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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-04-17 City Council (11)City of Polo Alto C ty Manager’s Report 6 TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: PLANNING AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT DATE: APRIL 17, 2000 CMR:216:00 SUBJECT:RESOLUTION ADOPTING A MID-BLOCK CROSSWALK ON EAST MEADOW DRIVE RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that Council approve the attached establishing a mid-block crosswalk on East Meadow Drive. resolution (Attachment A) BACKGROUND The Pacific Graduate School of Psychology is located in two buildings on the corner of East Meadow Drive and East Meadow Circle. One building is located on each side of East Meadow Drive (please refer to the vicinity map, Attachment B, and Exhibit 1 accompanying the attached draft resolution). The front doors and walkways for both buildings are located about 100 feet west of the unmarked crosswalk on East Meadow Drive at East Meadow Circle. This intersection is controlled by all-way stop signs. Approximately 320 students, faculty and staff pass between the two school buildings at class change and other times during the day. The most direct pedestrian route between the buildings is straight across East Meadow Drive, where the walkways of the two buildings reach the sidewalks. The. school reports that nearly all of its students, faculty and staff use this route rather than crossing at the intersection. This is most pronounced under the time constraints of class change time. The school director believes that simply painting a crosswalk at the intersection would not provide enough incentive for pedestrians to make the 250-foot detour to the corner and back just to cross a 50-foot-wide street. Thus, he has requested that the City install a crosswalk at the location where people are now crossing. The school director believes this would not induce more pedestrian crossings at this location, as most persons who would use the crosswalk are associated with the school, and they nearly all use this location now. CMR:216:00 Page 1 of 4 DISCUSSION The proposed project, illustrated in Exhibit 1, consists of a new raised mid-block crosswalk with associated signing. The raised crosswalk is the same height as existing speed humps on local streets in Palo Alto (three inches), but almost twice as long in the direction of travel (22 feet compared to 12 feet). The central ten feet--the crosswalk area--is flat, with six-foot approach and departure ramps. This design calls drivers’ attention to the crosswalk and requires them to slow down to approximately 25 mph (the existing posted si~eed limit) as they approach the crosswalk. This is the same design as the new raised crosswalk on Terman Drive in Palo Alto and an existing raised crosswalk on Campus Drive behind the Stanford University Medical Center. Because the long profile of a raised crosswalk permits higher vehicle crossing speeds than a 12-foot speed hump, it is suitable for use on collector streets such as East Meadow Drive. Collector and arterial streets form the primary emergency response street network for the Fire Department. The Fire Department will allow 22-foot long raised crosswalks and speed tables on collector streets in certain locations, subject to its approval. The Fire Department has given its approval for this location since it is close to a stop-controlled intersection where emergency vehicles have to slow down anyway. This project does not require roadway widening, restriping, or major drainage work. In order to provide sufficient driver visibility of pedestrians about to enter the crosswalk, parking would be removed about 25 feet in advance of the crosswalk in each travel direction. The project would result in the loss of about six on-street parking spaces. There is enough off-street parking in this commercial neighborhood that removal of six spaces will have an insignificant impact. Standard pedestrian warning signs will be installed as shown in Exhibit 1, including (facing each travel direction) an advanced warning sign and a warning sign at the crosswalk on the right edge of the road. The Pacific Graduate School of Psychology will design and construct this project at its cost, following Transportation Division requirements. The estimated cost of the project is $7,700. The City will be responsible for any needed enforcement and ongoing maintenance. After considering various options, and with the reservations discussed below, staff has agreed that such a crosswalk would be acceptable. ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATION The most obvious alternative to installing the crosswalk at this location is to instead install a standard painted crosswalk (with or without refuge islands) at the existing stop- controlled intersection of East Meadow Drive with East Meadow Circle. That location is approximately 90 feet east of the proposed location. The advantage of this alternative is that the crosswalk would be at a stop-controlled intersection, rather than mid-block. The disadvantage, discussed under "Background," is that students and school personnel would probably not use it. CMR:216:00 Page 2 of 4 Other alternatives are to install the crosswalk at the proposed location but utilize different designs, such as a lighted crosswalk using flashing lights embedded in the roadway, or curb bulbs to reduce the pedestrian crossing distance. Another alternative would be a level painted crosswalk with pedestrian refuge islands in the middle of the street, similar to those existing on Fabian Way near the school