By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Finance and Judicial Committee voted in favor of recommending the city move forward with phase two of a traffic impact analysis at its meeting Monday night.
City Administrator Sam Tapson said as phase one did, the study would focus on a section of the Highway 67 corridor south of Elkhorn near the Elkhorn industrial park where there is a high likelihood projected development that a controlled intersection would be required to support increased traffic. Tapson said while the study is not cheap, coming in at a cost of $35,832 in total for phases one and two, it’s something that the city is going to need sooner or later.
With the phases of the study valid for about three to five years, as stated by City Engineer Jason Feucht, Alderman Hoss Rehberg asked how close current potential development along that corridor was. Rehberg said his concern was that the city would spend the money to fund the second phase of the study and that six years down the road, if nothing came to fruition, it would have to start the process over at phase one.
“If we think we’re close, I’m with it 100 percent,” he said. “If we think we’re a couple years out, I’m just a little concerned.”
Tapson said that while potential development projects could take as long as two years, this traffic study is something that city would need to have done well ahead of time. Rehberg said he’s not so much concerned about two years, but as he had stated previously, that if it were pushed out past six years, the study would essentially be null and void and the city would be back at square one.
Rehberg said after Mayor Howie Reynolds told committee members that potential developers were in talks with city officials concerning a piece of property, it was critical in his thought process on the topic that evening. While he was concerned about waiting at first, Rehberg said after sitting in on meetings with potential developers, he understands the city needs to be a bit ahead.
“We’ve got to be ahead of the game, because when they come through, we need this report,” he said. “If we didn’t have this confirmation, then I think you could look at it differently, you could put it off. But, I think you’re going to see something within the next 12 months.”
Phase two of the study comes at a cost of $21,956, bringing the total to $35,832 when added to the cost of phase one of the study.
Committee members raised other concerns. Alderman Tom Myrin asked what kind of timeline the city would be looking at for completion if the city were to approve Phase two of the study. Feucht said he believed the study would take about four weeks to complete.
Police Chief Joel Christensen also raised concerns about the timeframes for traffic turning counts, noting that the way the information provided to the city was drafted indicated those counts would be taken between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., noting that would miss some of the busier traffic times of the day.
“My concern is that you’re going to be missing some busier times,” he said. “9 a.m. to 3 p.m. is probably going to be a slower time, because I think a lot of those businesses in the industrial park start at 7 a.m.”
While information provided to the committee indicated traffic turning movement counts would be conducted by the engineer from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the intersections at both Deere Road and O’Connor Drive, further review revealed the DOT would additionally be conducting a full 12 hours of counts on top of the engineer’s 6-hour counts.
A motion made by Rehberg to recommend to the full council that the city proceed with phase two of the study was approved unanimously. The topic will come before the full City of Elkhorn Common Council at an upcoming meeting.
