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City Council Agenda Packet 09-22-2008 SpecialAGENDA SPECIAL MEETING - MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL Monday, September 22, 2008 5 p.m. Call to Order 2. Workshop on Transportation Plan. Adjourn Council Agenda: 9/22/08 Transportation Workshop. (BW) A. REFERENCE AND BACKGROUND: The Transportation Workshop will include presentations and discussions on the following topics: 1. River Street Access Closure - On July 24, 2008 the City, in cooperation with Mn/DOT, closed access to River Street at TH 25. This was done as a pilot project to determine what effects this would have on traffic on TH 25 and surrounding streets. Before closing this access the City gathered traffic data on TH 25 and the surrounding streets, and since the closure we have gathered additional information so that a before and after comparison could be run. This information will be presented to the Council in greater detail during the workshop. Perhaps the most significant statistic to note is that the closure of River Street resulted in an 80 - 85% drop in the volume of traffic on both East and West River Streets. Following the closure, staff also solicited and gathered comments from residents and others via the City's web site. This information will also be presented to the Council in more detail during the workshop. In summary, the majority of residents along east and west River Streets support the closure, while several business owners in the areas have commented that they are not in support of this closure because they are losing business due to decreased exposure and client accessibility. Should the Council wish to consider closing this access permanently, staff would recommend that a Public Hearing be held first to capture all public comment before ordering the necessary improvements. These improvements would include the necessary roadway modifications to allow City maintenance vehicles to turn around at the ends of River Street, as well as removal of the signal system. Alternatively, Council could decide to consider completing some type of partial closure project. Staff will therefore present the Council with some options for alternate closures at the workshop as well. Another item that Council should be made aware of is that based on past conversations between staff and the Wright County Engineer, the County may require access modifications along CSAH 75, more specifically at Walnut Street, should we limit or close access at River Street. Such a requirement would be detrimental to traffic flow on Walnut Street and eliminate the potential for a connection to West Bridge Park via Walnut. Council Agenda: 9/22/08 Following the closure of River Street, staff was also directed to revise the signing and striping on CSAH 75 to convert the westbound right lane from a thru-right into aright-turn only lane to reduce vehicle queuing on WB CSAH 75. Staff subsequently sent a letter to Wright County asking them to allow these revisions be made, but the County responded with a request of their own for additional information, which we are in the process of completing. Should the Council still desire this lane conversion to occur, staff will complete this information and submit it to the Wright County Highway Department. In addition, we will request that the County share in the costs of this work since it will benefit them too. 2. TH 25 Improvements - A presentation describing the options being explored to relieve congestion on TH 25 will also be presented to the Council during the workshop. This includes improvements aimed at addressing congestion over the short-term, which includes the addition of turn lanes and retiming the existing signal systems. Potential long-term improvements will also be presented, which would include the construction of reliever routes requiring one or more additional river crossings. This includes a one-way pair roadway option. While some of these potential improvements for TH 25 have been presented to the Council at prior meetings, the River Street access closure pilot project may drive discussion in new directions so staff would like to touch on these designs again, albeit more briefly. 3. Transportation Plan Updates - Major elements of the updated Transportation Plan will be presented to the Council during this workshop, which includes pedestrian and bicycle facilities, as well as mass transit. The presentation will include some discussion on potential interchange and river crossing locations. It will also include discussion on a potential North Frontage Road that would connect 95~' Street to East Broadway utilizing the old CSAH 75 off-ramp alignment north of westbound Interstate 94. The updated Transportation Plan will of course incorporate updated traffic projections using the updated land use plan adopted with the new Comprehensive Plan. B. SUPPORTING DATA: Supporting data will be presented at the workshop.