Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 08/15/2000 - ITEMS RELATING TO THE PROPOSED ROUNDABOUT AT THE I AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 37 -B FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL DATE: August 15, 2000 STAFF: Eric Bracke SUBJECT: Items Relating to the Proposed Roundabout at the Intersection of State Highway 14 and Lemay Avenue. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution and adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. FIVis stANC�AopimonPt Pffile financial obligations or risk for the City to bear regarding the Intergovernmental Agreement with CDOT are minimal. The IGA states that the City will fund the replacement (estimated at $1.5 million) if the roundabout should fail to operate within certain parameters in the first five years. In years 6-10, the City agrees to share equally with CDOT the replacement of the roundabout if it should fail as is described in the summary below. There are other normal operating costs such as snow removal,signing and striping and landscaping that the City now maintains on the state highway system within the Urban Growth Area. The$1,000,000 in revenue is the Mulberry-Lemay Crossings contribution to the project. The $1,000,000 includes $800,000 in roadway improvements and utility work,and$200,000 as the developer's share of the cost of the pedestrian bridge over the Poudre River, that the developer is responsible for if we were building the traditional four-lane arterial/arterial intersection ipnk EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: A. Resolution 2000-108 Authorizing the Mayor to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation Regarding the Responsibilities for the Proposed Roundabout at the Intersection of State Highway14 and Lemay Avenue. B. First Reading of Ordinance No. 112, 2000, Appropriating Unanticipated Revenue in the Transportation Services Fund State Highway 14 and Lemay Avenue Intersection Project. BACKGROUND: On January 18,2000,the City Council voted unanimously to move ahead with a modern roundabout at the intersection of State Highway 14(SH 14) and Lemay Avenue.The decision was based on the superior performance of the modern roundabout in virtually all aspects of the evaluation criteria. On June 9, 2000, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) gave its approval of the modern roundabout contingent upon entering into an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City regarding the operation and maintenance of the intersection. Stated below is a summary of the terms of the recommended IGA. DATE: August 15, 2000 2 ITEM NUMBER: 37 A-B Section 1: The City has agreed to maintain a contractual relationship with roundabout design expert, Mr.Barry Crown of the United Kingdom,for a three-year period. If any adjustments to the roundabout are necessary such as deflection or striping changes, Mr. Crown will assist the City in making the appropriate adjustments. (It is staff s intention to keep Mr. Crown on a retainer basis regardless of the IGA provision.) Section 2: The financial risk of this IGA is found in this particular section. The City is agreeing to replace the roundabout with a standard four-lane design, signalized intersection if it should fail according to the agreed upon criteria within the first five years of operation. If the roundabout should fail in the 6th through 10th year, the City and CDOT will share equally in the cost of replacing the intersection. The cost of the replacement intersection in today's dollars is estimated at$1.5 million. If for some reason the City has to replace the roundabout, the City would use any source available, including Federal funds, to pay for the project. Section 3: This section of the IGA defines"failure"as it pertains to Section 2. Failure has been defined in terms of accidents and delay time. As for the accident failure, the intersection currently has an accident rate of 1.9 accidents per million vehicles entering the intersection and staff has stated that if the accident rate exceeds 2.0 per million, Barry Crown will be consulted for an evaluation. City staff does not believe that this issue will arise. In all of the research conducted by the staff and the Federal Highway Administration,accidents always decrease by up to 60%with the installation of a roundabout. There is no valid or data driven reason to assume this roundabout will increase the accident rate. The second area of failure deals with time delay and levels of service. The modeling estimates that the roundabout will fall well within the City's Level of Service (LOS) guidelines and out-perform the traditional intersection design. The traditional four-lane intersection is expected to fail at peak periods within a 7-10 year time period,and the roundabout is predicted to operate at LOS B or better during the peak hours throughout the 20-year time period. This far out-performs any intersection that the City has operating today. As CDOT and the City evaluate the actual operation of the roundabout,the LOS analysis must show that a traditional intersection would operate better than the roundabout for failure to occur. Throughout the City's analysis, staff consistently found that congestion and delay were significantly reduced with a roundabout over a signalized intersection. Staff