School, New Middle, Traffic lig
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MEMORANDUM
June 2, 2004
TO:
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The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM:
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: New Middle School
I met with Dubuque Community School District Board President Doug Horstmann,
Dubuque Community School District Superintendent John Burgart and Executive
Director of Finance and Business Services Ron Holm, to discuss their May 12, 2004
letter about the construction of the new Middle School.
I advised them that I would be willing to recommend that the City make a similar
arrangement as occurred when the traffic lights were installed in front of Hempstead
High School. The City would do the design and inspections and the School District
would pay for the lights and the related contractor work. This would save the School
District up to $12,000, but would cost the City only a few thousand dollars.
The City Engineering Department is still analyzing the traffic data submitted by IIW
Engineers on behalf of the School District.
Should the traffic lights be warranted, I respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval to do the design and inspection work in partnership with the School District.
(~JA~ ~
Mfchael C. Van Milligen "
MCVM/jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Gus Psihoyos, Acting Public Works Director/City Engineer
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Ron Holm, CPA (Inactive)
Executive Director of
Finance and Business Services
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Phon~ 563D8~5110
Fax: 563/588-8377
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Learning. Leading-Living
2300 Chaney Road
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-3095
. rholm@dubuque.k12.ia.us
May 12, 2004
Honorable Mayor Ten-ence M. Duggan and Members of the City Council
City of Dubuque
City Hall
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4845
Dear Mayor Duggan and Members of the City Council:
RE: Street Improvements at New Middle School Site on Radford Road
Construction has started on Dubuque's new middle schooL Ground is being moved, concrete is
being laid and soon walls and steel girders will appear. This is an exciting time for students
because this is the first totally new school building constructed in Dubuque in the last 31 years.
The building will house approximately 1,100 students and its 800-seat auditorium and athletic
fields will host both school and non-school eventa.
The school will be located at 2001 Radford Road with its main entrance just west of Radford
Court. For now, the main entrance will service only the new middle school, but in the future,
the site may also include a 400-student elementary schooL Clearly this educational complex
will increase vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and possibly business activity, on Radford Road.
Careful and thoughtful improvement planning at the Radford Road/Radford Court intersection
is critical for safe and efficient movement of students and citizens. A traffic signal may need to
be installed and it is clear that additional turning lanes will be required. Failure to install these
improvements will result in citizen complaints, traffic delays and possibly more accidents.
These conditions will result in the need for additional policing and other costs associated with
traffic congestion. It is clear that both the District and the City have an interest in providing
street improvements that facilitate a safe and efficient traffic and pedestrian flow.
The District will be spending approximately $30 million to build and equip the new middle
schooL This amount is exclusive of costs needed to improve the Radford Court/Radford Road
intersection. Total costs of those improvements are estimated to be approximately $150,000, of
which one-half is attributable to a new traffic signal. Both the signal and street improvements
will be located on City property.
May 12, 2004
Page 2
The District believes it is in our common interest to maintain and improve public safety on
Radford Road. That considered, we also believe that a cost sharing of those improvements is
appropriate. We ask that the City share in the cost of the intersection improvements on a 50-50
basis. This is in the best interest of both Dubuque citizens and students. We look forward to
discussing this with you.
Sincerely,
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Douglas J. Horstmann
Board President
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John L. Burgart
Superintendent of Schools
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c: Michael VanMilligan, City Manager
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Mr. Ron Holm
Dubuque Community School District
2300 Chaney Road
Dubuque, IA 52001-3095
Re:
Dubuque Middle School, Radford Road Access
Proposal for Entrance and Traffic Signal Design Engineering Services
IIW Project No. 03138-11
Dear Mr. Holm,
IIW Engineers & Surveyors, P.c. appreciates the opportunity to submit this proposal for a
design of the site access to Radford Road and design of the traffic signals at the proposed
intersection. We are still waiting for a response ITom the City of Dubuque to the site impact
traffic study submitted February 16, 2004.
