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Will Berg
From: Brad Hawkins-Clark [hawkinsb~ci.meHdian.id.us]
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 11:25 AM
To: bergw~ci.meridian.id.us; corHebl~ci.meridia n.id.us
Cc: 'Tammy de Weerd'; 'Shah Stiles'; 'Steve Siddoway'; 'Gary Smith (E-
Subject: RE: ACHD Proposal for Main/Meridian intersection
Mayor and Will,
RECEIVED
APR l § 2002
CITY OF MERIDIAN
CITY CLERK OFFICE
Just a reminder that ACHD's published final day for public comments to be submitted on this
Main/Meridian/Central project was yesterday, Apdl 18. I don't believe there will be any problems, but I'd like to
suggest that one of you confirm with ACriD (probably Terry Little or Joe Rosenlund) that Meridian is still preparing
formal comments and let them know when you anticipate Council will review the design and then give Stafftime
to prepare the letter.
Brad Hawkins-Clark
..... Original Message- ....
From: Tammy de Weerd [mailto:TdeWeerd(~msn.com]
Sent; Thursday, April 18, 2002 11:50 AM
To: Bill Nary; Keith Bird; Bob Corrie; Chede McCandless
Ce: Will Berg; Brad Hawkins-Clark
Subject: Fw: ACHD Pmposal for Main/Meridian intersection
Mayor & Council,
! received this response from Terry Little on the Corporate/Waltman/Main Street
intersection. ! haven't read the whole thing but Terry has tried to response to specific that
Steve brought up in his comments. This will provide some information to consider until the
Mayor and Will are able to get them on the Council's agenda. Hope this is helpful.
Tammy
Odginal Message ---
Frem: Teny Little
Sent: Wednesday, Apd117, 2002 9:33 PM
To: CBO~/IAN~compassidaho.org; tdeweerd~msn.com
Cc: linrupe2~aol.com; malmaccoy@aoLcom; mtndewdaw~aol.com; ronbow357~aol.com;
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bencorpllcl~cs.com; craig.slocum~CSHQA.com; meridianchamber@earihlink.net;
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Subject: Re: ACriD Proposal for Main/Meridian intersection
Clair and Council Member de Weerd,
I apologize that my "off the cuff" email didn't address some of the other concerns in the
email and probably came across as a little defensive and casual. I didn't didn't think
about the wide distribution in a few nano-seconds.
It has been a long time that this plan has been on the books and it needs to be
appropriately revisited over time as the players change. I gave Mayor Corrie a copy of the
concept drawings about a year ago and have had a number of discussions with various
council members over the years but it has not been formally shared with the Council since
the 1993 approval of the concept. I understand that our design section is planning to
make a presentation of the plan to the Council in the near future and I will plan to make
that or at least send my Assr Manager 3oe Rosenlund if I cannot make it.
4/19/2002
Page 2 of 4
Let me address some of the other concerns in the email that ! didn't cover in my first
response:
1) Concern: At E 1st and Fairview the signalization often does not even
allow a single car to turn left from E 1st onto Fairview during rush hour due to the cars
backed up from the Fairview & Meridian light.
Forcing the traffic at E 1st/A Franklin into a similar scenario seems like a nightmare
waiting to happen. If you assume the traffic will simply turn at Corporate and then onto
Meridian Road, that will not work either--the amount of traffic the left turn light currently
allows onto Meridian Road from its intersection with E 1st is longer than the full length of
section of Corporate between Meridian and E 1st. This would be another nightmare
waiting to happen, since traffic turning from E 1st onto Corporate would have to stop
at Meridian Road before making another turn.
Response: If the coordination between the two signals on Fairview at Meridian and Est is
working so poorly that northbound vehicles are not able to make the left turn because of
queue vehicles, we will fix it. The last time we counted the intersection manually during
the afternoon peak hour, 400 vehicles made the northbound left turn. ! know that the
congestion at this location has been severe and we are trying some signal coordination
strategies to alieviate it.
Northbound left turns are a concern with the planned concept with Corporate/East First.
