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LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 5-21-85 Page 2 the times you would expect children to be there and a legal speed zone only when children are there. l Estimated cost for one flasher is $5,000. Assuming you put flashers in both directions the estimated total cost is $8,000. Half would be equipment that Mn/DOT could supply and the other half is city construction costs. The ongoing cost would not be expensive, but power costs would be $200 a year. The state will participate in the cost if a warrant is met. In case of flashers there are four different warrants that have to be met. One of which is a school crossing warrant. Basically, the warrant is meT if there are 500 vehicles an hour on the highway at the normal time of the crossing. The flasher warrant is met in this case. Based on that, Mn/DOT would be willing to participate in some cost split with the city for the flasher. If Mn/DOT has the equipment on stock, they might agree to supply the equipment and have the city have an electrical contractor do the installation. The ongoing costs and maintenance would be the responsibility of the city. This would not be completed until school convenes in the fall. The flasher would have a time clock built into it so it would only be flashing during the times when the children are expected to be using the crossing. Mn/DOT would like the city or the school district to have control of the time clock. The question was asked by Mike Mazzara if school districts ever participated in the cost and Robinson was not aware that they had, but thought the city could pursue this. Mn/DOT's position is that the most important control measure at that crossing is an adult crossing guard. Primarily, this would provide the safest crossing for the children.. Nancy Prince brought up that her concern was not for the authorized school crossing times at 8:15 and 2:30 when there was school staff available, but what happens when children want to cross at times when there is no school staff there. Nancy requested that someone stay for a longer period of time, but the school doesn't feel it's necessary. Flashing Beacon - If the city wants to pay for it, there could be a flashing beacon above intersection of West Junction County 17. It would be flashing yellow for Highway 5 and red for County 17. It would be flashing continuiously and the power cost would be $100 a year. The beacon has proved to have not much of an affect on accidents. Accident data provided by Mr. Robinson indicated that the last Junction (by Lake Elmo Ave.) averages 3 accidents a year which averages out to 1 accident per million vehicles that use this intersection. The west junction (by the school) averages 4 accidents per year, which averages out to 1.4 accidents per million vehicles. Mn/DOT sees no pattern with the accidents that do occur. In 1981 a traffic volume study indicated that the technical warrant for a traffic control signal was met at the last junction of county L road 17 and CSAH5, but it was Mn/DOT'S opinion at the time that the traffic control signals were justified. The cost for the signal itself