You also requested a preliminary cost estimate for the construction of the site access and the
traffic signals. It should be noted that construction cost estimates are no more than estimates
reflecting the Engineer's best judgment of construction costs at the time the estimate is
made and that actual construction costs based upon the bids received will vary. The Owner
should be aware that the construction costs are subject to factors such as supply and
demand, inflation and availability oflabor, which are beyond the control ofthe Engineer.
The Engineer cannot, therefore, guarantee the accuracy of estimates of construction costs.
The total construction cost of the intersection, traffic signals, and site access is estimated to
be $145,000. The traffic signal installation component is $73,000 of that cost. These costs
do not including any engineering services during design or construction. IIW Engineers &
Surveyors, P.C. has had discussions with the City of Dubuque to determine what
components would be required as a part of the signal installation since the signal will be
installed on a city street. In our opinion, one of the requirements, a battery back-up, would
not be critical at this location. The battery back-up allows the signal to continue to function
even if power is interrupted and has a cost of $2850.
Scope of Professional Services
The professional services listed below will be provided by, or under the direct personal
supervision of, a Professional Engineer licensed to practice in the State ofIowa.
Intersection Design and Bidding
1. Perform geometric design of the intersection. Existing survey data ITom previous projects
will be utilized for this design.
2. Perform traffic signal design including layout in conformance with the Manual on
Uniform Traffic Control Devices and conformance with City of Dubuque Specifications.
3. Prepare detailed final plans and specifications for construction of the project. These
items would include title sheet, quantities, typical sections, details, storm sewer
modifications, pavement grades, sidewalk design, traffic signal design, pavement marking
I I W
Engineers
& Surveyors. P.C.
Hazel Geeen, WI
Dubuque. IA
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Michael A. Jan>en. PEISE
Ronald A. Balm". PEISE'
John M. Teanme'- pes
TIm",hy J. T"nel, PE
John F. W~d,nid". PE
Julie P. Neebel. PE
Jam" P. Kaune. PE
Thorn", J. 0"", pes
Wear A. Child",. pes
Geoffry T. Blandin, PE
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Stru"mal Engineering
Envimnmemal Engineering
Municipal Engine"ing
Tean,ponation Engineering
Acehite"u,,1 Engineering
Lood Sueveying
Quality Cumeo; Te"ing
Geotechni,,1 Engineering
4155 Penn'ylvaniaAvenue
Dubuque, Iowa 52002-2628
563.556.2464
563.556.7811 fax
www.iiwen",.oom
Mr. Ron Holm
Dubuque Community Middle School
Radford Road Access and Traffic Signal Design Proposal
April 29, 2004
Page 2 of5
and signing details and technical provisions necessary to illustrate and define the scope of work to be performed by
the Contractor on the project.
4. Coordination with the City to verify the installation is acceptable.
5. Prepare the specifications including the bidding and contract documents for bidding to include as a minimum:
Bid opening date
Number of days Bid must be held
Bid, Performance and Payment Bond/Security Requirements
. Contractor Insurance Requirements
. Completion date ifliquidated damages occur for late completion
. Terms of Payment to Contractor
Contract Compliance Requirements
Schedule of quantities/materiallist and Unit Costs
. Material specifications
6. Meet with the Owner's representative to review detailed drawings, specifications, and contract and bidding
documents.
7. Notify interested and qualified contractors and bulletins of the time and date of the receipt of bids and the general
nature of the project.
8. Provide copies of drawings, specifications, and contract and bidding documents to interested and qualified
contractors, equipment and material suppliers and other interested parties. The Engineer may charge those
requesting documents a reasonable cost therefore.
9. Answering questions ITom contractors and suppliers as necessary; evaluating and determining acceptability of
materials as may be proposed by contractors and suppliers.
