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TH 61 Visioning and Jurisdictional Transfer Study | Washington County 5Approach and Methodology properly classified and then document the criteria to be met for a proper jurisdictional transfer. Parks, Open Space, and Trails The City of Hugo adopted a trail and sidewalk plan with the last update in 2010. Since then significant investments have been made to provide local connections along and adjacent to the project area to link to the Hardwood Creek Regional Trail, a Tier 2 Regional Bicycle Transportation Network (RBTN) alignment and central feature of the local system through the city. It is also the main conduit linking the local trail system with the larger regional park, Glacial Hills Regional Trail corridor, and trail systems in Washington, Ramsey, Anoka, and Chisago Counties. Highway 61 is a major barrier for pedestrians and bicyclists. We will review the existing and planned trail and sidewalk facilities and connections to guide concept development criteria that prioritizes east-west “low stress” connections across Highway 61. Transit The transit system through the study area will likely expand over the next 20 years to meet the demands from the City of Hugo and surrounding growing communities. We will review city and county comprehensive plans, which currently designate the study area as sufficiently served by dial-a-ride (Transit Link) services with low-density. This challenges any current or near-term idea for fixed routes. The study area is also outside the current Metro Mobility service area. We will lead focused outreach to transit providers to discuss the expected evolution along the corridor and the effect the Purple Line BRT Project may have following implementation and on long-term desires for a connector bus service with additional feeder bus routes between White Bear Lake and Forest Lake. Conversations need to consider any impacts from recent opposition of the proposed route from White Bear Lake. Environmental and Cultural Constraints The information received from the agencies will be incorporated into an environmental screening supplemented with research conducted by our team. This screening will be performed to identify sensitive areas by considering all NEPA social, economic, and environmental categories. This corridor study does not include completing an environmental document; however, the study will be completed so findings can be incorporated into future NEPA documents. Key criteria that will feed into the concept development process will come from the multimodal analysis completed in this task. Data Collection and Corridor Use This task begins with collecting data related to existing issues, trends, and usage based on the different modes of travel and crash history. Our team will gather turning movement count data at key intersections along the corridor that will form the backbone of the traffic analysis. Care will be taken to develop a data collection plan to secure data during “normal” periods. The team will work with project partners to adjust as needed based on external factors. We will also gather historical crash data from MnCMAT. We plan on using StreetLight InSight to understand corridor use at a higher level. The tool will allow our team to ask and answer the following questions, which will be important to understanding what the vision of the corridor could and should be: »Who is using TH 61? Based on trip lengths and OD patterns »How are people using TH 61 and how would that change with changes in access? Based on OD patterns »How do TH 61 and I-35E/I-35 work together as a system? Based on OD patterns, speeds, and usage of both roadways during different periods of the day and year on average »How reliable is travel on TH 61? Based on speed data »How are pedestrians and bicyclists using TH 61 and is there latent demand? Based on trip lengths and usage data from StreetLight/Strava/collected intersection count data Check out the example from the Rice Street Visioning Study. Safety Analysis Our approach to analyzing crash data is GIS based, which allows us to run analysis across the entire network of intersections efficiently and display helpful visualizations. Our analysis will include five years of crash data, within which we will identify crash trends and problem locations where mitigation measures should be analyzed to influence the overall corridor vision. Mapped data will allow our team to create compelling visuals both for project partner and public stakeholder consumption. Multimodal Analysis Preparing a vision for a corridor such as this will require a comprehensive multimodal view from an analysis perspective. Vehicle traffic will be analyzed through use of Synchro/SimTraffic based on the collected data and forecast volume information in peak periods. Analysis will be completed for existing, 2030, and 2040 periods which will allow us to better define timing of improvements and more specifically understand lane geometry needs for potential roundabout treatments. Measures of effectiveness will include delay, queuing, level of service, and corridor/segment travel times. Pedestrian and bicycle demand data will factor into the analysis both through Synchro/SimTraffic as well as in understanding TRANSPORTATION MODE DATA COLLECTION4 CLICKHERE CLICKHERE