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Environmental Assessment Worksheet Nature's Refuge Conservation Development Lino Lakes, Anoka County, Minnesota Draft Document — September 25, 2006 21. Traffic. Packing spaces added public spaces, 278 private driveways when new homes are built . Existing'' spaces (if project involves expansion) 0 .. Estimated total average daily traffic generated 2,660 vehicles . Estimated maximum peak hour -traffic generated (if known) and time of occurrence 1 one hour between 4:00 PM and 6:00 . Provide an estimate of the impact on traffic congestion on affected roads and describe any traffic improvements necessary. If the project is within the Twin Cities metropolitan area, discuss its impact on the regional system. Page 17 Access to the project site would be off of Main St. (CSAH 14) and Pine St. These two roads differ greatly in their construction, function, and needs. Pine St. is a city street and currently is surfaced with aggregate. Pine St. forms the border between the Cities of Lino Lakes and Columbus (formerly Columbus Twp.). The two municipalities have discussed paving Pine St., though the issue was not resolved. The construction of the Nature's Refuge project would add a small number of vehicle trips to Pine St. Perhaps a more important issue is that Pine St. provides a second access to the new neighborhood. Pine St. should be paved. This will require cooperation between the two cities and will involve financial participation by the developer of Nature's Refuge. The specifics are yet to be worked out. Main St. (CSAH 14) access raises more complex challenges. The functional classification of CSAH 14 is principal arterial. Minimizing the number of access points is an important factor in maintaining mobility and improving safety. Anoka County, in partnership with numerous municipalities and agencies, prepared an access management study for CSAH 14 in 1999, and Lino Lakes adopted it in 2000. The study envisions a four -lane divided road with turn lanes at public intersections. Full access points are to be '/2 mile apart (2640 ft.). Other accesses are to be planned as right Wright out accesses, with a minimum spacing between them of 880 feet (1/6 mile). The County's 2003 development standards also require spacing of mile between full accesses and 'A mile (1320 ft.) between secondary accesses, and the secondary accesses are right in/right out. The access management study designates Wood Duck Trail as a full access as well as CSAH 23 (Lake Drive). The proposed Nature's Refuge access point is approximately 1800 ft. from CSAH 23 and 1600 ft. from Wood Duck Trail. This meets the spacing criterion for a secondary access (right in/out), but not for a full access. In order to the project to utilize Wood Duck Trail for access, it would require the acquisition of right of way through an existing residential property. The developer informed City staff that he contacted those property owners and they were not interested in selling such a right of way. Lino Lakes Elementary School, east of the project site, has two driveways onto CSAH 14. The 1999 access management study labels these driveways "no change" regarding access. These driveways are full access and should remain so in order to allow access for school buses. The developer and the City want a full access to serve the Nature's Refuge project. The City is working with the school on the possibility of combining the western school access with the new street serving the development. That is, the western school driveway would be closed, and a new connection made to the new street leading into the development. This option may offer safety improvements for school buses because they would access the school site from a local road rather than directly from a busy arterial. This concept poses some challenges because, though the school site abuts the Nature's Refuge site, they are separated along CSAH 14 by a small lot of about 0.4 acres with 100 ft. of frontage. The new, combined access must be designed around this existing residential lot. School site circulation for buses and other vehicles will need to be examined to ensure efficient and safe movement. The school day starts at 9:15 am, with bus drop -off between 9:00 and 9:10 am. The school day ends at 3:30 pm, with buses departing at 3:40 pm. The peak hours for vehicle trips are 7:00 to 8:00 am, and 4:30 to 5:30 pm. The traffic study analysis concluded that combining the accesses will not cause congestion problems on the new access road for the school or for other traffic. A traffic study was completed to examine the impacts of the proposed project on the surrounding roadway network. (see Traffic Study Report, Attachment B). The following principal traffic questions are addressed in the report: