Memo

To:

Tim Stahl Jackson County 193802231

From: Date:

Dale Grove, PE Stantec 20 April 2012

File: Reference:

County Road 61 Vacate at TH 60 Impact Memo

Introduction
Vacating County Roads Rural areas are experiencing increased consolidation of farm lands and the development of agriculture-based industry. Changes in traffic patterns and redundancies of rural roads related to these changes provide opportunities to eliminate road segments that no longer serve a practical purpose. Generally township and county roads, roadway elimination/vacation can save maintenance costs and eliminate barriers to assembled properties and enhance the efficiency of agricultural practices. This analysis offers alternative options and uses for existing road rights of way to the benefit of the community and the taxpayer. Recommendations are based on measured traffic and land use criteria, balanced with agency guidance on the appropriate levels of public road access and support of the traditional farm to market road systems. Road Vacation Request Minnesota Soybean Processors (MnSP) is investigating the alternatives for adding additional rail access so that they may ship via unit trains. These unit trains would consist of approximately 110 railcars and ship about once per month for 10 months of the year. MnSPs projections indicate that they may have the potential to increase this production to up to 20 unit trains in the future. MnSP believes that the addition of this unit train shipping capability will expand its revenues and income significantly providing economic development to the Jackson and Nobles County area. MnSPs facility is located on the far eastern edge of Nobles County at the SW corner of the intersection of TH 60 and Zeh Avenue. Rail service is located north of the facility between the plant and TH 60 and is a Union Pacific (UP) mainline. Surrounding land uses are agricultural in nature. In order to accommodate unit trains, additional track is required for storage of railcars. MnSP and UP are currently analyzing two design alternatives for the additional track as follows:

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A single track parallel to the UP mainline. This track could be constructed completely on existing UP right of way. Two tracks parallel to the UP mainline. This option would require the purchase of approximately 50 of adjacent property to accommodate the second track. Approximately 9,000 linear feet would need to be acquired or approximately 11 acres.

The construction of either of these alternatives will necessitate the closing of CR 61. CR 61 is an existing County Road east of the MnSP running north and south and parallel to the County line (see road jurisdiction map on following page). Currently, 320th crosses TH 60 and the UP mainline just north of 850th Street. 850th Street does not intersect with TH 60 or the UP mainline. Vacating or Revoking County Highways Minnesota Statutes 163.11 provides the regulatory framework for counties in the elimination of roadway segments. There are two primary methods for removing a county highway from the system vacation and revocation. Vacation is the process where a county highway is eliminated from the public roadway system. Following vacation, the roadway generally becomes a private access drive, a cartway or may be eliminated completely. Prior to vacation, easements are generally reserved for any public and private utilities that are currently utilizing the public right of way so that they may continue to remain in place. Revocation and reversion is the process where a county highway is transferred to the road system of a township or city and therefore remains in public use. This process is generally used when the roadway is still needed by the public but for some reason it appears to be more appropriate for a different level of government to control the roadway. When a county revokes a roadway, the statutes provide various protections for the entity receiving the roadway such as ensuring that adequate repairs or improvements have been made to the roadway and the county is required to maintain the roadway for two years following the date of revocation. One further protection for the receiving entity (city or township) is that if there is no longer any use for a revoked county highway, the township or city can choose to eliminate the road from their system through a vacation process. If they choose to do this within one year of the countys revocation, any damages from the vacation shall be paid by the county out of its road and bridge fund. The county board does have to be involved and consent to any settlement of damages. Vacation is the preferred method for elimination of county highway sections that are no longer necessary both because it does not require the township to be burdened with a roadway that has lost its purpose but also because it saves the county the trouble and expense of improving or maintaining a roadway that it views to have lost its use.

