2017.04.17 CC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Adelaide Landing Residential Development Traffic Impact Analysis MITIGATION PLAN 1/31/2017 The definition of the word "mitigation" is "the action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something." The purpose of the traffic impact analysis is to identify traffic operations and performance along roadway systems and immediate area impacts associated with a proposed development. In the Twin Cities metro area, that means bringing the roadway and intersection operations to LOS-D or better. In this case, background and development traffic changes from 2022 No -Build to 2022 Build conditions may not require significant changes to bring levels of service conditions to LOS-D or better. Therefore, the Mitigation Plan does not include recommendations that may merely improve conditions from LOS-B to LOS-A, or LOS-C to LOS-B. These would be "improvements" to a system that would be already operating acceptably. If the agency is recommending "improvements" to the system, the oneness should not be solely the responsibility of the development, as the facility may be operating acceptably even after the development is in place. Further, if there are safety issues that are discovered, it is the intent of the mitigation plan to identify those issues and to recommend strategies and measures to increase safety. The failing levels of service recorded during the peak hours are primarily due to the lack of available capacity along TH 61 and the use of the existing MnDOT signal timings, rather than the traffic generated by the Adelaide Landing development. The two-lane roadway facility along TH 61, while adequate in the near term (i.e., through 2022), is not adequate to handle projected traffic volumes in the long term (i.e., by year 2040 and beyond). To test this, Westwood modeled the performance of the 2040 study area when TH 61 is widened to four lanes (two lanes in each direction) and keeping the existing turn bay lengths. Levels of service improve markedly, with each intersection operating at LOS-D or better (see Table 11). It is noted, however, that the unsignalized intersections of 134t" and 1371" Streets at TH 61 still record unacceptable levels of service for the westbound left turns. This is due to the heavy peak hour traffic along TH 61 that would allow marginal gaps in the traffic stream. Nevertheless, the overall intersection operations of TH 61 at 1301" Street and at 140t" Street show acceptable levels of service in 2040 under a four -lane scenario and with existing MnDOT signal timings. These levels so service can be improved further by updating and optimizing the signal timings to keep up with the increased traffic demand along TH 61. The trip generation of the development itself is dispersed among six access points into and out of the site. Therefore, traffic impact is dissipated throughout these access points and 39 Westwood