02-22-1999 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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SUMMARY OF FEBRUARY 4,1999 COUNCIL WORK SESSION HIGHWAY 12 PRELIMINARY LAYOUT Mayor Jabbour summarized the efforts made in opposition to Senator Dean Johnson's bill to require Highway 12 to be upgraded to a four lane highway from Wayzata to Delano. Along with Mayor Jabbour, Jim Murphy, Mayor Mike Bash, and Senator Gen Olson played important roles in convincing Senator Johnson to table his bill from further consideration. Mayor Jabbour indicated the speed with which the bill appeared should be a wake-up call to the cities that the longer it takes to get to approval of tl x layout, the more opportunity there is for something unforeseen to derail the process. It was indicated that the cities to the west apparently were not aware of the progress being made on upgrading Highway 12 from Wayzata to County Road 6. Mayor Jabbour suggested the City of Orono should be a catalyst to facilitate communication and build support regarding the Highway 12 preliminary layout with the Mn/DOT Metro Division, the Mn/DOT St. Cloud Division, and the Legislature. Mayor Jabbour indicated a key issue in Long Lake's approval of the preliminary layout is the replacement of lost housing units. This issue involves the Fleming Addition property, Holbrook Park, and potentially the property in Orono east of Willow Drive. County Road 6 and Highway 12 Interchange Moorse indicated Denny Eiler of SRF Consulting has been reviewing the design of the County Road 6 and Highway 12 interchange to determine if the design is adequate in terms of future traffic projections. Denny Eiler indicated Mn/DOT is using Year 2015 traffic projections as the basis for the bridge design. Because the bridge is not going to be constructed until 2005, be suggested Mn/DOT should be using Year 2020 traffic projections. Denny compared the Mn/DOT traffic projections to Hennepin County's Year 2020 traffic projections. The County's traffic projections are significantly higher. Denny suggested because of the significant differences in traffic projections, it would be prudent to provide a wider bridge by initially including wider shoulders, which in the future could become additional lanes. It was indicated that the County has an interest in ensuring the bridge is wide enough to meet future needs. If the bridge needs widening in the future to handle traffic on County Road 6, the County would be responsible for the costs of widening the bridge. Because the costs of initially constructing a wider bridge are lower than the costs of widening the bridge in the future, the County may be willing to fund at least a portion of the incremental costs of widening the bridge at this time. Denny Eiler discussed the function of the ramp meter on the entrance ramp to eastbound new Highway 12. Mayor Jabbour suggested if there were two eastbound lanes on new Highway 12, the ramp meters could be eliminated. He also indicated a second westbound lane on new Highway 12 as it approaches the interchange would provide for additional stacking on the loop to westbound County Road 6. Denny Eiler indicated it would be reasonable to add a long acceleration lane at the