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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-03; Traffic and Mobility Commission; MinutesPage 1 of 8 Council Chambers 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive Carlsbad, CA 92008 Jan. 3, 2023, 4:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER: 4:04 p.m. ROLL CALL: Perez, Linke, Penseyres, Fowler, and Coelho Absent: Proulx and Newlands PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Chair Perez led the Pledge of Allegiance APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes of the Regular Meeting held Dec. 5, 2022. Motion by Vice-Chair Linke, seconded by Commissioner Coelho to approve the minutes of Dec. 5, 2022, regular meeting as amended. Motion carried 5/0/2 (Absent: Proulx and Newlands) Chair Perez made a correction on the title for Jason Geldert as Engineering Manager, pages 11 and 12. PUBLIC COMMENT: Kirsten Ludwig spoke about the lane width reduction along Cannon Road and also said that the right-hand turn lane from northbound El Camino Real to eastbound Cannon Road is now too small. Residents feel that the changes were made to enhance safety for the cyclists but now the entire road is safety compromised. Residents would like the lanes to be restriped to the width they were prior to this project. She suggested that staff could shrink the median to make enough space for the wider lanes. Lori Robin spoke about pedestrian safety along the railroad in Carlsbad. She said that there are no pedestrian warning gates at the railroad surface crossings in Carlsbad. She believes that these types of gates can be installed with federal funds that are available for this type of improvement. Carlsbad should be working on obtaining these types of federal grants. Chair Perez left the meeting at 4:15 p.m. CONSENT CALENDAR: None DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS: 1.POLICE REPORT REGARDING TRAFFIC & MOBILITY-RELATED MATTERS DURING THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 2022 – Receive a presentation from a representative of the City of Carlsbad’s Police Department that provide an overview of traffic and mobility-related police matters during the month of December 2022. (Staff Contact: Sergeant Scott Meritt, Police Department). Staff’s Recommendation: Receive a presentation Sergeant Meritt presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office Page 2 of 8 of the City Clerk) Vice-Chair Linke stated that the significant reduction in serious collisions of the past few months has been great. He emphasized that the bicycle injuries are very low, but we still have vehicle collision injury. We need to focus on these vehicle injuries as well as the bicycle injuries. Commissioner Proulx joined the meeting at 4:25 p.m. 2.2022 EAST-WEST CORRIDORS EMERGENCY RESURFACING AND RESTRIPING, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM PROJECT NO. 6001-22E – Support staff’s recommendation to the City Council to approve plans and specifications for the 2022 East-West Corridors Emergency Resurfacing and Restriping Project, Capital Improvement Project No. 6001-22E, as part of the Pavement Management Program. (Staff Contact: Tom Frank and Eric Zielke, Public Works Department) Staff’s Recommendation: Support staff’s recommendation. Transportation Director Frank presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk). PUBLIC COMMENT: Kurt Bantle spoke about the street re-striping and resurfacing project which has created an unsafe situation on Cannon Road. He would like to be able to map out the collisions and injuries and see where they are located. Cannon Road has become unsafe. There are now more cars in the bicycle lane then there were previously. He understands the need to create balance for road usage, but he would like to know that we are taking everything into a holistic view. Vice-Chair Linke clarified that the setting of the speed limit is based on an engineering survey that the city completes to analyze a specific number of cars during non-rush hour and finding the 85th- percentile speed. The road hasn’t been restriped long enough for staff to do that type of analysis. Transportation Director Frank said that this is correct. Commissioner Coelho inquired about what determines median width and what goes into determining how wide it is during design and construction? Transportation Director Frank said that median width is determined by city standards in place when the plans were approved. The median at Cannon Road was built to city standards. Commissioner Coelho said that he did some research into the California Vehicle Code and found that the widest vehicle allowed on the road without flags is 130 inches wide. The widest fire trucks are 120 inches wide. Transportation Director Frank said that he believed the legal limit for a width of a vehicle on the road is eight feet with the exception of the side view mirrors. Vice-Chair Linke said that he believes the legal limit for width of a vehicle is eight and a half feet plus one foot per side for the mirrors. This would make buses and trucks reach out to ten and a half feet. Page 3 of 8 Transportation Director Frank said that he will verify the legal limits and send out the information. Commissioner Fowler asked if Carlsbad Village Drive east of El Camino Real would look like Cannon Road as you drive up the hill. Right now, it is two lanes on each side. These two roads are comparable. It looks like the lane width will be reduced, and buffered bike lanes will be added. Transportation Director Frank said that is correct, this road will be like Cannon