Administrator DATE: May 21,2004 RE: 694/Rice Street Bridge Reconstruction Design Considerations MAYOR Michael 1. Fahey COUNCIL Jim LaValle Matt Anderson Rick Montour Bill Blesener ADMINISTRATOR Joel R. Hanson Mr. Jim Tolaas, Project Engineer for Ramsey County Public Works, will be present at Wednesday's meeting to talk about the reconstruction of the Rice Street Bridge over Interstate 694. Specifically, he wants to review a design option that re- routes Vadnais Boulevard over 694 to Country Drive east of Rice Street. This helps eliminate a troublesome leg at the 694/Rice Street interchange. However, it poses some other challenges that must be considered. Here is some brief background information Mr. Tolaas asked me to provide to you relative to this matter: Ramsey County and the Minnesota Department of Transportation continue to study interchange alternatives for I -694 and Rice Street. Heavy mainline and arterial traffic, coupled with land use goals and local access considerations provide a challenging context for designing a new interchange. Previous traffic modeling suggested a traditional diamond would not provide acceptable service levels. A "parclo" design was ultimately suggested and did provide significant service improvements — albeit at significant Land and construction costs. In revisiting a full array of options, one particular variation seems to offer interesting benefits to interchange function -- realign Vadnais Boulevard to cross I -694 easterly of the interchange area. This would carry through traffic along what is now Twin Lakes Blvd, crossing 1 -694 diagonally to join up with Country Drive to intersect Rice Street opposite North Owasso Blvd. The benefits are tied to elimination of the fifth leg in the north ramp terminal intersection — dramatically reducing signal delays created by left hand turns to southbound Rice Street. The benefits appear to apply to either a diamond or parclo interchange design, although further modeling is necessary to fully understand the impact to the North Owasso intersection and its proximity to south ramp terminal. While Ramsey County and MnDOT continue to study the Vadnais realignment option, it is important to field input from Little Canada and neighboring communities. Traffic - 1 -