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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 4064 City of Palo Alto (ID # 4064) City Council Staff Report Report Type: Informational Report Meeting Date: 9/16/2013 City of Palo Alto Page 1 Summary Title: Embarcadero Road Corridor Study Informational Title: Update on the Embarcadero Road Corridor Study Between Palo Alto High School Pedestrian Crossing and El Camino Real From: City Manager Lead Department: Planning and Community Environment Recommendation Staff recommends that Council receive this Information Memorandum on proposed improvement options along Embarcadero Road between the Caltrain Crossing and El Camino Real. Staff will submit a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) project recommendation during the mid-year budget cycle to establish a project for the design phase of near-term improvements on the corridor. Background Embarcadero Road between the Caltrain Crossing and El Camino Real supports 12,350 vehicles per day with as many as 2,000 pedestrians/bicyclists per day. Major traffic generators include Stanford University west of El Camino Real, Town & Country Shopping Center, Palo Alto High School (PALY), and normal commute as Embarcadero Road serves as one of a few of the City’s east-west corridors through the City. Peak time pedestrian traffic during the morning school commute average 57 pedestrians while noon pedestrian activities spike to 1,527 pedestrians between PALY and Town & Country. Embarcadero Road provides two continuous westbound lanes towards El Camino Real and reduce to one lane on Galvez Street west of El Camino Real. Eastbound two travel lanes are provided and reduce down to one lane east of the PALY driveway. Embarcadero Road underneath the Caltrain tracks can only support three travel lanes (2 west and 1 east) but multi- use pedestrian and bicycle facilities are provided providing connections to the seasonal Caltrain Platform, the Embarcadero Trail, and the Town & Country Shopping Center/Palo Alto Medical Foundation. City of Palo Alto Page 2 Three traffic signals at the PALY Pedestrian Crossing, Town & Country Shopping Center-PALY driveways, and El Camino Real facilitate movements through and across Embarcadero Road. The El Camino Real traffic signal is operated & maintained by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) while the other two traffic signals are operated & maintained by the City of Palo Alto. Each of the traffic signals operates independently from the others due to a lack of traffic signal interconnection between the traffic signals. The lack of traffic signal interconnection eliminates the opportunity to properly coordinate traffic signal facilities and can result in congestion along a corridor with motorists stopping at consecutive traffic signal facilities. Traffic signals throughout Palo Alto are interconnected with fiber optics with the exception of Downtown along Lytton Avenue, University Avenue, and Hamilton Avenue and Embarcadero Road at the PALY Pedestrian Crossing and the Town & Country Shopping Center-PALY driveways. The Downtown traffic signals will be interconnected with fiber optics this fiscal year. There are no current plans to interconnect the two Embarcadero Road traffic signals at this time. Analysis In the Spring of 2012 staff initiated a Concept Plan Line study of Embarcadero Road between the Caltrain Crossing and El Camino Real in efforts to identify near-term and long-term opportunities to improve vehicle progression along the corridor while also improving pedestrian/bicycle travel. Concept Plan Line studies are intended to identify geometry improvement opportunities that can be immediately implemented but ignore more substantial underground utility conflicts that require additional analysis and that may lead to larger projects with more substantial environmental analysis. TJKM Transportation Consultants provides on-call traffic engineering support to the City and was tasked with completing the study. The Embarcadero Road Concept Plan Line study also includes a traffic signal operations analysis to identify existing Level of Service (LOS) operations and measure delay impacts from the existing roadway configuration. The LOS analysis also allows for the identification of near-term traffic signal modification improvements. Traffic Signal Analysis City of Palo Alto Page 3 Embarcadero Road & PALY Pedestrian Crossing The Embarcadero Road & PALY Pedestrian Crossing is the east-most traffic signal facility in the study area. The traffic signal facilitates predominantly pedestrian activity across Embarcadero Road with peak pedestrian crossing activity occurring during the noon lunch hour with students from PALY visiting Town & Country Shopping Center for lunch. The traffic signal also facilities right-turn only vehicle movements that existing the shopping center near the Trader Joe’s Market. This traffic signal was last modified as part of Town & Country Shopping Center renovation in 2008 when the driveway controls were added. The Embarcadero Road Concept Plan Line identified the removal of the signalized driveway movement, and conversion to a STOP control movement instead, as an opportunity to improve progression on Embarcadero Road through the removal of the unnecessary delays. The pedestrian crossing activities should continue to be signalized but removal of the driveway controls will reduce the number of times that Embarcadero Road traffic needs to stop. Motorists at the driveway were observed to not comply with the traffic signal controls and stop multiple times even after entering Embarcadero Road during a