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Home My WebLink About2013-06-03; Traffic Safety Commission; ; Investigate the need to establish ALL-WAY STOP control at Highland Drive, Buena Vista Way and Elmwood StreetCITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT COMMISSION MEETING OF: June 03, 2013 ITEM NO. 6A LOCATION: Intersection of Highland Drive, Buena Vista Way and Elmwood Street INITIATED BY: Jennifer Bradley 2805 Elmwood Street Carlsbad, CA 92008 REQUESTED ACTION: Investigate the need to establish ALL-WAY STOP control at Highland Drive, Buena Vista Way and Elmwood Street. BACKGROUND: DATA: The subject intersection serves the adjacent residential neighborhoods in the northwest quadrant of the city and is located near Buena Vista Elementary School. The intersection is an atypical configuration and operates as a five-legged intersection (see Exhibit 1). Currently, four of the five legs are already STOP controlled and staff recommends that STOP control be established on southbound Highland Drive at Buena Vista Way and Elmwood Street, creating an ALL-WAY STOP intersection. Highland Drive, Buena Vista Way and Elmwood Street are unclassified in the Circulation Element of the General Plan but function as local streets. Highland Drive, north of Buena Vista Way is fully improved and features curb and gutter and sidewalk on both sides of the street. It has a curb-to-curb width of 40 feet with a single travel lane in each direction, separated by a painted center line. Buena Vista Way is largely unimproved and curb and gutter and sidewalk are limited to the north side of the street between Highland Drive and Arland Road. The west leg of Buena Vista Drive is approximately 20 feet in width and is a one way street, allowing only eastbound vehicle traffic. Highland Drive, south of Buena Vista Way is largely unimproved with a roadway width of approximately 24 feet. Travel lanes on this portion are separated by a painted centerline. Elmwood Street, south of Buena Vista Way is unimproved with a roadway width of approximately 38 feet. Travel lanes are separated by a painted centerline. The surrounding land use is primarily single family residential. Yellow school crosswalks have been painted across the north leg of Highland Drive, the west leg of Buena Vista Way and the south leg of Elmwood Street due to the intersection's proximity to Buena Vista Elementary School. As part of this request, staff conducted an analysis to establish an ALL-WAY STOP at the subject intersection. The analysis is based on Section 2B.07 of the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices {MUTCD), which specifies the consideration of different factors to determine whether or not an ALL-WAY STOP is justified at a particular location. Our records indicate that no collisions were reported at the subject Page 1 ~"' -----------------.i-----------...... . , LOCATION MAP :c G) PROPOSED STOP LOCATION~~~ :c ~ CJ ii CJ I! ::::a @i ~ BUENA VISTA WAY PROJECT LOCATION CITY OF OCEANSIDE CITY OF ENCINITAS VICINITY MAP CITY OF VISTA DRIVEWAY PROPOSED STOP CONTROL ON HIGHLAND DRIVE AT BUENA VISTA WAY BUENA VISTA WAY EXHIBIT 1 t t "-L,... ________________________________ ....... ___ __.. COMMISSION MEETING OF: (continued) CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT June 3, 2013 ITEM NO. 6A intersection during the period from 2010 through 2012. A 24-hour approach count was conducted on March 13, 2013, the results of which are shown on Table 1. Due to the configuration of the intersection and the inability to analyze this intersection as a five- legged intersection, the northbound volume counts were conducted just south of Buena Vista Way, which effectively is the total of volumes from northbound Highland Drive and northbound Elmwood Street. Table 1: 24-Hour Traffic Count Summary at Highland Drive, Buena Vista Way and Elmwood Street Hl•hland Drive/Elmwood Street Buena Vista Wa Total Time Northbound Southbound Subtotal Eastbound Westbound Subtotal Volume 0000-0100 0 3 3 0 0 0 3 0100-0200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0200-0300 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 0300-0400 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0400-0500 2 4 6 2 1 3 9 0500-0600 3 5 8 2 3 5 13 0600-0700 15 14 29 7 17 24 53 0700-0800 74 107 181 28 66 94 275 0800-0900 46 44 90 50 43 93 183 0900-1000 32 41 73 