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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-06-07 City Council (13)City of Palo Alto City Manager’s Report TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: PLANNING AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT DATE: SUBJECT: JUNE 7, 2004 CMR: 270:04 SECOND TRIAL PLAN FOR DOWNTOWN NORTH T1LAFFIC CALMING PROJECT This is an informational report and no Council action is required. BACKGROUND On March 29, 2004, Council directed staff to remove most elements of the first trial plan for the Downtown North Traffic Calming project that was installed in June 2003, including six of the seven street closures. Council directed staff to implement one of the staff-prepared alternative traffic calming plans (the No Closures Plan) with modifications, for a one-year trial period. Council also approved Resolution 8415, as revised, to reflect approval of the modified No Closures Plan. Council asked staff to provide an informational report on various aspects of the new plan, as discussed below. DISCUSSION Second Trial Plan Council approved implementation of the No Closures Plan with two modifications--(i) keep the existing closure on Palo Alto Avenue at Middlefield, and (ii) add a speed table on Palo Alto Avenue west of Bryant as a replacement for the removed street closure near Bryant. Council also gave staff the latitude to add up to two traffic circles to Hawthorne and/or Everett to strengthen the plan, without the need for further Council approval. The Commission and some Council Members were concerned about the impact of the Everett/High street closure (in the first trial plan) and the Alma!Everett turn restriction (in the No Closures and Modified Mixed Measures Plans) on the retail business of Stanford Electric, but Council’s motion did not remove that turn restriction from the plan. Staff believes it is important to maintain the tuna restrictions at all four locations in order to insure that neither Hawthorne nor Everett becomes the sole, unbalanced access point for through traffic during the peak hours. At its March 29 meeting, Council also gave direction to staff to evaluate adding either one or two additional traffic circles to the No Closures Plan (second trial plan) as adopted by CMR:270:04 Page 1 of 6 Council. Staff does not recommend adding additional traffic circles to the No Closures Plan since additional circles would not add significantly to the volume or speed reduction effects of the second trial plan; hence they are not cost-effective. Staff plans to locate the new speed table on Pa!o Alto Avenue to the west of Emerson, about midway between Alma and Bryant, in order to impact the section of Palo Alto Avenue that includes the Emerson to Alma travel route. In this section it can be located approximately midway between Alma and Bryant, about 120 feet west of Emerson at a location with good sight distance and a straight alignment on the property line between two single family houses. The Council-adopted second trial plan described above is illustrated in Figure 1. New Performance Measures for Second Trial Plan It is important to note that, due to the desire to expedite installation of the turn restrictions, the Transportation Division will be unable (owing to time restriction) to collect new existing conditions data (post-closure removal, but prior to installation of the turn restriction sig-ns). There was some interest expressed, during recent public hearings at the Planning and Transportation Commission and Council on the first traffic calming trial plan, in trying to collect an even more comprehensive and robust set of such data than had been collected before and after installation of the first trial plan. Ordinarily, per best practices in traffic engineering assessment, the Transportation Division would collect new pre-project data just prior to installation of any measures that are expected to change traffic conditions (as for example with installation of turn restrictions), then collect the same data (e.g. traffic counts at the same locations as pre-project data collection) after a settling down of traffic in the project area. The purpose of doing so would be to appraise effects of the measures installed. Since staff will be unable, because of too short a time window between battier removal and installation of the turn restriction signs, to collect a set of brand new (and potentially more comprehensive) data, the Transportation Division will rely on the somewhat more limited data set collected in February 2003, prior to installation in June 2003 of the first Downtown North traffic calming trial plan (i.e. pre-project with no traffic calming measures in place). By the time the second trial plan is evaluated beginning in February 2005, the February 2003 "before" data will be two years old. During this two-year period, it is possible that other factors besides the new trial plan will have caused changes in traffic counts, thus lessening the accuracy of the before/after calculations. Such factors include land use changes, roadway improvements or changes, and the general upward trend of regional traffic volumes. CMR:270:04 Page 2 of 6 KEY ~Existing Stop Sign ill Speed Table -’Bulbout Pair (~TraiSc Circle [] Street Closure Insall New Speed