Road and will have eight foot bike lanes. Commissioner Fowler said that further to the east, starting at Pontiac Drive there is a segment that is two lanes with sharrows. Will staff consider widening this area at some point? Transportation Director Frank answered that coming down from Pontiac Drive going east there is over 32 feet, and as it goes down to the east it narrows. Where it is 26 feet width, we propose to leave sharrows in this segment until we can do further widening. Commissioner Fowler said previously there had been a proposal to widen that segment. However, there are eucalyptus groves in this segment. There was community pushback about cutting down these trees to widen the road. Would it be possible to widen this street without cutting down the trees? Transportation Director Frank said that they don’t have the footprint developed but it would take retaining walls to do this type of improvement. Some of the trees would have to be removed in order to widen that roadway. This would include sidewalks on each side, bike lanes on each side plus a retaining wall. Commissioner Fowler said that he rides his bicycle on this segment of roadway close to the sidewalk and cars still swerve into the opposing lane to get around. He is skeptical of putting a sharrow in this area because he can’t imagine riding down the middle of the lane going 12 mph leading a parade of cars that want to travel faster. Transportation Director Frank said that staff believe it is a better use of the space to keep a sharrow condition as exists today with thirteen feet on each side. Staff believe this is the best option until we can widen the roadway and provide adequate bike lanes. Commissioner Penseyres commented that he believes that we should track the crashes before and after to determine if what we are doing is the right thing for the existing conditions. Carlsbad has many hills and this makes a big difference for a cyclist. Commissioner Penseyres said that he has ridden the narrow section on Carlsbad Village Drive and the sharrows allow the cyclists to control the lane to the point where cars come up behind you, they slow down and then the cyclist can move over to allow the car to pass. Leaving the road as is with the sharrows would be his recommendation. Vice-Chair Linke said that he has significant concerns to the proposed changes to the higher volume streets like La Costa Avenue and Cannon Road. Starting with the vehicle lane eliminations, he thinks the ones that are proposed are fine. They are in areas where the traffic volumes are low enough to justify the reduction. One concern he has is that going forward there is an odd plan to reduce the number of lanes to one lane Page 4 of 8 between intersections and then expand it back out to two lanes at the intersection. The cars would merge in and out at each intersection. Is this a new philosophy that staff is planning to use at intersections? Transportation Director Frank replied that they look at the individual streets. An example would be El Fuerte Street, where they are looking at the lane drop between Faraday Avenue and south of Bressi Ranch to tie in to the existing one lane in each direction configuration. When there are short distances between intersections, we wouldn’t then transition back to one travel lane in each direction. Staff’s objective when doing an arterial reconfiguration or restriping is to consider the needs of all of the users however we do recognize that a significant proportion of users are vehicles so that is the first mode of travel that we consider. Therefore, there could be some transitions like El Fuerte Street where we plan to do a lane reduction from Faraday Avenue up to Loker Avenue and then keep it two lanes in each direction through the Bressi Ranch segment. Vice-Chair Linke spoke about the lane width reduction on Cannon Road. Studies have shown that there is an increase in side-swipe collisions with a lane width reduction. While driving this segment of road, he has noticed vehicles crossing over the lines, and he has noticed landscape trailers swaying between lanes. He knows the trend is to widen the bike lanes but on certain streets this will increase the collision frequency. Transportation Director Frank referenced a study regarding highway lane widths in rural settings that compares the collision rate between 10.5-foot and 12-foot travel lanes. In the construction zone I-5 currently has an 11-foot-wide travel lane and cars are still comfortable traveling at highway speeds. He welcomes any data or statistics that show that a ten-foot urban arterial travel lane results in any type of collision increase. Staff’s goal is to find a balance for all of the modes of travel. La Costa Avenue has 50,000 trips a day for vehicles and 400 bicyclists a day travel this segment as well. Plus, you have runners and pedestrians. That roadway is heavily used by vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians. When considering lane widths, staff strives to providing buffers and extra space for the more vulnerable users (e.g. bicycles and pedestrians). This is how staff came up with the 10-10.5 foot wide travel lanes. He believes 11-foot travel lanes are excessively wide for urban arterials. Staff received similar comments when they reduced the travel lanes down from 12-feet to 11-feet as they are getting now. It is uncomfortable for users, and they notice that they have to pay attention much more, but this uncertainty actually makes drivers focus more on the conditions around them. Looking at the latest engineering guidelines and available research on collision