06-01-2020 Council Work Session Packet

Home Search

Jane Rose, Anoka County CSAH 34 (Birch St) Pedestrian Crossing Review and Analysis May 18, 2020 Page 2 • Crosswalk markings and signs should be installed at all uncontrolled crossings along approved school crossings or crossings included in a Safe Routes to School plan. Additional crossing enhancements should be considered at school crossing locations by analyzing the crossing. • Crosswalk markings should generally not be installed at channelized right turn movements. Some channelized right turn movements may benefit from treatments such as signing and other enhancements and should always include appropriate geometrics to control speed, such as tight radii and appropriate crosswalk placement, while serving the typical vehicle within the corridor. The review and analysis of each crossing will follow the evaluation methodology outlined on the flowchart and tables from the MnDOT Traffic Engineering Manual, June 2015, shown in Appendix B. The following sections outline the review of each proposed crossing. Corridor / Roundabout Design The proposed CSAH 34 (Birch Street) corridor plan includes the realignment of the existing West School Entrance driveway to line up with the existing Tomahawk Trail intersection with a roundabout, reducing the existing East School Entrance driveway to a right-in/right-out with side street stop control and a new roundabout at the West Shadow Lake Road in tersection replacing the existing side street stop control. Existing marked pedestrian crossings of CSAH 34 (Birch Street) at currently located at the signalized intersection at Ware Road and the west approach at the West School Entrance driveway, including school crossing signing at the crossing. The current plan includes There are four (4) proposed at grade crossing of CSAH 34 (Birch Street) and one existing grade separated crossing. The at grade crossings would be located on each approach at the Scho ol Entrance/Tomahawk Trail roundabout and the West Shadow Lake Drive roundabout. The existing grade separated crossings will remain in place and is located approximately 450ft west of West Shadow Lake Drive and east of Rice Lake Elementary School. It has been documented that roundabouts can improve pedestrian safety if designed correctly. There are four main reasons pedestrian crossings at roundabouts are safer than traditional intersections: 1. Reduction of conflict points - The number of vehicles to pedestrian conflicts are reduced from 16 to 8. 2. Crossing one direction of traffic at a time - At a roundabout, a pedestrian is only required to cross one lane at a time and can wait at the pedestrian refuge before finalizing the crossing across the other lane. 3. Shorter crossing distance – At a roundabout a pedestrian is only crossing one direction and typically one lane vs multiple lanes which limits the amount of time that they can interact with a vehicle. 4. Driver multi-stage recognition - At roundabouts, the pedestrian crossing is pulled back from the yield line, where a driver is able to focus on the pedestrian crossing movement before trying to find a gap in traffic. The benefits of pedestrian crossings at roundabouts versus standard intersections is based on information obtained from NCHRP 672: Roundabouts an Information Guide, 2nd Edition and experience designing and implementing roundabout.