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The

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The statutes provide that vacation can occur when a new, relocated or altered county highway is opened that takes the place and serves the same purpose as the portion of the county highway to be vacated. The current request appears to fall into this situation. It would appear that Zeh Avenue may be a candidate for meeting the criteria for a new or altered county highway because it has been significantly upgraded in recent years in response to the establishment of the MnSP facility and now serves an identical purpose as CR 61. Zeh Avenue is not currently a designated Jackson County highway, but has taken on many of the characteristics of one with the roadway upgrades and rail crossing. Designation of Zeh Avenue as a county highway and vacation of a portion of 320th Avenue therefore could potentially fall under this statutes regulatory framework for vacation. CR 61 South of 850th Street If CR 61 is vacated between the railroad tracks and 850th Street, it will leave an orphaned segment of CR 61 directly south of the vacated segment that no longer connects to the rest of CR 61. Leaving this segment designated as a county road could create confusion in the community since it does not serve the typical purpose of connecting local roads to other county roads or regional highways. In addition, since it would no longer be attached to the rest of the county road system, regular maintenance, such as snow removal or surface grading would become more complex. This segment therefore seems to be a good candidate for revocation and reversion to the township roadway system. The township would likely be in a better position to maintain it and it would minimize confusion in the public that would expect the segment to connect to the rest of CR 61. As mentioned previously, revocation of this segment would still create some short term obligations for Jackson County regarding the condition of the roadway and maintenance for two years.

Existing Conditions
TH 60 is a four-lane divided rural highway. CR 61 (also known as 320th Avenue) is a two-lane undivided rural road. TH 60 is a principal arterial between Worthington to the southwest, and Windom to the northeast. The CR 61 intersection with TH 60 is an access point for parcels east of the soybean processing plant for destinations southwest and northeast. Removing this access will require those motorists to travel an additional distance to reach their destination, which is also known as circuitry of travel. The following two maps show the TH 60 & CR 61 intersection and the parcels that will have drive distances extended if the road segment is eliminated. The first graphic illustrates those parcels that will have longer drives to reach destinations to the north on TH 60 and the second graphic illustrates those parcels that will have longer drives to

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reach destinations south on TH 60. Parcels to the north of TH 60 will still be connected and therefore are not impacted significantly.

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Affected Roadways To understand the magnitude of the vehicular impacts, Jackson County laid pneumatic counting tubes at four locations: CR 61 north of TH 60 CR 61 south of TH 60 CR 61 south of 850th Street 850th Street east of CR 61

The table below summarizes the daily averages for the four collection points, and also shows the passenger vehicles, and commercial vehicle daily averages. Table 1 - Daily Traffic by Type
Location CR 61 north of TH 60 CR 61 south of TH 60 CR 61 south of 820th Street 820th Street east of CR 61 Total Daily Traffic 30 27 14 19 Passenger Vehicles 28 26 13 18 Commercial Vehicles 2 1 1 1

Daily traffic volumes are very light and almost entirely passenger vehicles. Since this is an agricultural area, traffic volume is expected to change significantly at harvest time. This impact is examined more closely later in this document. Property Access There are two properties with access on CR 61 in the areas proposed for elimination-one owned by Rose Marie Otterson and another owned by John Schwartz (see map on following page). Both properties have alternate access potential to 850th Street. There is an existing service drive constructed on the Otterson parcel which serves a wind turbine and would need to be relocated if access were fully removed from the current CR 61 (if the road surface were eliminated rather than turned into a private drive). However, if the road surface remained as a private drive, there would be no need to relocate the wind turbine access.

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In addition, neither Otterson nor Schwartz have adjacent farms on the north side of TH 60 that would imply a heavy reliance on the CR 61/TH60 intersection. Property access therefore, does not seem to be an insurmountable barrier to the vacation. The segment south of 850th Street that is recommended for revocation should not impact any properties since all that would change is the governmental agency that owns and maintains the road.