10. Issue addenda as necessary.
11. Attend bid opening.
12. Assist the Owner in evaluating the bids by:
. Reviewing bids for completeness and accuracy
. Tabulating bids received
Investigating qualifications of contractors
Make recommendation for award
Meet with the Owner's representative to review detailed drawings, specifications, and contract and bidding
documents.
13. Provide detailed plans for the use of the Owner.
Services Dnring Construction
14. Prepare contract documents on behalf of the School District with the selected bidder.
15. Attend and conduct preconstruction conference (ifneeded).
16. Provide construction staking for use by contractor
17. Review all shop drawings of traffic signal elements contained in the project
18. Periodically visit the project site and answer questions during construction. The Engineer shall visit the site at
intervals appropriate to the stage of construction to become generally familiar with the progress and quality of the
Mr. Ron Holm
Dubuque Community Middle School
Radford Road Access and Traffic Signal Design Proposal
April 29, 2004
Page 3 of5
work completed and to determine in general if the work is being performed in a manner indicating that the work
when completed will be in accordance with the Contract Documents
19. The Engineer shall review the Contractor's applications for payment and supporting data, determine the amount
owed to the Contractor(s) and approve, in writing, payment in such amounts. By approving an application for
payment, the Engineer shall not be deemed to have represented that he has made any examination to determine how
or for what purposes any contractor has used the moneys paid on account of the Contract Price.
21. Conduct an inspection to determine if the project is substantially complete and a fmal inspection to determine if
the project has been completed in accordance with the Contract Documents and if the Contractor has fulfilled all of
their obligations thereunder so that the Engineer may approve, in writing, final payment to the Contractor.
22. The Engineer will provide interpretation of the drawings and specifications but the Engineer will not be
responsible for the acts or omissions of any contractor, any subcontractor, or any of the Contractor(s)' or
subcontractor(s)' agents or employees or any other person performing any of the work under the construction
contract.
Compensation for Professional Services
Compensation for the scope of professional s~as Intersection Design and Bidding: items I - 13
above will be completed for a lump sum fee ~
Compensation for the scope of professional services listed as Services Construction items 14- 22 above
will he billed at hourly rates with an estimated Not-to-Exceed fee $4,500.0 This fee is an estimated Not-to-
Exceed because at the meeting with the City of Dubuque on Fe 11 , the City indicated they might be
able to provide inspection services during construction since they will be taking over operations of the traffic
signal. Due to this the level of effort required for Service during Construction is not known at this time and only
actual hours spent on the project will be charged.
This proposal is valid for 30 days ITom the date it was issued. If the services and fees defined in this proposal are
acceptable, please review the attached General Terms and Conditions, and return one signed copy to our office. If
you have any questions, or require further assistance, please feel ITee to contact our office. Thank you for allowing
IIW Engineers and Surveyors, P.C. to submit this proposal for engineering services.
Sincerely,
nw Engineers and Surveyors, P.C.
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Vice President
Director of Structural Engineering
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Julie Neebel, P.E.
Project Manager
Transportation Engineer
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I May 18,2004
Mr. Bill Schlickman
Engineering Department
City of Dubuque
50 W 13th Street
Dubuque, IA 52003
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Re: Dubuque Community Middle Scbool Traffic Study Comments
IIW Project No: 03138
Dear Bill:
This letter is in response to some of the concerns you raised in an e-mail on 5-6-04 about the
traffic impact study. Although based on your analysis I have modified some of the traffic
projection numbers, the ultimate result of the study indicating a traffic signal warrant is met,
remains the same. The School District has a concern about the safety of the children
crossing Radford Road. The School District believes having a traffic/pedestrian activated
traffic signal installed at the intersection would allow for the safer crossing of students, as
well as safer ingress and egress of vehicles to and ITom the site. In order to allow you to
more easily review this response, I have tried to categorize your concems.