Our Traffic Operations Engineer suggests that we also make 2 northbound left turn lanes
on E 1st at Franklin in addition to the 2 designed at Corporate. That way when the queue
backs out of the pocket at Corporate drivers could continue on up to Franklin Road.
The Northbound traffic traversing Corporate via Est and IVleridian could expect to be served
with a green light at Meridian as the only two major through moves to serve at the
intersection would be the westbound right turn to the north and the southbound through
movements, which do not conflict with one another and could be given simultaneous green
lights.
2) Concern: Making Meridian Road into a right-in-right-out only makes it function well for
southbound traffic only and not for north-bound traffic, while encouraging northbound
traffic to remain on E 1st Street, since there is no longer a left turn available onto Meridian
Road. This appears to be the first major step toward a one-way couplet on E 1st and
Meridian Roads. There is strong opposition toward such a configuration among many of
the members of the Meridian Development Corporation (urban renewal agency) and the
Downtown Merchants Association.
Reponse: I addressed this in the earlier email but wanted to clarify the dates. T went
back and checked the dates on the studies. The concept plan was developed in 1993 (I
mistakenly said 1995 earlier) for the East lst/Meridian/Central/Waltman intersection. The
idea was for the couple came out of the Meridian Corridor Study in 1997. We have copies
of both reports. The earlier report says nothing of a couplet and the analysis is all based
on two-way streets. There may be some legitimate differences of opinion but there are no
hidden agendas or phased in planning regarding the possible future couplet.
3) Concern: In my opinion, much of the traffic congestion they are trying to alleviate is
traffic headed from the freeway to west Heddian or from west Meridian to the freeway.
The "right" answer to ease this traffic congestion is the Ten Nile interchange, not a right-
in-right-out on Meridian Road.
Response: This was addressed previously. The 10 Mile interchange would be a big help
but the growth to the west, both north and south of the freeway, and the infill
development between Locust Grove and Linder will continue to make Meridian a critical
corridor. COMPASS's 2025 forecasts show an increase of about 30-40% in this corridor
over today's volumes with a 10 Mile interchange figured in.
4/19/2002
Page 3 of 4
3) Concern: Sure the proposed configuration may be less congested, but at what cost?
Decreased connectivity, increased congestion at other offsite intersections, circuitous
routes to major destinations, and an effectual one-way couplet for major traffic patterns.
I, for one, would strongly oppose the proposed
modification. Please pass this along.
Response: ! don't disagree that this alternative does decrease connectivity. The problem
is that when too many roads converge at one point, something has to give. A large round-
a-bout or some type of other structure could allow each approach to have full access and
still stay within acceptable congestion levels but the ramifications of those alternatives
were not deemed acceptable. This configuration gave the best combination of traffic
congestion reduction and logical rerouting of traffic. The new traffic would predominantly
come from the freeway and would find that they cannot turn le~t at Central/Waltman so
would have to proceed ahead where the first left turn would allow them to double back to
where they wanted to go in the first place. Those coming from the North wishing to
proceed across Central would need to turn left one block ahead at Corporate. The out of
distance travel is small but signing would be desireable. I would commit to working with
the business community in both areas, and the city, to work out effective guide signing.
Conclusion: I would be the first to admit the solution is not perfect. I can also attest after
having looked at and studied intersection designs in major cities all over the US that there
are no perfect solutions. ! understand that arrangements are being made to present the
plan and discuss it with the Meridian City Council. That is a good idea as the Council of
today is not the one that I presented it to in :~993. At that time we built the traffic signal
and put the plan on the back burner until it was needed. It is the development of the
property adjacent to Waltman Lane that necessitates a better solution than the signal and
minor intersections improvements done in the 1993/94 time frame.
Terry Little
Traffic Manager
ACHD
>>> "Clair Bowman" <CBOWMAN@compassidaho.org> 04/10/02 01:48PM >>>
I forwarded Steve Siddoway's Tuesday comments on this roadway proposal to Terry Little
at ACriD. His reply is included below. I was surprised by the history of this design and,
especially, by the city council approval that he references. It may be that the current
council has other ideas, but there has been some homework done by ACriD in the past.
