City Council Agenda and Packet 2019 01 22

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City Council Meeting Minutes January 8, 2019 Page 3 of 8 COUNCIL INFORMATIONAL COMMENTS ON PERTINENT ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA Mayor Muckle wished everyone a Happy New Year. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT City Manager Balser wished everyone a Happy New Year and reminded everyone of the Recreation/Senior Center Grand Opening on January 26t" REGULAR BUSINESS DISCUSSION/DIRECTION — HIGHWAY 42 AND SHORT STREET INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS Director Kowar stated this is an update on the Highway 42 project. The City is now advertising for bids for improvements from Griffith Street to South Street. He stated staff wants to make sure everyone is aware of the project, identify what the benefits and tradeoffs of the project will be, confirm the improvements, and discuss the project's long-term goals. This project addresses current issues such as traffic and traffic signals; it does not address longer term issues. The specific question is should a three -lane option be considered or should we make changes that will allow a five -lane option in the future. He reviewed the three -lane plans and also noted how traffic signal warrants are affecting the conversation. He reviewed the schedule and noted the current cost estimate for the project is about $500,000 over budget. He reviewed the history of the corridor and the project updates over the last 25 years. He discussed how different traffic signal options will affect the corridor. The 2013 plan looked for ways to fit every use in the right-of-way and everyone decided it must stay at three lanes. In 2018, we tried a variety of virtual scenarios and found options to prepare the corridor for five lanes similar to South Boulder Road. Staff is trying to plan for the future and address growing traffic numbers and the possible addition of ball fields on the east side. He noted the forecasted travel times on the corridor are going to be much longer than they are today. The five -lane option addresses this the best. He stated staff previously thought the secondary network of streets in DELO would take pressure off of Hwy 42 but this was not built. He added CDOT doesn't recommend the offset left pedestrian refuge islands; and the signal at Cannon does not seem feasible any longer. 34