7 19 26 99 1000-1100 19 40 59 13 17 30 89 1100-1200 40 52 92 16 32 48 140 1200-1300 44 63 107 24 30 54 161 1300-1400 56 63 119 42 49 91 210 1400-1500 43 47 90 13 29 42 132 1500-1600 54 69 123 19 41 60 183 1600-1700 60 91 151 14 30 44 195 1700-1800 55 89 144 16 22 38 182 1800-1900 38 73 111 10 21 31 142 1900-2000 30 46 76 5 19 24 100 2000-2100 19 22 41 2 19 21 62 2100-2200 14 55 39 4 10 14 53 2200-2300 8 11 19 0 5 5 24 2300-2400 8 7 15 1 2 3 18 Totals 661 918 1579 275 475 750 2329 The intersection of Highland Drive and Buena Vista Way did not meet the California MUTCD criteria for an ALL-WAY STOP installation based on minimum traffic volumes or collision history. Staff conducted field measurements of the existing sight distance conditions at the subject intersection. Since this intersection is STOP-controlled at four of the five approaches, only the sight distance along the uncontrolled leg was considered. The posted speed limit on the uncontrolled leg, which is the north leg of Highland Drive, is 25 miles per hour and the minimum stopping sight distance required for 25 miles per Page 2 COMMISSION MEETING OF: (continued) CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT June 3, 2013 ITEM NO. GA hour is 150 feet. Sight distance from the west leg of Buena Vista Way looking toward the north (left) along Highland Drive was measured to be approximately 315 feet. Sight distance from the east leg of Buena Vista Way looking to the north (right) along Highland Drive was measured to be approximately 350 feet. Based on these measurements, sight distance at the subject intersection was found to be adequate. Staff also conducted turning movement counts as part of this analysis to quantify the pedestrian volumes on a typical school morning and school afternoon. The turning movement counts were conducted on March 13, 2013 and the results are summarized in Table 2 and 3. Table 2: Turning Movement Count, 7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. Roadway Annroach Vehicles Pedestrians Northbound 146 1 Southbound 165 10 Eastbound 42 4 Westbound 71 0 Table 3: Turning Movement Count, 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Roadway Annroach Direction Vehicles Pedestrians Northbound 163 1 Southbound 185 2 Eastbound 46 8 Westbound 86 1 Since the southbound leg of this intersection is uncontrolled, we are primarily considering the 10 pedestrians that cross this uncontrolled leg during the morning period and the 2 pedestrians that cross during the afternoon period. Section 28.07 of the California MUTCD allows consideration of an ALL-WAY STOP when there is a "need to control vehicle/pedestrian conflicts near locations that generate high pedestrian volumes." An elementary school can be considered a location that generates high pedestrian volumes and the city has installed ALL-WAY STOPs at other locations nearby school locations as a result of similar analyses. These locations include Paseo Aliso and Via Adelfa near El Camino Creek Elementary School, Camino de las Ondas and Hidden Valley Road adjacent to Pacific Rim Elementary School, Calle Acervo adjacent to Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary School and, most recently, Las Flores Drive and Pio Pico Drive near Buena Vista Elementary School. Based on these findings, staff recommends the installation of STOP control on southbound Highland Drive at Buena Vista Way and Elmwood Street, creating an ALL-WAY STOP. The recommendation for STOP control on southbound Highland Drive at Buena Vista Way is also supported by the option in the California Manual on Uniform Control Devices, which allows consideration of an ALL-WAY STOP at "an intersection of two Page 3 COMMISSION MEETING OF: (continued) CITY OF CARLSBAD TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF REPORT June 3, 2013 ITEM NO. 6A residential neighborhood collector (through) streets of similar design and operating characteristics where multiway STOP contra/ would improve traffic operational characteristics of the intersection." RECOMMENDATION Based on the findings contained in this report, the Traffic Safety Coordinating Committee recommends the installation of ALL-WAY STOP control at the intersection of Highland Drive, Buena Vista Way and Elmwood Street. NECESSARY CITY COUNCIL ACTION: The City Council must adopt an ordinance to establish the STOP control as recommended. Page 4