believes that the risk of failure is extremely minimal, especially in the short-term (10 year) time frame. Staff estimates that this roundabout will have between a 20 and 30 year life. Normal design life is calculated at 20 years. Section 4: This particular section is in regards to the 3/4 access on Mulberry at 12th Street (access to Super Market Liquor). The roundabout/intersection design allows for an eastbound left turn into 12th Street. If the left turn becomes problematic, the city has agreed to eliminate this movement. As an informational item, the design of the roundabout also necessitates a minor revision to the recently adopted Mulberry Street(State Highway 14)Access Management Plan. This revision is for the 3/4 access on the south side of Mulberry Street (SH14), which currently exists approximately 500 ' east of Lemay Avenue. The roundabout design requires that this 3/4 access be shifted DATE: August 15, 2000 3 ITEM NUMBER: 37 A-B approximately 200' eastward in order to provide sufficient distance for deceleration lane design requirements. Section 5: This section addresses the maintenance of the roundabout in areas such as signing, striping, landscaping, sweeping, etc. These maintenance costs are minimal and the City already maintains much of the state highway system in Fort Collins under contract with CDOT. The maintenance includes such things as potholes but not any major items such as overlays. Section 6: The City has agreed to develop an Incident Management Plan for the roundabout. This plan will be written in cooperation with CDOT, Poudre Fire Authority, Police Services, Sheriff's Department, and the Colorado State Patrol. If there is an accident in the roundabout, emergency response personnel will have specific guidelines and be in agreement on how to clear the roundabout efficiently. Section 7: An intensive public outreach program has begun that is aimed at keeping people informed of the roundabout progress and how to drive roundabouts safely and effectively. The program also requests that the State Department of Revenue add provisions in the drivers' manual on roundabouts. Sections 8 and 9: These paragraphs protect both the City and the State from violating the TABOR Amendment to the Colorado Constitution that prohibits multi-year fiscal obligations. In summary,roundabouts have been proven in Colorado and across the world to reduce congestion, accidents, and air pollution over standard signalized intersections. The risk that the Fort Collins roundabout at the intersection of Mulberry and Lemay will fail the agreed-upon criteria is less than minimal. One of the best experts in the field has been hired to assist the City in this endeavor, and staff is confident that the project will be a success. Item `B" deals with appropriating revenue from the Mulberry-Lemay Crossings project in the amount of $1,000,000. These are the funds that the developer agreed to pay to the City if this project were being built as a traditional intersection. Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds (CMAQ) and Street Oversizing funds are paying for the remaining portion of the project (total estimated cost is approximately $2,000,000). The remaining part of the project budget was appropriated last fall. �i RESOLUTION 2000-108 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF'FORT COLLINS AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION REGARDING RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE ROUNDABOUT AT THE INTERSECTION OF STATE HIGHWAY 14 AND LEMAY AVENUE WHEREAS, on January 18, 2000, the City Council adopted Resolution 2000-21 directing the staff to move forward with the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of State Highway 14 (Mulberry Street) and Lemay Avenue (hereinafter referred to as the "Intersection"); and WHEREAS, traffic flowing through the Intersection consists of various types and sizes of vehicles, particularly large trucks, and is presently controlled by traditional traffic signals; and WHEREAS, an Intersection Alternative Analysis conducted by internationally respected professional engineers regarding this Intersection confirmed that the existing signals impose frustrating delays for motorists and are sometimes ignored by them; and WHEREAS, the Intersection Alternative Analysis indicated that a multilane modern roundabout would alleviate traffic congestion and enhance safety at the Intersection in lieu of traditional intersection improvements (that would introduce additional auxiliary lanes); and • WHEREAS,notwithstanding the findings of the Intersection Alternative Analysis,the City and the Colorado Department of Transportation ("CDOT") recognize that the establishment of a roundabout to serve a relatively high volume of traffic at the Intersection poses certain risks, including the risk of accidents,the risk of public rejection of the roundabout,and the risk of potential failure to maintain at least a Level of Service "D" (for which the definition is established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) over the 20-year design life of the improvements; and WHEREAS, on June 9, 2000, CDOT gave its approval of the roundabout contingent upon the City and CDOT entering into an intergovernmental agreement regarding the operation and maintenance of the Intersection; and WHEREAS, the City Council has determined that it is in the best interests of the citizens of the City enter into an intergovernmental agreement with CDOT regarding the responsibilities for the roundabout at the Intersection. