11-13-1995 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Keith Dahl October 11, 1995 Page 2 In general, roadways are typically classified as either local, collector or arterial (major, intermediate and minor) facilities. These classifications are defined below. -Local roadways have virtually unrestricted access to adjacent properties. However, they also have limited mobility or ability to move through tral'tic. -Collector roadways, while providing acce.ss to abutting land parcels, also enable moderate quantities of traffic to move between local streets and arterial roadways. -Arterial roadways provide limited access opportunities to adjacent land parcels, mostly only to major cro.ss-streeis or traffic generators. Arterial roadways are designed for the efficient movement ot through trallic. The September 13, 1995, letter from Bonestroo, Rosene, Anderlik and A.ssociates to the City of Orono indicated that "The City should discourage an increa.se in the number of accesses to an arterial roadway such as County Road 51 " and that the request for vacation should he denied. We hi arterial roadways should be limited. However, our investic ions indicate that CSAH 51 is not an arterial roadway. Di.scu.ssions with the Hennepin County Highway Department indicate that CSAH 51 is currendy classified as a "collector" type roadway. Therefore, the propo.sed 250 foot access spacing appears appropriate and adequate, especially when compared to the existing 150 foot to 3(K) foot residential access spacing along the remainder of CSAH^51. Sieht Distance of Proposed Access Drive A second traffic-related issue that should he considered is the sight distance of the proposed acce.ss drive. The typical rule of thumb for traffic engineers for adequate intersection sight distance is ten .seconds. Ba,sed on the existing po.sted speed of 40 mph along this .segment of C.SAH 51. ten .seconds of sight distance would equate to 5S8 feet. Therefore, if a driver stopped at the estimated stopbar of the access can .see an approaching vehicle for at least ten .seconds or 588 teet in each direction, the sight distance at the access would be considered adequate. Field observations conducted at the propo.sed acce.ss loeation by BRW, Inc., in October of 1995 indicated that, at a standard driver eye height of 3.5 feet, the sight distances to the east and west along CSAH 51 ranged from 12 to 16 seconds in both directions. Therefore, the intersection sight distance from the proposed access location is adequate.