Furthermore, Terry's reply should put to rest those fears that this is the first step in some
surreptitious implementation of a one-way couplet.
I also had a conversation with Dave Wynkoop, President of the ACHD Commission, this
morning. In light of our discussion, I am forwarding this reply to him as well.
Clair
*** FROM TERRY LII ILE ***
Thanks for the comments Clair. The comments that you passed on to me run directly
opposite those I heard from property owners on the west side of Meridian Road that would
like us to cut off Meridian S/O Corporate and force both the NB and the SB traffic out to
East First at Corporate and give Waltman Lane full access to the west leg of the East
First/Central intersection.
The plan we are proceeding with was developed in 1995 by CH2MHill under ACHD's
direction. Public input was received then, various alternatives were looked at, and ACHD
and the Meridian City Council approved the plan. We bought right of way and built
Corporate Drive between Meridian and East First based on the plan. We looked at it again
this year and several other alternatives based on input received but the proposed plan is
4/19/2002
Page 4 of 4
superior to anything that has been suggested yet.
]~t is unfortunate that we can't provide ideal access for everyone and still move traffic
efficiently and safely. This will remain an important intersection for Meridian and a
compromise will jeprodize its success in the future, even with the 10 Mile interchange
built. The longer range forecasts were are working with assume the
3.0 Mile interchange will be built. The plan for East First and Meridian was developed
before the Couplet was studied and was designed to work with both East First and
Meridian functioning as two-way streets. The Couplet is not a near term reality as far as
we are concerned and we are proceeding as if they will stay two way streets. This concept
would work well with a couplet but that was not a criteria in choosing it and it stands on its
own merit as the best solution for the intersection.
Terry Little
Traffic Manager
Thank you for the historical background on this project. I realize that this intersection has
been on the books for a number of years and it only goes to show that work done over
seven years ago can get lost in the shuffle with ejected officials that come and go and the
staff changes since that time. Recent activity and attention to our City's core further
necessitates the need to revisit this Meridian 'gateway' and bring these new faces and
players up-to-date. Much has changed in Meridian in this seven year period as well that
would warrant, at the least, discussion of the project with City staff, elected officials, and
the MDC members. Communication is so crucial between ACHD and the City and it's
citizens.
! hope we can all get together to discuss this and this important intersection. Thank you
all for the follow through and the information.
Best regards,
Tammy de Weerd
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4/19/2002
c. 1 Street & Waltman Lane,
Meridian I oad & Central Drive
April 4, 2002
WelCOme!
The,.purpose of this meeting is to give ACHD and residents an opportunity to
discu{~'the scope and impacts of this project '? n~addition;.residents are
eh~bu~aged to share their comments and Con(~ms. please note that this is a
conceptual design and is subject to change.
Design Team
ACHD has retained Six Mile Engineering to develop plans for the E. 1st Street
and Waltman Lane and Meridian Road and Central Drive project.
Design
The proposed improvements to this area include:
· .Widening Meridian Road south of the E. 1St/Meridian/Central intersection
to approximately 300-feet north of the intersection. New curb and gutter
will also be constructed.
· Rebuild the traffic signal at the intersection of E. 1st/Meridian/Central.
· Install a new traffic signal at E. 1st Street and Corporate Drive.
· Realign Waltman Lane to meet Meridian Road north of the current
intersection.
· Widening E, 1st Street on the west side between Central Drive and Gem
Avenue. New curb and gutter will also be constructed.
Project Schedule
The design phase is 75% complete. Constructioh is anticipated to begin the
summer of 2002 for the intersection of East Ist Street and Corporate Drive.
Construction of East 1st (between Central Drive and Gem Avenue), Meridian
Road and Waltman Lane is scheduled for the spring of 2004.
Preliminary Cost Estimates
(as of 3/26/02)
Design $ 170,000
Right-of-Way $ 670,000
Construction $ 850,000
TOTAL $1,690,000