Justification for using the Four-Honr Vehicnlar Volnme Warrant
I think all of us agree that it would be best to use the Peak-Hour Volume, Pedestrian
Volume, or School Crossing Warrant. For the Peak-Hour Volume warrant, the traffic
volume standpoint these warrants are met, especially if the hour used for the warrant
included all the traffic generated by the school which I have split between two hours to meet
the Four-Hour Vehicular Volume Warrant. As I recall, in our phone conversation you
concurred the volume portion of the Peak-Hour Volume was met. However, for all the
warrants which are typically applied in this situation, delay information is required and will
not be available until the intersection is built and traffic/pedestrians begin to use it.
The MUTCD acknowledges "at a location that is under development or construction and
where it is not possible to obtain a traffic count that would represent future traffic
conditions, hourly volumes should be estimated as part of an engineering study for
comparison with traffic signal warrants". Without being able to use any of the typical
warrants, I looked to the next warrant, the Four-Hour Vehicular Volume Warrant. In the
MUTCD, support for the use of the four hour warrant says:
"The Four-Hour Vehicular Volume signal warrant conditions are intended to be
applied where the volume of intersecting traffic is the principal reason to consider
installing a traffic control signal".
At this location the volume of intersection traffic (those going to and ITom the site using the
intersection) is one of the principal reasons to consider the signal. Note in the MUTCD the
term traffic is defmed as pedestrians, bicyclist and vehicles. Also section 4C.Ol on page
4C-2 of the 2000 MUTCD says Engineering Study data may include the following:
"B. Vehicular volumes for each traffic movement ITom each approach, classified by
vehicle type during each 15 minute period of the 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours
in the afternoon during which total traffic entering the intersection is the greatest."
The MUTCD does not say these hours need to be at even "O'clocks" and we choose to
assume that the distribution of entering and departing traffic from the school site was split
over the two hours (the last 15 minutes of the first hour, and the first 15 minutes of the
IlW Engineers & Surveyors. P.C.
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Mr. Bill SchUckman
Middle School Site Impact Traffic Study
May 18, 2004
Page 2 of3
second hour in each the morning and the evening). I have not found anything in the MUTCD that suggests the
traffic needs to be evenly distributed for the entire two hours.
Proposed Traffic Count Volumes
You are correct that the volumes presented in the report should be adjusted when I divide them over a two hour
time period for the four hour warrant. The revised volumes in the following table reflect revisions based on your
comments. The revised volumes are plotted on the attached Figure 4C-2. As you can see the plotted points still
fall above the one lane, one lane approach line, thereby meeting the traffic signal warrant.
PROPOSED TRAFFIC COUNT
(After OpeninQ of Middle School)
NB NB NB SB SB SB EB EB WB WB í
TIME THROUGH RIGHT LEFT THROUGH RIGHT LEFT RIGHf LEFT RIGHT LEFT
6:45 A.M.TO 7:45 A.M. 61 10 69 228 131 3 31 94 1 4 '
7:45 AM.TO 8:45 AM. 76 9 69 194 131 4 31 94 0 6 I
1:45 P.M. TO 2:45 P.M. 119 14 31 136 94 9 70 132 18 17
2:45 P.M. TO 3:45 P.M. 166 11 31 110 94 5 68 131 10 12
PROJECTED TOTAL
VOLUMES
(After Opening of Middle School)
RADFORD ROAD MIDDLE RADFORD
SCHOOL COURT
TIME (Major Street) (Minor (Minor
Street) Street)
6:45 AM.TO 7:45 AM. 502 125 5
7:45 AM.TO 8:45 AM. 483 125 6
1:45 P.M. TO 2:45 P.M. 403 202 35
2:45 P.M. TO 3:45 P.M. 417 199 22
Please keep in mind, the traffic volumes I used are conservative since they did not include consideration for
increased development along Radford Road, or surrounding subdivisions that would use Radford Road for
general, non-school, related travel. Also, the intersection will be opening fall of 2005 and volumes were not
inflated for general increase in volumes. As you are aware, some roads around Dubuque, especially on the west
end, are experiencing rapid growth rates.
