01-03-2022 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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MoUNns VIEW MEMORANDUM to: Mounds View City Council from: Nyle Zikmund, City Administrator re: Traffic Control Devices, Speeding, and Roadway Management date: January 3, 2022 Opening Commentary: Upon Googling the term speeding, the search engine retrieved 1,860,000,000 related items in .6 seconds. Entering Stop Signs resulted in 3,910,000,000 for a combined total of just under 6 billion items. Appendix A provides a brief summary of each of them! A modicum of levity is needed as we discuss an issue that brings emotion, potential for danger, injury, and even death; as well as infringement felt by some — on the American love affair with the Automobile and desire to operate it bounded only by their sense of safety. Background: Speeding and Traffic generate more resident complaints/concerns than all other issues combined, including property taxes. This is likely true across the region, state, and nation as evidenced by the nearly 6 billion google hits. Nearer to home, the Minnesota Legislature — starting out with a bill to pilot lower urban street limits enacted legislation allowing any governmental unit to reduce street speed limits to 20 and 25 mph from the historical level of 30 in the 2020 session. To date, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Rochester have adopted the lower standards. Edina, Golden Valley, and St. Louis Park all explored the change earlier this year (February) with St. Louis Park being the only one which moved forward and just completing the changeover of signage on December 7, 2021. It should also be noted that in the case of all neighboring states, local street speed limits are 25 At home, the Mounds View Council approved Public Works Traffic Control Policy is 2018, allowing residents to petition for a Traffic Control Device; primarily for the purpose of addressing speeding. Residents submit an application after which engineering determines if warrants are met. If not, Applicants are required to obtain 75% of residents support from that intersection after which Council will determine if a control device is warranted. Since policy inception, we have had 7 applications, of which 100% did not meet engineering standards (see checklist in the packet) and no subsequent petition from the applicant was received.