location. These designs could be combined in various ways..The alternative with refuge islands would cost about the same as the raised crosswalk. Its primary advantage would be that mid-street pedestrian refuge islands would allow pedestrians to cross one direction of traffic at a time and allow for placement of prominent warning signs in the middle of the road. The lighted crosswalk or bulbouts would cost about $10,000 - $20,000 for each type (additive if combined). Staff believes that all of these crosswalk designs (raised, lighted, refuge islands, curb bulbs, or a combination) are equally acceptable for a mid-block location, in terms of providing better pedestrian safety. RESOURCE IMPACT The only cost to the City would be the ongoing incremental maintenance workload associated with the crosswalk elements, estimated at about $200 annually. The Public Works Operations Division would have to absorb this extra cost within its existing budget. POLICY IMPLICATIONS City staff has previously opposed the installation of new mid-block crosswalks of the standard design--i.e., those that consist solely of striping and signs. This position, in general, will continue, as it is based on professional literature that indicates that standard mid-block crosswalks create a false sense of security for pedestrians. Even though the vehicle code requires drivers to stop for pedestrians, many drivers do not do so, or may not even realize that a crosswalk is present. In some cases, contrary to the vehicle code, pedestrians step into the roadway too close to an approaching driver who would be unable to stop even if the driver wanted to. When there is no crosswalk, a pedestrian is more likely to exercise greater care when crossing, choosing appropriate gaps in traffic. That position notwithstanding, staff has supported several new mid-block crosswalks in the past few years that employ the higher-visibility designs discussed in this report. New mid-block crosswalks on Welch Road, Quarry Road, and Fabian Way have all included refuge islands and highly visible signs. The newest mid-block installation on Terman Drive is a raised crosswalk without refuge islands, installed as part of the new Mid- Peninsula Jewish Community Day School development. All of these crosswalks were installed in response to special needs in those specific areas. All of these designs are more visible to the driver and offer some additional safety to pedestrians compared to the standard crosswalk. Staff believes that this increased visibility causes more drivers to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalks. An advantage of high-quality marked crosswalks (compared to random pedestrian crossings at unmarked locations) is that pedestrians tend CMR:216:00 Page 3 of 4 to shift their crossing location to the single marked location, providing drivers a focussed location at which to expect pedestrian activity. Staff will continue to positively consider requests for mid-block crosswalks for special situations, using high-quality visible designs, including raised crosswalks, curb bulbs, refuge islands, and lighted crosswalks. The proposed crosswalk is consistent with Comprehensive Plan Goal T-3: "Facilities, Services, and Programs that Encourage and Promote Walking and Bicycling". It is specifically supported by Program .T-32: "Improve pedestrian crossings with bulbouts, small curb radii, street trees near comers, bollards, and landscaping to create protected areas." ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Installation of crosswalks and related signing is considered to be a minor operational improvement and is therefore categorically exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act section 15301. Therefore, no environmental assessment is required. ATTACHMENTS A.Resolution Approving Crosswalk B.Vicinity Map PREPARED BY: Carl Stoffel, Transportation Engineer DEPARTMENT HEAD: GAWF Director of Planning and Community Environment CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:~ ~E ’MILY HARRIS ON Assistant City Manager cc:Alldn Calvin, Ph.D., Pacific Graduate School of Psychology CMR:216:00 Page 4 of 4 ATTACHMENT A RESOLUTION NO. RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO ESTABLISHING A CROSSWALK BETWEEN INTER- SECTIONS ON EAST MEADOW DRIVE BETWEEN LOUIS ROAD AND EAST MEADOW CIRCLE WHEREAS, pursuant to Vehicle Code section 21106, the legislative body of a city or county, by ordinance or resolution, may establish crosswalks between intersections; and WHEREAS, the Council desires to approve the establishment of a crosswalk on East Meadow Drive between the East Meadow Circle and Louis Road intersections, as shown on Exhibit i, attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference. NOW, THEREFORE, the Council of the City of Palo Alto does RESOLVE as follows: SECTION I. The Council hereby establishes a pedestrian crosswalk on East Meadow Drive, between the East Meadow Circle and Louis Road intersections, as shown more specifically in Exhibit i. SECTION 2.The Council finds that this project constitutes a minor alteration to existing highways and streets and as such is categorically exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (~CEQA")pursuant to Section f15301(c) of the CEQA Guidelines. INTRODUCED AND PASSED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTENTIONS: ATTEST:APPROVED: City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: Senior Asst. City Attorney Mayor City Manager Director of Planning and Community Environment 000314 syn 0090608.doe Director of Administrative Services EXHIBIT i ATTACHMENTB ViCiNiTY NOT TO SCALE P