Planning & Development

6th Avenue East – 2024 Projects

6^th Avenue East Extension Project

The City is extending 6^th Ave East from 2^nd Street to 1^st Street, with a new 2-lane road. This project is funded as part of the State funded Vision Northland Project.

6^th Ave East Reconfiguration Project

6^th Avenue East from 2^nd Street to 9^th Street and Central Entrance from 9^th Street to Mesaba Avenue will be resurfaced. The driving lanes will be reconfigured from 4-lanes to a 3-lane design concept. The exact specifics of the new lane configuration for this roadway is currently in the design phase.

Preliminary Street Layout

Public Engagement

• Neighborhood Night Out - August 1, 2023
• Public Input Survey open until November 1, 2023: 6th Ave E Survey
• Public Meeting - October 12, 2023, 5-7pm, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 219 6^th Ave E
  • Meeting Presentation

Background information for the reconfiguration project:

• 6^th Avenue East carries approximately 12,000 vehicles per day between 4^th Street and 9^th Street, the area with the most focus on the 4-to-3 lane conversion.
• 4-to-3 lane roadway conversion can be considered on roadways with traffic volumes:
  • Federal Highway (FHWA) = up to 25,000 vehicles per day.
  • Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) = up to 18,300 vehicles per day.
  • General practice = up to 15,000 vehicles per day, does not need to be studied.

The City and the Metropolitan Interstate Council (MIC) had studied this in 2016. For the 2024 reconfiguration, the City will be hiring a traffic engineering consultant to assist in the design with the consideration of bus rapid transit (BRT) as well as the morning and afternoon traffic peaks. BRT was not considered in the 2016 study.

https://dsmic.org/study/6th-avenue-east-traffic-impact-study-2016/

6^th Avenue East daily traffic volumes:

6th Avenue East - AADT

From the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM):

• A 2-lane road with left turn lanes, commonly called a “3-lane” road can effectively carry traffic volumes to 18,300 vehicles per day. Federal Highway notes that 3-lane roads can work with up to 25,000 vehicles per day. Peak travel volumes must be considered as part of this, with additional turn lanes and traffic signal timing adjustments to ensure traffic will flow. The City is hiring an engineering consultant to help us identify and implement these modifications. In addition, the City is taking into account the operational needs of the DTA’s bus rapid transit line that will be on 6^th Ave East.

Planning level daily capacity of a road: (Round numbers based on Level of Service D/E thresholds in HCM 6th Edition)

• 2 lane local street: 1,000 vehicles per day based on livability
• 2 lane (w/ left turn lanes): 18,300 vehicles per day
• 4 lane (w/ left turn lanes): 36,800 vehicles per day
• 6 lane (w/ left turn lanes): 55,300 vehicles per day

List of all the safety measures that Federal Highway (FHWA) recommends: https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures

Within the list of safety measures, road reconfigurations (also known as road diets or 4 to 3 lane conversions):

• “A Road Diet can be a low-cost safety solution when planned in conjunction with a simple pavement overlay, and the reconfiguration can be accomplished at no additional cost. Typically, a Road Diet is implemented on a roadway with a current and future average daily traffic of 25,000 or less.”

Road diet myth busters:

https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diets/resources/fhwasa16074/