data we consider the ten-foot width to be an appropriate width to balance the needs of all roadway users. Vice-Chair Linke said that this is a very big change, and he believes that City Council should be reviewing. We have members of the public who are concerned. Commissioner Fowler asked about the intersection of Poinsettia Lane and Aviara Parkway. There is a double left hand turn lane and double right hand turn lane. Is this intersection part of the restriping project? Transportation Director Frank confirmed that this intersection is a part of this restriping project. It will become one right hand turn lane instead of dual right hand turn lanes. There will be two lanes to go straight through the intersection. Transportation Director Frank clarified that on the small segment of Olivenhain Road they are being consistent with the existing striping within the City of Encinitas. Page 5 of 8 Vice-Chair Linke asked if staff would agree to highlight the fact that there was a concern about the lane width. He will just vote no on the recommendations with the caveat that he supported much of it. He is concerned that we are making a recommendation while the whole thing is in flux and many more changes could be added by staff between now and the City Council meeting. Commissioner Coelho commented that he understood that staff is waiting for input from CalTrans only. Is this correct? Transportation Director Frank replied that this is correct and that there are some minor revisions that were pointed out. There are no other issues that are in flux. Commissioner Coelho asked about the input from CalTrans. Do we have to go with whatever they decide or is there a negotiation of some sort? Transportation Director Frank explained that we are currently going through the approval process with CalTrans. We need to do these transitions to the existing interchange area in order to be compliant with their conditions today. Vice-Chair Linke stated that he thinks we should have caution when there is an exception to go down to 10-foot wide lanes because CalTrans does not think it is a good idea. It is up to City Council to decide if they want a new policy in going down to 10-foot lanes around the city. Commissioner Coelho said that the Commission should make recommendations as presented on four lanes and make additional recommendations on the other two lanes. If there are additional issues you can go to the City Council meeting and make your specific objections known. Motion by Commissioner Fowler, seconded by Commissioner Proulx to support staff’s recommendation to the City Council to approve plans and specifications for the 2022 East-West Corridors Emergency Resurfacing and Restriping Project, Capital Improvement Project No. 6001-22E, as part of the Pavement Management Program. Motion carried, 4/1/2 (No: Linke; Absent: Perez and Newlands) Vice-Chair Linke wanted the minutes to reflect that he voted No due to his concerns with the reduction of lane widths on the multi-lane arterial roads. 3. RECONFIGURE EL FUERTE STREET FROM FARADAY AVENUE TO LOKER AVENUE PROVIDING A MORE BALANCED STREET CROSS SECTION – Support staff’s recommendation to the City Council to reconfigure El Fuerte Street from Faraday Avenue to Loker Avenue to provide a more balanced street cross section including one 10-foot vehicle lane in each direction plus a center median or two-way left turn lane, 8-foot bike lanes, and 9-foot buffers. (Staff Contact: Tom Frank, Public Works Department) Staff’s Recommendation: Support staff’s recommendation Transportation Director Frank presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk). Page 6 of 8 PUBLIC COMMENT: David Pierce spoke in support of reconfiguring El Fuerte Street from Faraday Avenue to Loker Avenue. Commissioner Proulx asked if after removing the lane if the traffic pattern was as much post covid as it was pre-covid. Has there been consideration for the traffic increasing over time as we return to normal? Transportation Director Frank said they did take pre-covid traffic patterns into consideration. Commissioner Proulx asked if there are developments planned for this area that would add traffic flow? Transportation Director Frank responded that they also looked at future projected traffic demands. Commissioner Penseyres said that the existing bike lanes are 4.5 feet and that includes the gutter pan. This does not meet the minimum requirements for a Class II bike lane, does it? He believes it must be five feet. Transportation Director Frank replied that the CalTrans guidelines has the minimum requirement of five feet. Commissioner Penseyres stated that even if they left the street at two lanes each way that the traffic lanes would have to shrink to provide a basic minimum width bike lane. He also commented that when you provide a wide buffer in addition to a bike lane that the bike lane stops being swept by the adjacent vehicles and more debris ends up in the bike lane. Therefore, we need to increase the frequency of street sweeping in the bike lane. Will staff be looking at the street sweeping schedule? Transportation Director Frank replied that he does not know if they need to change the frequency of street sweeping. They will make sure to observe this issue and make sure that we are sweeping appropriately. Vice-Chair Linke agreed that eliminating a vehicle lane here is justified. However, he still thinks we could have eleven-foot driving lanes and an eleven-foot center turn lane. This would only reduce the bike lane buffer down to seven and a half feet which is still a substantial buffer. Therefore, it would