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that the Mayor be and hereby is authorized to execute an intergovernmental agreement between the City and CDOT regarding responsibilities for the roundabout at the Intersection of State Highway 14 and Lemay Avenue, in substantially the form attached hereto as Exhibit "A," subject to such modifications in form or substance as the City Manager, in consultation with the City Attorney,may deem necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Ordinance or to protect the interests of the City. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held this 15th of August,A. D. 2000. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk EXHIBIT "A" • INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT OOHA4 THIS INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT, made this day of 2000, by and between the State of Colorado for the use and benefit of THE COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, 4201 E. Arkansas Ave., Denver, CO 80222, hereinafter referred to as the State or CDOT, and the CITY OF FORT COLLINS, P. O. Box 580, Ft. Collins, CO, 80522, hereinafter referred to as the "City". WHEREAS, there exists in the City an intersection of State Highway 14, which is also known in the City as Mulberry Street, and Lemay Avenue (hereinafter referred to as the "Intersection"); and WHEREAS, traffic flowing through the Intersection consists of various types and sizes of vehicles, particularly large trucks, and is presently controlled by traditional traffic signals, and; WHEREAS, the Intersection Alternative Analysis discovered that a multilane modern roundabout would alleviate traffic congestion and enhance safety at the Intersection in lieu of traditional intersection improvements (that would introduce additional auxiliary lanes); and WHEREAS, notwithstanding the findings of the Intersection Alternative Analysis, the parties to this agreement recognize that the establishment of a roundabout to serve a relatively high volume of traffic at the Intersection poses certain risks, including the risk of accidents, the risk of public • rejection of the roundabout and the risk of potential failure to maintain at least a Level of Service "D" (for which the definition is established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) over the 20-year design life of the improvements, ; and WHEREAS, The limits of the proposed roundabout shall include all approaches to the roundabout extending to the limits of the new construction as outlined in the plan sheets for the project, including the proposed eastbound left turn lane at 12th Street east of the roundabout into the Mulberry-Lemay Crossings, 12th Street, Filing 1, Lot 1 (herein referred to as the Walmart Project). WHEREAS, CDOT has established a project identifier for the installation of the roundabout at the Intersection known as Project AQC M455-049 (hereinafter referred to as the "Project") and is willing to participate financially in the construction of the project only upon the terms and conditions as are set out in this agreement and through normal Project documentation. NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises of the parties and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and adequacy of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows: 1. The City shall continue its presently existing contractual relationship with its consultant for the roundabout, Mr. Barry Crown of RSL, Inc., for a period of not less than three (3) years following completion of construction of the roundabout, in order to assist the City in making any geometric changes to the roundabout necessary for improving the operation of the Intersection. including the 3/4 access to 12th Street, shall be the responsibility of the City both during said three-year period and thereafter, similar to the City's operation of the present signalized Intersection. 2. In the event that the roundabout fails (as outlined in paragraph 3 below) in terms of its accident rate or its level of service within a period of ten (10) years following completion of construction of the Intersection, the City agrees to share a reasonable portion of the financial responsibility of changing the Intersection into a four-lane signalized intersection with auxiliary turn lanes (as said intersection was approved for the Walmart Project) as follows: a. If the roundabout experiences `operational failure," as described in paragraph 3 below, during the first through fifth year following completion of construction of the roundabout and its acceptance by CDOT, the City will fund one hundred percent (100%) of the design, any additional right-of-way acquisition, utilities relocations and construction of the four-lane replacement intersection that was approved as a part of the Walmart Project. The City shall submit documentation that firmly commits this additional funding for any improvements determined to be necessary due to either the inadequacy or the operational failure of the roundabout. b. If the roundabout experiences operational failure during the sixth through tenth year following the completion of its construction, the City and CDOT shall share equally the cost of design and construction of the four-lane replacement intersection (as described in (a) above), although CDOT's financial commitment shall be subject to limitations and priorities which are periodically updated through the Transportation Commission's "Project Priority Programming Process" or through the U.S. Department of Transportation's planning and programming processes. C. If the roundabout experiences operational failure after the passage of ten (10) years following completion of construction thereof, the City and CDOT shall share in the cost of design and construction of a replacement intersection through normal state and federal transportation planning processes. 