HomeMy WebLinkAboutRUDOLPH FARMS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT - FDP220010 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 5 - VARIANCE REQUEST
NORTHERNENGINEERING.COM | 970.221.4158 VARIANCE REQUEST: RUDOLPH FARM
FORT COLLINS | GREELEY 1 | 2
VARIANCE REQUEST
February 15, 2023
City of Fort Collins
Development Review
281 N College Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80524
RE: RUDOLPH FARM PROJECT
STREETS VARIANCE REQUEST - MINIMUM VERTICAL CURVE K-VALUE
NORTHERN PROJECT #1896-001
City staff:
Northern Engineering would like to present this variance request for the Rudolph Farm project. General
information about the project is presented below, and detailed information about the nature of this request
follows.
General Information
The project site is located at the northeast corner of Prospect Road and I-25 in Fort Collins. The site
currently is used for agriculture, and this project is slated to develop multi-use “super-pad” sites which will
include, commercial, retail, and residential developments. The entire project site consists of approximately
115 acres.
Prospect Road
Part of the project includes widening Prospect Road at the south frontage of the property. In order to
connect to the existing improvements that were installed with the recently completed bridge across I-25,
two vertical curves must be used. In order to meet all other LCUASS requirements, the centerline vertical
curve (sag) immediately east of the I-25 connection is currently designed with a K-value of 84.0 – 12.5%
lower than the LCUASS requirement of 96 for a sag curve in an arterial street. The K-value in the north
flowline is 88.87. Since the connection point to the far west has already been constructed, and to be able to
achieve LCUASS design standards east of this sag (along the frontage of the project site), including ensuring
the adjacent sag curve does meet LCUASS standards, we cannot extend the vertical curve in question any
further to increase its K-value.
We would like to request an alternative to the LCUASS minimum K-value requirement for vertical curves
(sags) – 84.0 – at the location described in Prospect Road, in order to achieve optimized design (and meet
other LCUASS requirements) through the rest of the Prospect Road design. Please see the Prospect Road
profiles shown on Sheet R1 in the accompanying drawing set for additional details and information
regarding this design point.
In terms of existing capital and maintenance requirements, the proposed design alternative does not add
any “downstream” affects to other LCUASS requirements (in fact, it allows us to meet all other LCUASS
requirements in the rest of the design of the roadway). Maintenance costs or requirements are not expected
to be adversely affected – the design concept of a sag vertical curve remains the same as standard LCUASS
design, and the degree to which the requested design is different than the standard requirement will be
nearly impossible to distinguish by the end user after construction.
No detriment to public health, safety, or welfare is expected to occur with this design variance. In fact, those
public matters will be greatly improved by the overall project, including it’s connectivity to an improved
crossing of Interstate-25 to the west and the high school to the east. As mentioned above, end users (vehicle
NORTHERNENGINEERING.COM | 970.221.4158 VARIANCE REQUEST: RUDOLPH FARM
FORT COLLINS | GREELEY 2 | 2
VARIANCE REQUEST
operators) will likely have no way to distinguish the design difference, and design life of the road will not
be affected because, again, the design concept remains the same.
Thank you for your consideration and attention to this request.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
NORTHERN ENGINEERING SERVICES, INC.
AUSTIN SNOW, PE
Project Engineer