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Home My WebLink About13.B.1. Apgar St. and Scott St. Railroad Safety Improvements / 3 . J3'/J CITY OF SHAKOPEE Memorandum TO: Mayor & City Council Mark McNeill, City Administrator FROM: Bruce Loney, Public Works Director SUBJECT: Approval to Proceed with Apgar Street and Scott Street Railroad Safety Improvements DATE: November 17,2009 INTRODUCTION: Attached is a letter from Jim Weatherhead, MnlDOT Project Manager, for the Scott Street and Apgar Street railroad warning system improvements and on the costs for the project. Per this letter, Mr. Weatherhead is asking the City to confer and respond with a determination on if the City wishes to proceed or not with this project. BACKGROUND: In 2004, the City did form a Railroad Safety Committee made up of Councilor Matt Lehman and Terry Joos with the City Administrator, Mark McNeill, Public Works Director, Bruce Loney along with MnJDOT and Union Pacific representatives. As part of this committee, the recommendations were to apply for railroad safety improvements, primarily warning signals at all existing crossings. The committee did recommend to relook at Apgar Street for possible closure, due to its difficulty of signalizing, and also the number of track crossings associated with that street. In December, 2008, City Council authorized WSB & Associates to prepare a traffic study to analyze the potential closing of Apgar Street and how traffic could be mitigated with this closure. Attached to this memorandum is the WSB & Associates study with its recommendation. City staff, Mn/DOT staff and Union Pacific representatives has looked at the possible closure of Apgar Street for the past eleven months. In order for the railroad to agree, all three crossings must be closed and essentially would prevent property in between the main line tracks and the siding tracks from entering onto Apgar Street. The railroad has never agreed to anything less than that and has never agreed to making any payments to the City to mitigate any possible closure as stated in the letter from Jim Weatherhead of MnJDOT who has finally received project costs for the project to proceed. The question for City Council is whether to proceed with the project and to proceed with signals and gates at Scott Street and Apgar Street or Scott Street only or no-build option. The costs are summarized by Mr. Weatherhead of MnJDOT and the City's share for both signal improvements at Apgar Street and Scott Street would be approximately $70,000.00. Mn/DOT is asking for confirmation from the City on whether to proceed or not, and to what degree, in order that a formal agreement and resolution can be prepared for the City to enter into. Also attached to this memo is a CIP sheet for the railroad signalization at Apgar Street and Scott Street, in which the City has budgeted $100,000.00 from the Capital Improvement Fund for 2010. AL TERNA TIVES: 1. Approve a motion requesting Mn/DOT to proceed with the railroad warning system installation for Scott Street and Apgar Street. 2. Approve a motion requesting MnJDOT to proceed with active railroad warning system installation at Scott Street only. 3. Approve a motion requesting Mn/DOT not to proceed with any active railroad warning system installation for Scott Street and Apgar Street 4. Table for additional information. RECOMMENDATION: The Railroad Safety Committee has tentatively met, and the general consensus is to proceed with the railroad safety improvements, noting that the City's share is approximately $70,000.00 as currently estimated. ACTION REQUESTED: Approve a motion requesting Mn/DOT to proceed with the active railroad warning system installation for Scott Street and Apgar Street. ~L€t1 Public W 0 Director ENGR/2009-PROJECTS/2009-COUNCIL/APGAR-SCOTT-RAILROAD-CROSSING Memo Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations Railroad Administration Section Office Tel: 651/366-3671 Mail Stop 470 Fax: 651/366-3720 395 John Ireland Blvd. S1. Paul, Minnesota 55155-1899 October 27,2009 To: Bruce Loney, Director of Public Works City of Shakopee, MN From: Jim Weatherhead, Mn/DOT Project Manager Subject: Scott Street and Apgar Street City of Shakopee - Section 130 funded active RR warning system installations Mn/Dot has received the fmal estimates to install active RR warning systems at the above referenced locations in the City of Shakopee. The city is now asked to confer and pass resolution to pay the cities share of 10% for the installation of the active warning systems. The total cost for installation of signal systems at both Scott St and Apgar St is estimated to be $699,626. The cities options are outlined below: 1. No Build Option - City formally requests that project be dropped - City cost $0 2. Install signals at Scott St & Apgar St. - City Share $ 69,962.60 3. Install signals at Scott St Only - City Share $ 61,349.80 Efforts where made to negotiate a closure of the Apgar St. crossing, however Union Pacific Railway and the City of Shakopee were unable to reach an agreement on the scope and nature of the proposed closure. We now ask that the city confer and respond with a determination as to how the city would like to proceed. Once we receive the cities decision I will prepare an agreement and forward to the city for formal resolution. cc: Julie Carr, Mn/dot Program Manager file An equal opportunity employer A WSB Infrastructure _ Engineering _ Planning _ Construction 701 Xenia Avenue South & A.