City Council Study Session Summary 2012 04 24

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City Council Study Session Summary April 24, 2012 Page 4 of 7 this location for the next ten years. At the urging of the Town of Superior, Louisville agreed to look at other alternatives and so the two municipalities hired an engineering firm of Felsburg Holt and Ullevig (FHU) to lead the study which had 3 components: 1. Establish and document the short and long -term (10/20 year term) transportation service demand expected for the US 36 and McCaslin Boulevard Interchange 2. Conduct the short and long -term (10/20 year term) micro - simulation traffic analysis for three context sensitive alternative interchange concepts, and 3. Generate a conceptual design and order of magnitude cost estimate for three alternative interchange designs. The discussion tonight centered on the conceptual design for the Divergent Diamond Interchange (DDI) with much discussion about the cost of the project. The design presented at tonight's meeting is only a 6% design and the consultant's estimated cost for the project is $12.4M, however, staff is estimating it will be closer to $15M when other phases of the project (PE, ROW and Materials Testing) are included in the project costs. It may be to the City's advantage to move quickly on this project in order to incorporate the DDI into the Phase II improvements for US36 that will advertise for RFP soon. City Manager Fleming said the challenge will be can we afford this project? Staff will look at funding from CDOT and RTD even though RTD can't currently fund the completion of FasTracks without additional revenue. The Divergent Diamond may give 15 more years of managing traffic /congestion. Public Works Director, Kurt Kowar, thinks the reality is longer than 15 years. Next steps: 1. Need to get CDOT Approval — incorporate into US 36 Phase II Improvements if possible. 2. If in the US36 Phase II Improvements, there could be substantial cost savings to the City for being a part of the bigger project. Comments from Council and Staff: • CDOT probably will approve the DDI concept, but may have a concern with the future queuing of the traffic on US -36. • We'II need to move very quickly to get into the US36 Phase II Improvements Project • Whatever happened to opening up Dahlia and extending across US 36? Staff indicated the engineering study found a 10 -15% benefit of diverting traffic from McCaslin, but US 36 roadway profile will not be raised as part of the US 36 2nd phase project and thus drainage and groundwater issues are significant due to the close proximity of Coal Creek.