3. Rd Dept/Hwy17 corridor study - Laserfiche WebLink

.Conclusions The Corridor Study has resulted in the following findings: Planned developed in the extraterritorial areas of the cities of Fargo and West Fargo will change the future character and traffic volumes in the CH 17 corridor. The Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area is rapidly growing, and planning agencies recognize tiffs growth. Little land is available within the West Fargo corporate limits and southern areas of Fargo to accommodate housing development pressure. Therefore, development will extend south ofi-94 to the extraterritorial area near the CH 17 corridor. · Reconstruction of and improvements to CH 17 are necessary. Increasing development and population growth will result in significantly increased traffic volumes. While the existing roadway and geometric conditions adequately accommodate the current traffic on CH 17, future traffic levels will cause the operations of the roadway to breakdown. Therefore, the suggested improvements in this corridor study are recommended in order to maintain the sigrdticaune of the route and improve its safety. · Preservation of right-of-way is now prudent, as development will continue to occur adjacent to CH 17 between Horace and West Fargo. Residential development is proceeding along the CH 17 corridor. progresses, preserving currently undeveloped land will be necessary roadway to a four-lane facility. As development for expanded the A 200-foot right-of-way corridor is recommended. This corridor width allows for adequate drainage and utility corridors as well as providing the opportunity for a bicycle/pedestrian path, landscaping along the corridor, and buffering to adjacent residential development. A narrower fight-of-way could be considered if landscaping and buffering is provided on private property adjacent to the corridor. Local discussions should continue regarding the desirability and appropriate location of a bicycle and pedestrian path. The recommendations of this study preserve the opportunity for a bicycle/pedestriun path, but did not attempt to determine if this path is desirable or appropriate. Additional local discussion is needed to finalize th/s decision. Implementation of access management measures will assist in improving safety and preserving short-term capacity until a four-lane facility can be constructed. Reducing the number of private accesses to CH 17 is a key strategy of the study recommendations. Access management measures do not need to be implemented inm~ediately, but rather should be implemented as development occurs and intersection improvements are made. All access management measures should be implemented with the construction of the ultimate four-lane facility. County Highway 17 Corridor Study - ES4 - October 2002