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<br /> <br /> <br />A great place to live, work and play…today and tomorrow <br /> <br /> Government Center | 14949 62nd Street North | P. O. Box 6 | Stillwater, MN 55082-0006 <br /> P: 651-430-6001 | F: 651-430-6017 | TTY: 651-430-6246 <br />www.co.washington.mn.us <br /> <br />Washington County is an equal opportunity organization and employer <br /> <br />to walk, and encouraging walking promotes health and reduces vehicular traffic demands. <br />Washington County expects that non-motorized access to the school will be prioritized by the <br />development team and available to students at the day of opening. This will reinforce the public <br />nature of the amenities proposed for this site. <br /> <br />Given the continued and rapid progress on the project plans we felt it was important to reiterate the <br />following comments: <br />While the placement of schools along highways enables convenient vehicle access, these locations also <br />present safety issues for vehicles and pedestrians that defy easy or effective solutions. Given the ongoing <br />prevalence of student drop-offs, school sites often generate significant inbound queues that sometimes <br />extend onto highway shoulders, into turn lanes, and sometimes even obstructing highway through lanes, <br />with safety repercussions. Providing adequate internal stacking can consume significant amounts of <br />space but is necessary to prevent congestion from extending onto highways. Experience with school <br />speed limits and/or flashing lights suggests that they have very limited effectiveness in slowing traffic <br />down and can cause a large variability of speed, which is itself a safety concern. Even costly solutions <br />such as traffic signals are often seen as a barrier for pedestrians due to the high vehicle volumes and <br />less-than-perfect behavior by drivers. <br />Safe access to the site for students and others who wish to arrive by walking or biking from existing <br />nearby neighborhoods, both to provide safe walking routes and safe crossing points of the county <br />highways remains a priority for Washington County Public Works. The school district must consider and <br />plan for pedestrian infrastructure within walking distance of the school, notwithstanding any current <br />policies related to bus transportation. The pedestrian routes should connect with nearby neighborhoods, <br />both existing and planned, and should provide reasonably direct access into the school site itself. A <br />preliminary assessment suggests that upwards of four miles of new trail would be needed to connect <br />existing neighborhoods to the school site. Washington County does not have any available funding for <br />these necessary trail linkages in our 5-year Capital Improvement Plan. <br />The Washington County 2040 Comprehensive Plan contains access criteria for county roads related to <br />spacing, sight lines, and availability of local road connections. School sites typically generate significant <br />traffic volume and queuing; therefore, the County appreciates the School District’s work to complete a <br />traffic study to better understand the anticipated traffic operations at the proposed access locations and <br />affected nearby intersections. Washington County access spacing guidelines for minor arterial roads <br />(both County Highway 17 and County Highway 10) is ¼ of a mile (1,320 feet). Partial reductions in this <br />spacing may sometimes be considered in favor of other safety aspects, such as optimizing sight distance <br />or maximizing spacing from other existing intersections.