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Cost/Benefit Analysis
One-Time Costs Land Value The Jackson County Assessors Office assesses agricultural land in this area at approximately $5,000 per acre. Both of the parcels adjacent to CR 61 are assessed in the range of approximately $4,700 - $5,100 per acre. The CR 61 right of way proposed for vacation is approximately 2.4 acres in size. Title examination is beyond the scope of this study, but typically, when a road is vacated, the adjacent property owners benefit through the receipt of the unencumbered property (except easements reserved for utilities) to the former centerline of the roadway. Gopher State One Call was contacted to locate any utilities that might be utilizing the CR 61 right of way. The following utilities were identified by Gopher State One Call as having service areas that included the subject property and most, but not all, provided detail on utility locations (see graphic on following page). Several follow up calls were made to the utilities that did not respond: CenturyTel (did not respond) HickoryTech (response received) Federated Rural Electric (response received) Nobles COOP Electric (response received) Qwest (response received) South Dakota Network LLC (did not respond) Sprint/Long Distance (response received)

It appears that the only identified utilities in the CR 61 area serve the adjacent parcels. If this segment of roadway is vacated, there are two primary alternatives for the disposition of the roadway. Alternative 1 would be to vacate the roadway and leave it in place where it could serve as a private roadway for the adjacent parcels. Alternative 2 would remove the existing roadway and return the land to the adjacent parcels so that it may be cultivated.

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Alternative 1 In Alternative 1, the roadway is left in place for use as a private drive; therefore the primary one time cost will be approximately $5,000 to remove the railroad crossing. Alternative 2 Since access to the adjacent parcels could be provided from the south, it should be possible to remove the existing roadway, in effect, expanding the size of the adjacent agricultural properties. This provides a land value benefit of approximately $12,000 to these adjacent properties but will generate additional one time costs as follows: Relocation of Wind Turbine Access Drive A wind turbine is located approximately 600 feet northwest of the CR 61/850th Street intersection. Accessing CR 61, the driveway is roughly 20 feet wide, 410 feet long, and is located about 440 feet north of the intersection. This access drive must be relocated to 850th Street to facilitate the vacation of CR 61. In developing unit costs for the removal of the existing and installation of a new driveway, conversations with construction-related contacts familiar with local conditions and bid prices were completed. After considering the potential salvage value and usability of the materials in the current driveway, costs of $10/foot for access removal and $22/foot for new drive construction were developed. Land costs for the relocation of the drive were assumed to be approximately equivalent in nature to the benefit received by the removal of the E-W access driveway. The relocated drive will be approximately 30 feet longer, so some minor additional land costs are to be expected for the increased length. However, this minor additional cost is greatly outweighed by the additional land area that will be available to this parcel from the vacation of CR 61. Costs to Obliterate County Road 61 In developing the costs associated with the obliteration and vacation of CR 61 between 850th Street and TH 60, no value was assigned to any salvaged materials. An average cross-sectional area was developed and costs were assigned using assumed average dimensions and costs shown below. Roadway surface = 24 feet In-Slopes = 3:1 Roadway elevation over adjacent property = 3 feet Roadway length = 1,570 feet Common Excavation = $8 per cubic yard Additional Costs = $6,910 (15% contingency) + $5,000 (railroad crossing)

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Summary of One Time Costs/Benefits (Alternative 2) Land Benefit to Adjacent Properties $12,000

One Time Costs Cost of Access Drive Removal ($10/foot x 410 feet) Cost of Access Drive Construction ($22/foot x 440 feet) Cost of CR 61 Removal (5,760 cubic yards x $8/cy) Additional Costs TOTAL ONE-TIME COSTS $4,100 $9,680 $46,080 $11,910 $71,770

Private Drive Maintenance Costs Alternative 1 If the roadway is left in place and utilized as a private drive, the adjacent parcels will incur additional costs for maintenance of the new private drive. The approximate annual cost of maintaining this roadway is estimated to be approximately $800 for each of the two adjacent parcels that will take over the private drive. Alternative 2 Since Alternative 2 removes the roadway, there would be no private drive maintenance costs. Vehicle Operating Costs The elimination of a roadway segment can create situations where vehicles must make longer trips to their destination than when the roadway was in use. As mentioned earlier, this is referred to as circuitry of travel. Right of way (ROW) staff from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) were contacted to determine how and when circuitry of travel damages are utilized in damage calculations. MnDOT frequently has to remove access to the trunk highway system in order to maintain safe operating conditions. For instance, in the study area, 850th Street was vacated in the area of TH 60. MnDOT ROW staff confirmed that the courts have ruled that circuitry of travel is not a damage that is typically able to be claimed unless the damage was extreme. Even in that instance, it is compensated in some way other than circuitry of travel, which is primarily through the severance process.