3. The roundabout(excluding the 3/4 access to 12th Street) will be evaluated for success over consecutive two-year periods. The first two-year period shall not commence until after the passage of at least one (1) year following completion of construction thereof. "Operational failure" of the roundabout shall mean either (a) that the number and severity of accidents normalized on the basis of traffic exposure of this intersection is not increased above the existing State Highway 14 Corridor accident rate of 2.0 accidents per million vehicles entering the Intersection following construction of the roundabout, averaged over the aforesaid two-year period or (b) that the Intersection operates at a level of service worse than "D" during peak hours, and a delay analysis has been performed that confirms that during peak hours the four-lane signalized intersection as approved for the Walmart Project would not perform as well as the constructed roundabout is performing. The aforementioned delay analysis is to be determined through the most current British Rodel Capacity Model or Highway Capacity Manual-based software as approved by CDOT. Adjustments made by the consultant to improve flow characteristics of the roundabout will continue to be evaluated for success after implementation as a part of the aforesaid two year evaluation periods. CDOT will perform the investigations necessary for evaluations listed above. When either of the above conditions is encountered, the consultant (identified in paragraph 1 above) will be required to recommend changes which will then be implemented by the city in a timely fashion. The two-year period of evaluation shall consist of the year before a physical change is made and the year immediately after the change. If no improvements are noted after the change, the consultant will again be called in to recommend improvements. The cost of such improvements in the first 5 years shall be borne by the City. 4. The 3/4 access to 12th Street will be evaluated for failure separately from the roundabout. Evaluations will begin immediately after construction and shall be made on a yearly basis. The 12th Street access will be considered a failed condition when traffic in the left storage lane routinely backs into the eastbound through-lane, or if weaving adversely impacts eastbound traffic causing an increase in the traffic accident rate. The corrective action for failure of the 12th Street access shall be removal of the left ingress to the access and conversion to a right in/right out only access. Conversion of the access will not be done at CDOT expense and will require utilizing the CDOT access permitting process, by the City and/or others. 5. The City will provide all maintenance related to the roundabout, including signage, delineation, pavement markings, lighting, landscaping, sweeping, cleaning, snow removal and all . other typical, reasonable and routine roadway maintenance functions, but not including normal scheduled overlays. 6. The City shall develop and implement an Incident Management Plan (IMP) for the roundabout and shall annually report the findings thereof to CDOT. The IMP shall be in the general form of the "Interstate 25 Incident Management Plan" dated July, 1996, and shall be submitted to CDOT for acceptance prior to completion of the roundabout construction. 7. The City shall, with reasonable technical assistance from CDOT, formulate and implement an education program regarding the operation of modern roundabouts, and this roundabout in particular. The parties believe that there will initially be a number of "citizen issues" including phone calls and letters regarding the roundabout, and the City agrees that all such contacts made with CDOT shall be forwarded to the City for timely response. 8. All financial obligations of the City arising under this agreement that are payable after the current fiscal year are contingent upon funds for that purpose being annually appropriated, budgeted or otherwise made available by the Ft. Collins City Council. 