green signal indication. Removal of the signalized driveway movement is recommended. Staff met with the owner and manager of the Town & Country Shopping Center and they were supportive of the recommendation. Recommendation No 1: Remove the Trader Joe’s Market signal facility for motorists only. Embarcadero Road & Town & Country-PALY Driveways The Embarcadero Road & Town & Country-PALY Driveways traffic signal operates in a split- phase operation where the Town & Country Driveway operates separately from the PALY Driveway when it has a green signal indication, with the PALY Driveway stopped, and vice versa the Town & Country Driveway stops when the PALY Driveway has its green signal indication; delay on Embarcadero Road is high at this intersection as a results even during non-peak periods. Motorists are further frustrated when they approach the Embarcadero Road & PALY Pedestrian Crossing traffic signal during an addition red cycle to serve pedestrians or the right turn only shopping center movement. Consideration to remove the Embarcadero Road & PALY Pedestrian Crossing was given as part of the Concept Plan Line study but not recommended due to the high volume of pedestrian activity. Combination of the two traffic signals with crosswalks being relocated at the Embarcadero Road & Town & Country-PALY Driveways would gridlock the Town & Country Shopping Center driveway and as a result was not recommended. Instead, the study recommends tiered improvements at the two intersections. First, a combination of the two traffic signals to one traffic signal controller is recommended to help coordinate the PALY City of Palo Alto Page 4 Pedestrian Crossing with the Town & Country-PALY Driveways. The traffic signal facilities would continue to appear as they do today to motorists and pedestrians but would operate in sync through the common traffic signal controller. Improved signal phasing operations would also be made available as part of the traffic signal modification. Second, minor roadway striping opportunities will help to improve westbound left turn storage for the PALY Driveway and facilitate movements out of the Town & Country Driveway through the marking of two lanes. One lane would be a dedicated left turn lane, exiting the shopping center. Motorists already position themselves into two lanes exiting the shopping center. Staff met with administrators from Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) and PALY to discuss this recommendation and they were supportive of the modification as was the Town & Country staff. These modifications are highlights in Attachment A – Near Term Embarcadero Road Improvements. Recommendation No 2: Modify the Embarcadero Road & PALY Pedestrian Crossing and the Embarcadero Road & Town & Country-PALY Driveways into one traffic signal facility through the use of one traffic signal controller. Recommendation No 3: Modify roadway markings on Embarcadero Road to lengthen the westbound left turn storage into the PALY Driveway and coordinate with Town & Country to provide dedicated left turn lane exiting the shopping center. Recommendations 1 through 3 reflect near-term improvements that can be implemented by Summer 2015 after establishment of a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) project. Upon establishment of the CIP a Request for Proposals (RFP) can be developed and advertised for design services to modify the traffic signal facility. The design phase will include additional community outreach and an environmental phase for CEQA. At the same time that the traffic signal modification plan is prepared, a plan to interconnect the traffic signal facility with the City’s fiber optic network can be prepared to help manager the traffic signal. The fiber optic interconnect can be implemented as part of the project or later as part of more substantial improvements discussed further in this report. Acceleration of the Design Phase CIP as part of the mid-year budget adjustment will be pursued to not delay the implementation of the recommended near-term improvements. Embarcadero Road & El Camino Real Long-term improvement options are available at the Embarcadero Road & Town & Country- PALY Driveway intersection but require coordination with Caltrans for improvements at the City of Palo Alto Page 5 Embarcadero Road & El Camino Real intersection and require additional analysis as part of a Caltrans Project Study Report (PSR) process. A PSR is the first step in establishing a project within Caltrans right-of-way and includes the development of Conceptive Plan Line study. Preliminary analysis as part of the Embarcadero Road Concept Plan Line study has identified two improvement options: A) Partial Widening of Embarcadero Road Provide a partial widening of Embarcadero Road to provide a 60-FT dedicated eastbound right turn lane into the PALY Driveway. The widening would eliminate the existing 10-FT wide parks strip and reposition the sidewalk along the south side of the street and require a more substantial traffic signal modification to remove and replace traffic signal poles and conduit networks. The partial widening helps reduce delays to eastbound Embarcadero Road traffic that is blocked from traffic turning right into PALY from the same lane. B) Full Widening of Embarcadero Road Provide a full widening of Embarcadero Road along the south side of the street between El Camino Real and the Town & Country-PALY Driveways. The full widening allows for a second westbound left turn lane on Embarcadero Road to better facilitate traffic turning onto Southbound El Camino Real. The improvements also allow for the removal of pork chop