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Home My WebLink About2012-10-01; Traffic Safety Commission; ; Recommend approval of the Levante Street Traffic Calming PlanCITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT COMMISSION MEETING OF: October 1, 2012 ITEM NO.GC LOCATION: Levante Street (Esenico Terrace to La Costa Avenue) INITIATED BY: Noah and Kim Wolf, 2454 Levante Street, Carlsbad, CA 92009 Recommend approval of the Levante Street Traffic Calming Plan REQUESTED ACTION: BACKGROUND: DATA: Speeding vehicles on Levante Street has had a negative impact on the residential "feel" and "character" of the neighborhood. Over the past several years, staff has been working with the residents on Levante Street to address their concerns about speeding utilizing the Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program (CRTMP), the city's traffic calming program. This segment of Levante Street has met the CRTMP Phase II eligibility criteria, making it possible to consider Phase II traffic calming measures when supported by the residents of the neighborhood and approved by the City Council. Staff invited residents to a neighborhood meeting to provide input to the proposed traffic calming plan. After the neighborhood meeting, surveys were sent to the residents on Levante Street to determine if a majority of the residents supported the traffic calming plan. Based on the results of the resident survey, staff is recommending that the Levante Street traffic calming plan be approved. Levante Street is a residential street in the southeast quadrant of the city. Levante Street is improved with curb and gutter, sidewalks, and street lights. It has a curb to curb width of 40 feet with a single travel lane in each direction, has double yellow centerline striping, with on-street parking allowed on both sides of the street. This segment of Levante Street (La Costa Avenue to 'Escenico Terrace is approximately 1.5 miles in length, with a curvilinear alignment and grades varying from 0.5% to 6.6%. Traffic control on this segment of Levante Street is provided by All-Way STOP's at the intersections with Escenico Terrace, Torrejon Pl. (east), Nueva Castilla Way, Segovia Way, Romeria Street, and La Costa Avenue. The posted speed limit on this portion of Levante Street is 25 miles per hour. The CRTMP is a three-phase process. Phase I solutions include the installation of speed limit signs and pavement legends, deployment of temporary speed feedback signs, and police enforcement. As required by the CRTMP, Phase I was completed for Levante Street prior to consideration of Phase II. In order for a street to qualify for Phase II, streets are required to have a critical speed (the speed at which 85% of the vehicles surveyed are driving at or below) of 32 miles per hour or greater. This segment of Levante Street was found to have a critical speed of 35 miles per hour. Page 1 COMMISSION MEETING OF: (continued) CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT October 1, 2012 ITEM NO. 6C Phase II of the CRTMP utilizes cost effective traffic management features such as residential STOP signs to reduce the uncontrolled length of a street to a "residential neighborhood scale". This is typically accomplished by restricting the uncontrolled length of a street to approximately 500 -1,000 feet by installing residential STOP signs. Drivers tend to comply with speed limits in residential neighborhoods when uncontrolled street lengths are less than 1,000 feet. The Levante Street traffic calming plan proposes installing residential STOP signs on Levante Street at the following seven intersections to reduce the uncontrolled lengths of the road segments to a "residential scale" and thereby reduce vehicle speeds: Torrejon Place (west), Oviedo Place, Madrilena Way, Galicia Way, Primavera Way, Galleon Way, and Estancia Street. As part of the Phase II process, a neighborhood meeting was held on April 25, 2012, at La Costa Heights Elementary School to present the proposed Phase II traffic calming plans to all of the residents of the 192 homes along Levante Street. Thirty-six people attended the meeting, representing twenty-four homes. At the meeting, staff answered questions from the residents regarding the proposed traffic calming plan and worked with the residents to establish consensus for the plan. Implementation of the Phase II plan requires that a majority of the residents on the street support the plan as determined by responses to a mailed resident survey. The survey is considered valid if 50% or more of the residents and non-resident owners return the completed survey. Support for the plan is indicated by 67% or more of the returned surveys in support of the proposed plan. 234 surveys were mailed out to residents and non-resident owners for the Levante Street traffic calming plan. 131 surveys were returned for a 56% return rate. Of those 131 surveys, 89 or 68% were in support of the proposed plan. In summary, the Levante Street traffic calming plan proposes installing residential STOP signs on both legs of Levante Street at the following seven intersections: Torrejon Place (west), Oviedo Place, Madrilena Way, Galicia Way, Primavera Way, Galleon Way, and Estancia Street (see attached Exhibit 1). This would reduce the uncontrolled length of the segments of Levante Street to a "residential scale" as follows: Page 2 COMMISSION MEETING OF: (continued) CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT October 1, 2012 ITEM NO. 6C • Escenico Terrace to Torrejon Place (west) -780 feet in length • Torrejon Place (west) to Torrejon Place (east) -560 feet in length • Torrejon Place (east) to Oviedo Place -610 feet in length • Oviedo Place to Nueva Castilla Way -560 feet in length • Nueva Castilla Way to Madrilena Way-785 feet in length • Madrilena Way to Galicia Way-580 feet in length • Galicia Way to Segovia Way -500 feet in length • Segovia Way to Primavera Way -575 feet in length • Primavera Way to Galleon Way-490 feet in length • Galleon Way to Romeria Street -525 feet in length • Romeria Street to Estancia Street -870 feet in length • Estancia Street to La Costa Avenue -900 feet in length This reduction of the uncontrolled lengths of the segments of Levante Street should result in a reduction in vehicle speeds. Should Phase II not achieve the necessary speed reduction or the number of proposed STOP signs creates other issues, the City Council or Traffic Safety Commission could redirect staff to work with the residents on Levante Street to identify other solutions or proceed to Phase Ill. Phase II was developed and approved by the Traffic Safety Commission and City Council in May 2011 to provide cost-effective solutions to reduce vehicle speeds on residential streets to enhance the residential character and feel. Levante Street is a unique street due to its overall length. The traffic calming plan, as proposed, follows the guidelines and procedures developed for cost-effective solutions. City staff recommended trying the cost-effective solutions of STOP signs. Should the STOP signs be determined at a later date to not achieve the desired goals of creating a residential character and feel, the STOP signs could be removed and re-used throughout the rest of the city with only the cost to install and remove by street maintenance crews incurred. Phase II proposed traffic calming plan would cost under $20,000. Solutions as part of Phase Ill could cost approximately $200,000 -$500,000 for traditional concrete infrastructure to retrofit the character and feel of a residential roadway. RECOMMENDATION: Based on the findings contained in this report, and the requirements of Phase II of the Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program, the Traffic Safety Coordinating Committee recommends approval of the Levante Street traffic calming plan. NECESSARY CITY COUNCIL ACTION: The City Council must adopt ordinances to establish the STOP control on Levante Street at the seven intersections as recommended. 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