~$odales. Inc. Suite #300 Minneapolis, MN 55416 Tel: 763541-4800 Fax.: 763541-1700 Memorandum To: Bruce Loney, PE Public Works Director City of Shakopee, MN From: Chuck Rickart, PE, PTOE WSB & Associates, Inc. Date: July 14, 2009 Re: Apgar Street Railroad Crossing Study Shakopee, MN WSB Project No. 1381-26 Historv / Backeround Railroad crossing safety has always been a priority to the City of Shakopee. In 2004 the City formed a Rail Safety Committee (RSC) that recommended short and long term improvements for the downtown area. Currently, there are numerous public streets and private crossings of the Union Pacific Railroad in the downtown Shakopee area. One of the RSC identified recommendations was the potential closing of the Apgar Street crossing on the west end of downtown. The City, together with Mn/DOT, secured funding to study the potential impacts closing this crossing would have on vehicle and truck circulation in the downtown area. The purpose of this memorandum is to summarize the findings of the Apgar Street railroad crossing closing. Traffic Volume / Diversion Existing Traffic Volumes - Existing daily and hourly traffic counts were conducted for the City of Shakopee in the area surrounding Apgar Street in January and February 2009. These counts were conducted at: ACEC 2008 Firm of the Year K:\01381-26\AdminIDocs\MEMO bloney 071 409.doc Bruce Loney - Memorandum City of Shakopee May 26, 2009 Page 2 of3 1. Apgar Street - 1037 ADT 2. Scott Street - 678 ADT 3. Atwood Street - 1324 ADT 4. Fuller Street - 849 ADT 5. Holmes Street - 1800 ADT In addition, the City's State Aid street system counts were also used to document the existing background traffic. Figure 1 illustrates the existing ADT and peak hour traffic volumes. Currently, the Rahr Malting. facility located north of 2nd Avenue, west of Apgar Street has approximately 30 to 45 trucks exiting an entering the facility. Some of these trucks currently use the Apgar Street crossing to 18t Avenue. Traffic Diversion - In order to determine impacts of closing the Apgar Street crossing, the City's 2008 Transportation Plan Model was used. The existing link at Apgar Street was removed from the system to determine the redistribution of traffic and impacts on the adjacent street systems. Based on this analysis, it was determined that approximately 40 percent of the traffic currently on Apgar Street would use Scott Street, 30 percent would use Atwood Street, 25 percent would use Fuller Street, and approximately 5 percent would use Holmes Street. The resulting traffic diversion ADT and peak hour traffic volumes are shown on Figure 2. Impact Analvsis Based on the anticipated traffic diversion from Apgar Street to other adjacent streets, the resulting traffic volumes are well within acceptable levels of traffic for typical, two-lane local streets. The Cities Transportation Plan indicates that street with a volume of up to 9,000 ADT will function as local two-lane streets. K:\01381-26IAdmin\DocsIMEMO bloney 071409.doc Bruce Loney - Memorandum City of Shakopee May 26, 2009 Page 3 of3 The local business access north of the railroad tracks on Apgar Street will be maintained from 1 st Avenue through the construction of a cul-de-sac. With the closing of Apgar Street, the Rahr Malting truck movements will be diverted to 2nd A venue then to Scott Street or further east to cross the railroad tracks to get to 1st A venue. The section of 2nd Avenue from Pierce Street to Scott Street is currently a 24-foot wide roadway with parking on both sides of the roadway. Conclusion / Recommendation Based on the existing traffic volumes and the potential diverted traffic as the result of the possible closing of Apgar Street, it can be concluded that the additional traffic that may be diverted from Apgar Street will have little or no operational impact on the adjacent street system. Based on this conclusion, the following recommendations are made: 1. Maintain local access to business on Apgar Street north of the railroad tracks with the construction of a cul-de-sac from 1 st Avenue. 2. Divert as much local traffic from Rahr Malting to the existing crossings and access points west of Pierce Street to 1 st A venue and 2nd A venue, as possible. Coordinate with Rahr Malting on site circulation to accomplish the internal traffic diversion. 3. Post and enforce a no-parking zone on the north side of 2nd A venue from Pierce Street to Scott Street. K\01381-26\Admin\Docs\MEMO bloney 071409. doc ~ SHAKOPEE ... WSB ( xxx) . ADT APGAR STREET - RR CROSSING STUDY - ,,"A$;lOlWfS;"rc. xx - AM PEAK EXISTING TRAFFIC (XXX) - PM PEAK Figure 1 ~ SHAKOPEE A % - DIVERTED FROM APGAR STREET APGAR STREET - RR CROSSING STUDY WSB ( xxx) - ADT AFTER DIVERSION TRAFFIC DIVERSION - d:tluocSaIiJ,TIIC. xx - AM PEAK AFTER DIVERSION (XXX) - PM PEAK AFTER DIVERSION Figure 2 City of Shako pee Capital Improvement Program 2010-2014 Project Manager: Project Type: Project Title: Total Project Cost: Bruce Loney Street Construction Railroad Signalization $700,000 A. Ex enditure Items: 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Land & ROW Construction 600,000 Improvements En ineerin IAdmin. 100,000 Total 700,000 - - - - B. Fundin Source: General Fund Capital Improvement Fund 100,000 Park Reserve Fund Grants (specify) Donations (specify) 600,000 (MN/DOT) State Aid Assessments Sanitary Sewer Fund-Base Sanitary Sewer Fund-Trunk Storm Drainage Fund-Base Storm Drainage Fund-Trunk Tax Lev Total 700,000 - - - - I Descriotion: ~ At grade railroad crossings at ScoIl Street and Apgar Street will need crossing signal due to traffic volumes at these intersections. Justification: Traffic volumes of vehicles crossing, increased number of trains and possible increased speed of trains warrant the signal installation. Other Comments: Funding from the State of Minnesota is programmed for these intersections. City cost is for 10% of signal cost and roadway realigned to place signals. Ooeratina Costs: PROJECT LOCATION