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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/14/2003 E � • Traffic Safety Advisory Corrunittee City of Apple Valley May 14, 2003 7:00 p.m. Municipal Center Minutes 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to arder at 7:03 p.m.by Chair polan. Members Present: Craig Anglin, Dick Asleson, Linda Dolan,Harald Eriksen, Charles Grawe,Neal Heuer,Arthur Zimmerman Consultants Present: Stephanie Jackson,Glen Van Wormer Others Present: 2. A�proval of A enda Ms.Dolan requested the addition of an Update on the Citizen's Police Academy. Mr. Anglin requested the addition of the Teen Safe Driving Effort. MOTION: Mr. Eriksen moved, second by Mr. Zimmerman,to approve the agenda as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 3. A�pr�val of March 12, 2003 Minutes MOTION: Mr. Zimmerman moved, second by Mr. Eriksen,to approve the minutes of March 12,2003. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Audience Items There were no audience items. 5. Traffic Concerns Communicated to the Citv A) Police NIr. Anglin said he had no specific concerns to report. B) Public Works Mr. Heuer distributed the complaints received since the previous meeting. He provided a brief explanation of each complaint and action. 1 • • Mr. Van Wormer pr.ovided an update on the 153rd Street corridor study. He created a proposed revision to the layout of the Post Office parking and mail drop off lanes. The proposed revisions have been sent to the appropriate decision-makers within the United States Post Office. Mr.Heuer said the permissive green for left-hand turns at the intersection of Galaxie Avenue and 140th Street will be eliminated. C) Other Concerns Communicated to the City Mr. Heuer said the I-494 improvement project will have an impact on Apple Valley. The contract for gravel for the project has been awarded to an Apple Valley firm. The State requires that the work on the project be done between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. The gravel trucks will need to haul during these same hours. Approximately 50 trucks will be hauling from the gravel pit to Johnny Cake Ridge Road, along County Road 42, and up Cedar Avenue. The trucicing companies have been asked to avoid noise-generating activities and to stay in the right-hand lane when possible. Mr. Heuer said that MNDOT hopes to begin the improvement project on the Crosstown Commons in 2004 ar 2005. 6. Review Stop Si�n Located at Denmark Avenue and 128th Street Mr.Heuer said the issue was brought to the City's attention due to frequent violations of the stop sign. The City did a traffic study at the intersection and found the busiest approach averages 31 vehicles per day. Mr. Heuer said the placement of the stop sign does not meet the warrants required for a stop sign. He said the placement is not consistent with other stop sign placement because it stops the southbound through traffic on Denmark Ave,while providing the right of way to northbound through traffic on Denmark Ave and eastbound traffic on 128th Street. Mr.Heuer said this configuration would probably have resulted in traffic accidents were it not for the very low traffic volumes. Mr. Heuer recommended removing the existing sign and adding a new sign on 128th Street to info�n traffic that the cross traffic on Denmark Ave does not stop. MOTION: Mr.Asleson moved, second by Mr. Grawe, to recommend that the City remove the existing stop sign from Denmark Ave. Mr.Heuer said he was not sure if 128th Street would meet the warrants for a stop sign. Mr. Van Wormer recommended adding a diamond-shape sign reading"Traffic Control Change Ahead"on 128th Street prior to the intersection and adding a sign reading"Cross Traffic Does Not Stop"on 128th Street at the intersection. He also recommended addirig flags to the"Cross Traffic Does Not Stop" sign. He recommended removing the flags and"Traffic Control Change Ahead" sign after about six months. Mr.Asleson amended his motion to include adding a diamond-shape sign reading "Traffic Control Change Ahead"on 128th Street prior to the intersection for six months and adding a sign reading"Cross Traffic Does Not Stop"with temporary flags on 128th Street at the intersection. Mr. Grawe agreed to the amendment. � � � Motion passed unanimously as amended. 7. Update on Speed Studies being Conducted bv Public Works Mr.Heuer said the Public Warks Department has initiated a new effort for speed studies. Traffic counters can be used to gauge speed,but they are subject to electronic ghosting and errors that report false data on occasion. These errors can be confusing to residents. Public Works is now using a method used by MNDOT for some manual speed checks. Mr.Heuer presented the speed check form. Public Works employees use a spare Police radar gun in older unmarked Public Works vehicles. The employees record the number of vehicles traveling at different speeds during a specific period of time. Mr. Heuer indicated the program has been quite successful. 8. Traffic Safety Educational Efforts a) Monthly Newspaper Article � Copies of the articles in the April and May newspaper issues were distributed with the agenda packet for Committee members' review. Mr. Van Wormer requested ideas for future articles. Suggestions for future articles included an interview with the School District Transportation Coordinator and an introduction to the SET program. b) Car Seat Clinic Mr.Anglin said a car seat clinic would be held on June 7th at the Northwest Federal Credit Union building from 9:OQ a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Mr. Zimmerman and Ms. Dolan volunteered to work at the event. c) Youth Representative Mr.Anglin said after discussions with the Parks and Recreation Director, the Committee might want to consider an alternative to an actual youth board member to vote on the Committee. Ae noted that the right student could be a very positive addition. However,given that many students are very busy in the later years of high school, and given that there would be a considerable learning curve for Committee issues, full-time Committee involvement might not be attractive to many students. Ms.Dolan suggested an alternative would be to invite students to provide input at select meetings. Mr.Van Wormer suggested that the student councils could solicit ideas from the entire student population. Mr.Asleson suggested that Committee members could present the idea to the student councils in the fall. He said he would contact the Apple Valley High School Principal about the concept. d) Update on Citizen's Police Academy , � � Ms.Dolan said she and Mr. Van Wormer gave a presentation on the Committee to about 20 participants in the academy. Many people seemed very interested in the Committee and asked good questions. She suggested adding pictures of areas studied by the Committee and the implemented solutions to the PowerPoint presentation. e) Teen Safe Driving Effort Mr. Anglin said he has been invited to be part of an advisory committee for the Dakota County Technical College(DCTC). DCTC operates a drivers training course. DCTC is exploring developing a Teen Driver Safety course. He will be - meeting with the Committee on May 29th and requested input for course curriculum. � Some suggestions included seat belt usage,driver attentiveness, evasive turn exercises, studies of teen traffic fatalities, impaired driving exercises, slippery road condition exercises, defensive driving techniques, and basic vehicle safety maintenance. 9. Adjourn MOTION: Mr. Anglin moved, second by Mr. Zimmerman,to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:28 p.m.