minimize conflict with vehicles. He is just concerned about the precedent that is being set where we are going to ten-foot lanes and a ten-foot center turn lane. He supports the road diet, but he does not support the reduction to a ten-foot-wide lane. Transportation Director Frank commented that they are proposing the ten-foot-wide vehicle travel lane to be consistent with the other arterials. We recognize that we have an extra wide buffer in this area. Again, he understands some might feel uncomfortable with a ten-foot travel lane versus the twelve-foot travel lane. He wants to remind people that the width and extra space allows people to feel like they can travel faster. We see this in the traffic speed data. However, when the street is narrower or has cars parked along the side this slows driver behavior. Motion by Commissioner Proulx, seconded by Commissioner Penseyres to support the staff’s recommendations to the City Council to reconfigure El Fuerte Street from Faraday Avenue to Loker Avenue to provide a more balanced street cross section including one 10-foot vehicle lane in each Page 7 of 8 direction plus a center median or two-way left turn lane, 8-foot bike lanes, and 9-foot buffers. Motion carried, 4/1/2 (No: Linke; Absent: Perez and Newlands). Vice-Chair Linke wanted the minutes to reflect that he supported the lane elimination but not the lane width reduction. 4. SEMIANNUAL TRANSPORTATION REPORT– Receive the Semiannual Transportation Report. (Staff Contact: Tom Frank, Public Works Department) Staff’s Recommendation: Receive the report. Transportation Director Frank presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk). Commissioner Fowler volunteered to represent the Traffic and Mobility Commission at City Council on Jan. 24, 2023. He inquired about what material should be covered. Commissioner Coelho said to highlight whatever topics and projects that still have questions or concerns. Transportation Director Frank said that Commissioner Coelho can look at the Work Plan and comment on staff’s progress on the Work Plan and any other comments. Motion by Commissioner Proulx, seconded by Commissioner Coelho to nominate Commissioner Fowler to represent the Traffic and Mobility Commission at the Jan. 24, 2023, City Council meeting. Motion carried, 5/0/2 (Absent: Perez and Newlands). CITY TRAFFIC ENGINEER COMMENTS: Transportation, Planning and Mobility Manager Schmidt mentioned that there is a pledge campaign for the Safer Streets Together initiative that Communication and Engagement is launching soon. Communication and Engagement staff will be sending the Commissioners information on how you can individually help support this pledge campaign. The process is very simple, and a website page is set up for anyone to participate. All you need to do is agree to a simple statement which is “I care about my community and pledge to do my part to keep Carlsbad streets safe for everyone”. The Commissioners can take a picture of themselves and share why they decided to take the pledge. The city will share these testimonials on social media. We are asking members of our school and business communities to support this pledge as well. TRAFFIC AND MOBILITY COMMISSION COMMENTS: Vice-Chair Linke wanted to honor Chair Perez and his commitment to the Commission. He thanked the Commissioners and staff for their support during his time on the Commission. He wanted to make special shoutout to Commissioner Penseyres who he has learned a lot from over the last four years regarding cycling. He encourages everyone to listen to his input as he not only talks the talk but walks the walk. Commissioner Coelho asked when City Council will vote on the menu of options for Safer Streets Initiative? Transportation Director Frank said that it is not yet determined when that will take place. He said they are going back to City Council for the extension of the emergency declaration on Jan. 24, 2023. Page 8 of 8 Commissioner Coelho thanked Chair Perez and Vice-Chair Linke for their service on the Commission. He has learned a lot from them over the last eighteen months. Commissioner Proulx thanked Chair Perez and Vice-Chair Linke for their service. Commissioner Fowler thanked Vice-Chair Linke for all of his hard work and expertise. He also thanked Chair Perez for his leadership and contributions to the Commission. He said that he highly respects both Commissioners and they will be missed. Commissioner Penseyres brought up Sage Creek High School as there has been a lot of interest. He has been out there three times now watching at peak hours in the morning. The incidents happen when the cyclists make a left turn. They are then hit when the vehicle is making a right turn on red which they are allowed to do. He has been working with staff and residents about what can be done. Commissioner Penseyres wanted to share his appreciation to Chair Perez and Vice-Chair Linke. He always respected their opinions and arguments that are so well thought out. Vice-Chair Linke said that his first goal when he joined the commission was to update the municipal code and the rules of the commission to increase the scope of our duties and our visibility with City Council. He would like to encourage everyone to speak their mind and not have to be a rubber stamp for staff. He believes that staff has taken a lot of the input given over the past four years, particularly after the municipal code update. ADJOURNMENT: Vice-Chair Linke adjourned the Traffic & Mobility Commission Regular Meeting on Jan. 3, 2023, at 6:23 p.m. ___________________________ Eliane Paiva, Minutes Clerk