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The vehicle operating impacts resulting from a road closure were determined by the number of impacted vehicles and the additional distance that they must travel due to roadway closure. This analysis was completed to determine the severity of any circuitry of travel impacts. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) summarized an economic analysis of a bridge project in Virginia occurring in 2009. Within the analysis, FHWA presented average vehicular operating costs (VOC) of $0.23 per mile for passenger cars, and $0.62 for commercial vehicles for the variable operating costs (including costs for fuel, maintenance, etc.). To account for the increase in fuel costs between 2009 and today, we will use a VOC of $0.46 per mile for passenger cars, and $1.24 for commercial vehicles. The impact of this road closure can be measured by the number of passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles that must reroute. The count at CR 61 south of TH 60 shows 26 passenger cars, and 1 truck per day that must travel approximately 2 extra miles to reach TH 60. Using the costs from FHWA, the additional operating cost of this roadway closure would be VOC = [(26 passenger cars)*($0.46) + (1 commercial vehicle)*($1.24)] * 2 miles = $26.40 per day or = $9,636.00 per year

These impacts are the cost of background traffic and therefore are not attributed to any particular parcels.

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Harvest Impacts As mentioned previously, certain parcels will be impacted at harvest time. To determine this impact, we examined the acreage of the affected parcels, the number of loads required (to determine the number of loads, we projected 16 loads of corn per 80 acres, two trips each), and then multiplied by the commercial vehicle operating costs and the additional distance required to access TH 60. Table 2 summarizes harvest impacts to those parcels.
Table 2 - Additional Harvest Costs
Parcel Owner acreage yearly harvest loads current distance to TH 60 proposed distance to TH 60 add'l distance add'l annual cost

John Schwartz/ Schwartz Farms Inc Duane Schmitz et al Darol Schmitz Randol Schmitz et al Mavis Behrends JCW Farms Dorothy Graf

159.06 187.53 79.77 79.77 157.17 160.47 79.92

64 76 32 32 62 64 32

0.75 0.40 0.40 0.75 1.25 1.00 1.00

1.75 2.30 2.30 1.75 3.25 1.50 1.50

1.00 1.90 1.90 1.00 2.00 0.50 0.50

$ 78.89 $ $ $ $ $ $ 176.73 75.18 39.57 155.91 39.80 19.82

This analysis shows that the number of affected vehicles is few, and the additional distance that must be traveled is short. The additional vehicle operating cost is too low to preclude a road closure at County Road 61 at TH 60.

Conclusion
The segment of CR 61 that is proposed to be vacated does not appear to carry enough traffic volume nor serve an access purpose that would preclude any consideration of vacation. The low levels of traffic volume could be handled by parallel roadways and the additional private vehicular costs to the general public due to the loss of this roadway segment are low. Based on the analysis of the two alternatives for disposition of CR 61 north of 850th Street, the one time costs and benefits favor Alternative 1 which would leave the road surface in place as a private drive. The primary expense with this alternative is the additional costs of drive maintenance which are estimated as $800 each for the Rose Marie Otterson and John Schwartz farms. The actual figures may be lower, however, since it is unlikely that they would choose to maintain the existing road surface all the way to the railroad tracks, but would instead, maintain only that roadway necessary to reach their property access.

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The analysis of harvest costs shows that there will be a modest additional cost for a small number of farms in the immediate area of the proposed vacation. These costs do not appear to reach the level of extraordinary which would necessitate compensation. Therefore, there does not appear to be any overwhelming technical or financial restrictions which would prevent the vacation of the segment of CR 61 north of 850th Street and the revocation of CR 61 south of 850th Street.