islands that provide free-right turn movements at three of the four corners of the intersection. Full widening of Embarcadero Road provides substantial capacity addition to the roadway and better accommodates pedestrian access by removing conflicts that can existing between pedestrians that are walking from the sidewalk to the pork chop islands where traffic signal facilities exist. During Stanford game days where large volumes of pedestrians travel between Stanford University and the Seasonal Caltrain platform this provides for larger refuge areas at the Embarcadero Road & El Camino Real intersection. Staff met with Stanford University staff to discuss the proposed operation and to identify any immediate conflicts with the Stanford Marguerite Shuttle Program or other campus operations. Stanford is interested in seeing a more complete analysis through the Caltrans Project Study Report process and also expressed interest in opportunities to build-out the El Camino Real Corridor Study with landscape opportunities on El Camino Real. Landscape opportunities can be studied but as part of any construction with El Camino Real would substantially impact the PSR and approval process with Caltrans so study is recommended but landscape construction is not at this time. City of Palo Alto Page 6 Both options require significant right-of-way coordination with PAUSD but no tree impacts are anticipated as the park strip buffer between El Camino Real and the Town & Country-PALY Driveways has no trees or shrubs planted on it. Sidewalk reconstruction would move the facility slightly south into the PALY campus to provide for some landscape buffering between the widening roadway and the new sidewalk. The Caltrans PSR Study would identify any underground utility conflicts and project requirements from Caltrans to ensure constructability. Opportunities to provide improved bicycle facilities on Embarcadero Road as part of either option are limited due to the lack of bicycle facilities east of the Town & Country-PALY Driveways but options for Share-the-Road (Sharrows) markings and dedicated ramps for bicyclists to enter the multi-use pathways underneath the Caltrain Crossing can be explored as part of the Caltrans PSR Study Process. Attachments B and C demonstrate the opportunities for roadway improvements through the Partial of Full Widening of Embarcadero Road options. Recommendation No 4: Fund a CIP for the development of a Caltrans PSR Study to plan long-term improvements along Embarcadero Road at El Camino Real. Completion of the PSR and subsequent design phases would also improve future grant-funding opportunities for a large project. Staff submitted a One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) proposal in the Spring for a project similar to those proposed in Embarcadero Road & El Camino Real – Full Widening Option 2 element. Many of the elements studied as part of the Embarcadero Road Concept Plan Line Study stem from the unfunded grant proposal and interest in helping to advance the project forward to be better positioned for future grant-funding opportunities. Palo Alto OBAG Proposal for El Camino Real Corridor Improvements: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/documents/33408 PAUSD has expressed interest in reconstructing the sidewalk along the El Camino Real frontage of PALY. Staff also included an element in the Embarcadero Road Concept Plan Line Study to determine whether a new southbound El Camino Real left turn option into the existing PALY Driveway on El Camino Real is feasible and completed concept signalization options but no coordination with Caltrans has taken place. Both of these options can be included in the Caltrans PSR Study for further analysis. Summary of Land Use Action Coordination with PAUSD will be required as the future Caltrans PSR project begins next fiscal City of Palo Alto Page 7 year to determine the amount of property or easement dedication required to complete a community-preferred project. Minor roadway marking improvements at Town & Country Shopping Center will also be required as part of the near-term improvements but the shopping center is expressed interest in accelerating the marking improvements on their own ahead of the projects to better facilitate vehicle movements at the center. Policy Implications Future policy approval will be required for the establishment of Capital Improvement Program projects during both the 2014 Mid-year and 2015 CIP process. Budget requirements for future proejcts will be included as part of the CIP process. Environmental Review CEQA will be analyzed as part of future subsequent projects. For the near-term recommendations 1 through 3 the City of Palo Alto would serve as the lead CEQA reviewing agency. For the long-term improvement recommendation options 4 and 5 Caltrans would require participation in CEQA for improvements within the public right-of-way along El Camino Real. In addition, if grant-funding were persued an additional NEPA assessment led by Caltrans may be required for improvements along El Camino Real. Courtesy Copies Palo Alto Unified School District – Kevin Skelly Town & Country Shopping Center – Ellis Partners LLC Stanford Univeristy – Planning Department Attachments:  ATT A - Near Term Options - Embarcadero (PDF)  ATT B - Long Term Options - Partial Widening of Embarcadero (PDF)  ATT C - Long Term Options - Full Widening of Embarcadero (PDF) Attachment A Near‐Term Improvement Options along Embarcadero Road Attachment B Long‐Term Improvement Options – Partial Widening of Embarcadero Road Attachment C Long‐Term Improvement Options – Full Widening of Embarcadero Road