Use of one lane one lane approach.
In your e-mail you questioned the use of one lane approach. I recall that we discussed it at the meeting and I
thought we came to the decision that we would treat the intersection as a one lane approach (especially since there
is not a 1.5 lane category) in Figure 4C-2. According to page 4C-2 of the MUTCD: "The approach should be
considered two lanes if approximately half the traffic on the approach turns left and the left-turn lane is of
sufficient length to accommodate all left-turn vehicles." The northbound through movement is a heavier
movement than the left turns.
Your suggestion of discounting some of the right turning traffic because it is ITee flow, is in general agreement
with the MUTCD, however in this case with signals installed, the left turning traffic into the site will have the
right-of-way over the right turning traffic, causing the right turn traffic to yield and not be ITee flow. Therefore,
right turning traffic was not subtracted ITom the total volume since during peak times the right turning traffic may
need to stop. You may not have been aware the geometric configuration of the access road has only one inbound
Mr. Bill Schlickman
Middle School Site Impact Traffic Stndy
May 18, 2004
Page 3 00
lane. The access roadway was designed with only one inbound lane because we did not want to cause a weave
traffic pattern between the Radford Road intersection and where traffic turns off the access road for the school
parking lot.
Inclusion of the crash analysis in the study
The traffic accidents are included because according to the guidelines for the Site Impact Analysis submittals to
the City of Dubuque, it requests that crash analysis be included. You suggest removing the crashes on 9/26/0 1 and
3/3/03 since they are not intersection related. I do not recall that at the meeting it was stated these crashes needed
to be removed from the report, instead my notes indicate I was to change the wording ITom "It appears the
primary confusion with the roadway is driver confusion about the number of lanes since crashes are occurring
when vehicles turn right ITom next to the centerline while other vehicles pass on the right" and modifY this
statement to say "It appears the primary confusion with this roadway is driver error." The crash data was not used
to justify the signals, however if you want me to remove those two crashes ITom the tabulation I will.
Next Action Steps
As it states in the MUTCD on page 4B-2: "When properly used, traffic control signals are valuable devices for the
control of vehicular and pedestrian traffic." The MUTCD also encourages the appropriate design, location, and
maintenance of traffic signals. By allowing the signals to be installed prior to the opening of the Middle School,
the access/intersection can utilize optimum channelization and positioning of the signals. Waiting to install the
signals may require revisions to intersection geometry in the future or compromising either the design of the
signals or intersection geometry acting as sometimes occurs in a retrofit situation.
It seems the next actions needed are:
Determination of which elements you want to see in the Study to allow us to submit a final study and take
it out of draft form. For example, do you want to see discussion of the Peak Hour and other warrants that
cannot be used because the data is not avai1able? Previously it was requested we add the Peak Hour
warrant discussion to the report.
. Determination if the school district is allowed to install a signal at Radford Court and the Middle School
Access road.
. Review requirements for the intersection and (if allowed) signal design.
Please let us know how you would like to proceed.
Sincerely,
IIW ENGINEERS & SURVEYORS, P.c.
~~
Julie Neebel, P.E.
Transportation Engineer
Copy: Ron Holm
Attach: email ITom B. Schlickman
Figure 4C-2
Figure 4C-2. Warrant 2, Four-Hour Vehicular Volume (70% Factor)
(COMMUNITY LESS THAN 10,000 POPULATION OR ABOVE 70 km/h (40 mph) ON MAJOR STREET)
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500
600
700
800
900
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MAJOR STREET-TOTAL OF BOTH APPROACHES-
VEHICLES PER HOUR (VPH)
*Note: 80 vph applies as the lower threshold volume for a minor-street
approach with two or more lanes and 60 vph applies as the lower
threshold volume for a minor-street approach with one lane.
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