Line of 160 PAAve!180 Emerson Bike Bridge 7-10 AN Johnson Park FIGURE 1 I~:O O ND G1RIAL PLAN DO~NTO\AN NORTH TR~.FFI C C IAIALMtNG PROJECT CMR:270:04 Page 3 of 6 As indicated, the "before" baseline data will be that which was gathered before the first (seven street closures) Downtown North trial began. Approximately five months after implementation of the second trial plan, corresponding "after" data will be gathered. Most perfol-mance measures will be evaluated by comparing the before!after data. Staff will develop a revised set of performance measures in consultation with residents representing the various interest groups that enaerged during the evaluation of the trial traffic calming project. Staff expects that this process will take from one to two months, after which the new performance measures will be transmitted to Council in another informational staff report. RESOURCE IMPACT The second trial plan as approved by Council will cost approximately $77,000, including $15,000 for removal of the first trial plan elements (already accomplished), $4,000 for new before/after data, and $58,000 for installation of the second trial plan elements. There is $85,000 in the Transportation Division FY 2003/04 operating budget for this project, which would need to be carried over to FY 2004/05. The estimated cost for Public Works Operations to maintain the traffic calming measures in the second trial plan is approximately $2,500 annually. This extra maintenance requirement is not funded. In the near future, when the PTC and Council consider staff’s proposed revisions to the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program, staff will propose that funding for annual maintenance of new ta’affic cahning measures be taken from the Traffic Calming Program CIP. Any possible future changes to the second trial plan are not included in these estimates. If the plan is successful and remains permanently, an additional approximately. $12,000 would be required to fill the three traffic circles with decomposed granite, similar to the fill used in the now-removed street closures. Additional funds would have to be secured for this work, or any future changes to the plan. POLICY IMPLICATIONS This traffic cahning plan is consistent with Comprehensive Plan policies and programs relating to neighborhood streets, including the following: Policy T-32: "Design and maintain the City street network to provide a variety of alternate routes, so that the traffic loads on any one street are ininimized." Policy T-33: "Keep all neighborhood streets open unless there is a demonstrated safety or overwhelming through traffic problem and there are no acceptable alternatives, or unless a closure would increase the use of alternative transportation modes." Policy T-34: Implement traffic calming measures to slow traffic on local and collector residential streets and prioritize these measures over congestion l’nanagement. Include traffic circles and other traffic calming devices among these measures." CMR:270:04 Page 4 of 6 TIMELINE Removal of the six street closures and two gateway features near Middlefield was completed by Friday, April 9. An expedited implementation of the second trial plan will require two phases. The first phase is locating sites for and installing the peak-period turn restriction signs. This entails specifying locations, ensuring that no underground utilities would be damaged by installation of the signs, and sig-n installation. The last step, sign installation, was completed by April 23. Following is an approximate timetable for the one-year trial: ¯ Turn restriction signs installed April 23, 2004. Construction of second trial plan begins mid-August 2004. It is expected that construction will be completed no later than mid-September 2004. Every effort will be made to minimize any disruption to traffic flow during construction. ¯One-year trial begins mid-September 2004. ¯Trial evaluation begins mid-February 2005 for three months (includes data gathering, neighborhood meeting, and resident opinion survey). ¯Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC) meetings June 2005 ¯City Council meeting and decision regarding second Downtown North Traffic Calming Trial September 2005 Installation of the second trial plan physical measures, including traffic circles and speed tables, is governed by how quickly staff can prepare the plans and specifications and hire a contractor. Staff projects that this installation will begin in mid-August. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW A mitigated negative declaration was approved by the Council for the Modified Mixed Measures Plan, which included plans with similar or less impact, such as the second trial plan. CMR:270:04 Page 5 of 6 PREPARED BY: DEPARTMENT HEAD: CARL STOFFELD //~ Transportation Engineer STEVE EMSLIE Director of Planning and Community Environment CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: EMILY HARRISON Assistant City Manager DTNNA representatives (Dan Lorimer, Chas Pavlovic, Mike Liveright, Josh Mogal) Unblock representatives (Joe Durand, Dana DeNault, Pat Markevitch, Steve Kutner) Lytton neighborhood representatives (Alan and Bonnie Luntz) Palo Bicycle Advisory Committee Melnbers City of Menlo Park Transportation Division CMR:270:04 Page 6 of 6