9. Financial obligations of the State arising under this agreement that are payable after the current fiscal year are contingent upon funds for that purpose being annually appropriated, budgeted or otherwise made available by the State Transportation Commission. • 10. This Agreement shall be construed according to its fair meaning, and as if prepared by all parties hereto, and shall be deemed to be and contain the entire understanding and agreement between the parties hereto to the matters addressed in this Agreement. There shall be deemed to be no other terms, conditions, promises, understandings, statements, representations, expressed or implied, concerning this Agreement unless set forth in writing signed by all the parties hereto. This Agreement shall not be construed as or deemed to be an agreement for the benefit of any third party or parties, and no third party or parties shall have any right of action hereunder for any cause whatsoever. In the event that either party should waive any breach of this agreement, no such waiver shall be held or construed to be a waiver of any subsequent breach hereof. This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and assigns. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this agreement the day and year first above written. STATE OF COLORADO ATTEST: BILL OWENS, GOVERNOR By By Chief Clerk Executive Director DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ATTEST: CITY OF FT. COLLINS, COLORADO By By City Clerk Mayor Approved as to form: By: W. Paul Eckman, Deputy City Attorney ORDINANCE NO. 112, 2000 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS APPROPRIATING UNANTICIPATED REVENUE IN THE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FUND STATE HIGHWAY 14 AND LEMAY AVENUE INTERSECTION PROJECT WHEREAS,the intersection of State Highway 14 and Lemay Avenue has been experiencing both delay and accident problems which are expected to continue with the construction of the Mulberry-Lemay Crossings Project; and WHEREAS,in the fall of 1999,the City applied for and received a grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation ("CDOT") for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality ("CMAQ") funds for the purpose of providing an alternative analysis of intersection improvements and construction of those improvements as determined at State Highway 14 and Lemay Avenue (the "Project"); and WHEREAS, on November 2, 1999, City Council adopted Ordinance No. 152, 1999, appropriating$1,090,000 in CMAQ funds from CDOT and$80,000 from prior year reserves in the Transportation Services Fund, and authorizing the transfer of $205,721 from the City's Street Oversizing Fund to the Transportation Services Fund to be used for the Project; and • WHEREAS,to date,a total of$314,860 has been spent on the Project,evaluating a four-lane and six-lane Mulberry Street cross-section as well as a modern roundabout design, using level of service, air quality, cost benefit, safety, and environmental and social impacts as the evaluation criteria; and WHEREAS, based upon the aforementioned evaluation, staff recommended the modern roundabout design as the best alternative to pursue; and WHEREAS,on January 18,2000,City Council adopted Resolution 2000-21,requesting that CDOT approve the modern roundabout design alternative for the Project; and WHEREAS, on June 9, 2000, CDOT gave its approval of the modern roundabout upon entering into an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City regarding the operation and maintenance of the Project; and WHEREAS, the total cost to construct the Project, including the amount already spent for analysis and determination of the appropriate intersection improvements,is estimated at$2,375,721; and WHEREAS,the balance of the funds needed,totaling$1,000,000,will be contributed by the Developer of the Mulberry-Lemay Crossings Project, representing the amount of contribution required by the developer for improvements to the Lemay Avenue and Mulberry Street (Highway • 14) intersection; and WHEREAS,Article V, Section 9,of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins permits the City Council to make supplemental appropriations by ordinance at any time during the fiscal year, provided that the total amount of such supplemental appropriations,in combination with all previous appropriations for that fiscal year,does not exceed the then current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues to be received during the fiscal year. WHEREAS,it is the desire of the Council to appropriate from unanticipated revenue in the Transportation Services Fund State Highway 14 and Lemay Avenue Intersection project, the sum of$1,000,000 in the form of a contribution from the Developer of the Mulberry-Lemay Crossings Project, contingent upon the adoption of Resolution 2000-108, authorizing the City enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement with CDOT regarding the responsibilities for the roundabout at the intersection of State Highway 14 and Lemay Avenue. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that there is hereby appropriated for expenditure from unanticipated revenue in the Transportation Services Fund State Highway 14 and Lemay Avenue Intersection project, the sum of ONE MILLION DOLLARS ($1,000,000), upon receipt from the Developer of the Mulberry- Lemay Crossings Project to be used to construct improvements associated with the roundabout for the State Highway 14 and Lemay Avenue Intersection project. Introduced and considered favorably on first reading and ordered published this 15th day of August, A.D. 2000, and to be presented for final passage on the 5th day of September, A.D. 2000. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading this 5th day of September, A.D. 2000. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk