Fiscal Note
No Funds Required.
Title
Approving roadway geometry for the Mineral Point Road (Commerce Drive to S. High Point Road) & S. High Point Road (Mineral Point Road to north Greenway Drainage Property) (District 1)
Body
The Mineral Point Road project consists of reconstructing the concrete pavement and base course from the eastern Beltline Ramps to S. High Point Road. The project will include spot replacements of the existing curb and gutter and sidewalk. Improvements include safety enhancements at Tree Lane/Big Sky Drive and S. High Point Road intersections. There will be a large box culvert installation on Mineral Point Road from Commerce Drive to S. High Point Road and S. High Point Road to the north Greenway Drainage Property. A portion of the culvert will be installed by mico-tunneling and a portion installed by open trench. The pavement will be replaced on Mineral Point Road from Commerce Drive to the eastern Beltline Ramps and on S. High Point Road from Mineral Point Road to the north Greenway Drainage Property within the trench installation area. This is in the Pheasant Branch Watershed and the design of the box system will contribute to address flooding on the westside of the Beltline by Taco Bell/Target area. Portions of the existing street lighting system will be removed and replaced with new street lighting. The shared-use path along the north side of Mineral Point Road will remain as well as the BRT station on the east side of the S. High Point Intersection. The existing lane configuration inbound and outbound along Mineral Point Road and southbound S. High Point Road will remain. The northbound approach to S. High Point Road will change slightly from existing to include a dedicated left turn lane (match existing) as well as a shared left/thru/right lane (new configuration), and a bike lane (match existing).
The City retained Mead and Hunt for design services for the project. Two public informational meetings were held to present design and obtain public input, one for businesses and one for residents.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the roadway geometry for Mineral Point Road (Commerce Drive to S. High Point Road) & S. High Point Road (Mineral Point Road to north Greenway Drainage Property) is hereby approved and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that City Engineering and City Traffic Engineering are hereby authorized to proceed with final design for the project.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that City Engineering and City Traffic Engineering review and possibly include the following recommendations in the final design based upon feedback received from the Transportation Commission.
1. Adding bike ramp and potentially widening the existing sidewalk along eastbound Mineral Point Road between the US 12/18 Beltline westbound exit ramp terminal and Big Sky Drive so bicycles have the option to exit the ending bike lane and proceed on a separate facility or merge with the outside lane and share the space.
a. The design team will add a bike ramp and will review to widening the sidewalk to this block of Mineral Point Road.
2. Potentially adjusting the bike lane width along eastbound Mineral Point Road between Commerce Drive and the end of the bike lane before Big Sky Drive.
a. The design team is currently reviewing this. The portion of Mineral Point Road under US 12/18 Beltline is under Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) jurisdiction and requires approval from WisDOT. The design team has initiated WisDOT coordination.
3. Design the proposed curb ramp in the southwest corner of Mineral Point Road and Big Sky Drive as Standard Type 2 rather than the current design as a Blended Transition Type 2.
a. The design team proposes to leave the curb ramp as a blended transition type 2 because with a standard type 2 design, the stop bar would be pulled over 6-ft. beyond the existing location. With the stop bar pulled beyond the existing location there is going to be vehicles pulling across the crosswalk for visibility to look left for a right turn. The design team prefers the current design for simplicity and functionality.
4. The Kwik Trip driveway on S. High Pt Road (south of Mineral Pt Road) has a history of crashes due southbound S. High Pt Road traffic turning into the Kwik Trip. The crashes occur when southbound traffic turns into Kwik Trip crosses the northbound lanes during times of congestion. Due to a heavy northbound left turn volume compared to northbound thru and northbound right volume, the lane utilization is unbalanced and heavily favors the left most lane. This creates a dual threat situation as southbound left turning drivers are waved on from drivers in the left lane or find gaps in the queue, but do not see drivers approaching in the right lane at higher speeds. Painting all the northbound lanes across the length of the driveway with ‘do not block’ messaging will help keep opposing drivers separated and provides maneuvering space when needed. The dual left turn lane configuration will also help balance the lane utilization to avoid situations where we experience one lane with long queueing and one with little queueing.
a. Adding a raised median to prevent vehicles from turning left into Kwik Trip from the southbound lane would negatively impact the business due to interrupting delivery of gas to the station.