04/22/1996 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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COUNCIL MEETING APRIL 22, 1996 Mr. Mitchell, consulting engineer with OSM, said that the street issue is the "hottest issue" of this project. He noted some of the priorities that were outlined by City staff, the School District and OSM. The highest priority was safety for both the school bus traffic and pedestrian traffic. Other priorities were the cost of the project, neighborhood impact, maintenance of a State Aid designation on Elm Street on which the City receives State Aid funds from MnDOT each year, and on-site traffic flow for the school site itself. Using the overhead projector, Mr. Mitchell explained several options for street access to the middle school as follows: Option A This option calls for a new signalized intersection north of the Wyatt Excavating building on sake Drive. From the intersection of Lake Drive/Elm Street the new street would continue west to Fourth Avenue and then south to the present Elm Street near Cinnamon Teal Court. There would be three accesses to the middle school off of the re -aligned Elm Street. The accesses would all be stopped before entering Elm Street and Elm Street would be a through traffic street. The estimated cost of this option is $200,000.00. Option B Option B is identical to Option A except that a one-way lane would be added for east bound Elm Street to go to south bound Lake Drive/Highway 49. The entrances to the school would be similar to Option A. The estimated cost of this option is $200,000.00. Option C Option C is the same as Option B except that Elm Street would be left open to Lake Drive. There would still be the connection to the new street from Elm Street that would provide for a new intersection next to the Wyatt Excavating building. Option C is at this time considered a non-viable option because it does not include a signal light and is the most expensive option that has been considered. The estimated cost of this option is $775,000.00. Option D Option D is similar to Option C in that it provides for two intersections with Lake Drive. The difference is that the new road would end in a cul-de-sac at the south end of the school property. All school traffic would use the new road and existing Elm Street would be left as it is presently. No signal would be warranted under this option and would provide undesirable traffic flow from the neighborhood to the middle school. Option E Option E is probably the least expensive option. This option would call for a signal at the Elm Street/Lake Drive intersection. There are concerns with this option including the PAGE 10