HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-11-12; Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program Update; Gomez, PazCouncil Memorandum
Nov. 12, 2020
To: Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
From: Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, Public Works
Via: Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager @
Re: Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program Update
{city of
Carlsbad
Memo ID #2020248
This memorandum provides an update to a previous memorandum dated June 20, 2019
(Attachment A) on the Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program (CRTMP), which guides
implementation of traffic calming improvements on the city's residential streets.
Background
The CRTMP was developed to address safety and speeding concerns on residential streets.
Originally approved in 2001 and updated in 2011, it is an ongoing program and is implemented
when staff receives a complaint or concern about traffic speeding on residential streets.
The program is divided into the following three phases:
• Phase I -application of enforcement and education to resolve non-compliance issues
• Phase II -utilizing engineering-based measures to increase compliance with posted speed
limits and discourage cut-through traffic
• Phase Ill -development and implementation of a comprehensive plan comprised of
traditional traffic calming measures to address traffic issues while enhancing the
residential character of the street
On Jan. 28, 2020, staff provided City Council a detailed update on the CRTMP during the semi-
annual Transportation Report. On July 21, 2020, the Transportation Director also provided an
update on the traffic calming measures during the subsequent semi-annual Transportation
Report.
Discussion
Since June 2019, staff has implemented Phase I on the following 34 streets:
Public Works Branch
Transportation Department
1635 Faraday Avenue I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 760-602-2757-t
Council Memo -Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program Update
Nov. 12, 2020
Page 2
District 1
(1) Adams Street
(2) Catalina Drive*
(3) Garfield Street
(4) Highland Drive
(5) James Drive
(6) Magnolia Avenue
(7) Monroe Street
(8) Mountain View Drive
(9) Pacific Avenue
(10) Palm Avenue
(11) Victoria Avenue*
(12) Westwood Drive
District 2
(2) Catalina. Drive*
(13) Edinburg Drive
(14) El Arbol Drive
(15) Glasgow Drive
(16) High Ridge Avenue
(17) Rancho Pancho
(18) Rancho Quartillo
(19) Salisbury Drive
(11) Victoria Avenue*
(20) Waterbury Way
• denotes that street is in more than one district
District 3
(21) Greenhaven Drive
(22) Hummingbird Road
District 4
(23) Anillo Way
(24) Avenida Pantera
(25) Calle Conifera
(26) Calle Gavanzo
(27) Camino Montego
(28) La Gran Via
(29) Las Olas Court
(30) Paseo Aliso
(31) Sitio Baya
(32) Sitio Lima
(33) Sombrosa Street
(34) Via Caliendo
Of these 34 streets, the following five streets qualify for Phase II:
(1) Adams Street -District 1
(2) Hummingbird Road -District 3
(3) Monroe Street -District 1
(4) Via Caliendo -District 4
(5) Victoria Avenue -District 1
For these five streets listed above, staff will conduct neighborhood meetings to present these·
communities with traffic calming strategies and options for each individual street.
Phase II is initiated when speed measurements collected during Phase I indicate a critical speed
of 32 miles per hour (MPH) or higher. In 2019, staff used an aggressive schedule to meet with 11
neighborhoods that had previously qualified for Phase II improvements. After the meetings,
surveys were used to gauge community support for each proposed concept plan. As shown in the
table below, eight streets met the support criteria and those streets are currently in the design
stage.
Street Meeting Date Met Community Status
Support Criteria?
1 Amargosa Drive 4/11/2019 Yes Design plans complete
-2 Basswood Avenue 4/25/2019 No
3 Hillside Drive 5/9/2019 Yes Design plans complete
4 Avenida piestro 7/11/2019 Yes Design plans complete
5 Estrella De Mar Road 8/1/2019 Yes Design plans complete
6 La Golondrina Street 8/25/2019 No
- -
Avenida Pantera 9/12/2019 7 -No
Council Memo -Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program Update
Nov. 12, 2020
Page 3
8 Segovia Way 9/26/2019 Yes
9 Cadencia Street 10/24/2019 Yes
10 Harwich Drive 11/14/2019 Yes
11 Oriole Ct/Mimosa Dr/Moorhen 1/23/2020 Yes
Pl/Dove Ln
Next Steps
Design process started
Design plans complete
Design process started
Design plans at 90%
Staff will finalize the traffic calming design packages for the eight streets that have completed
the Phase II community collaboration process. Construction of traffic calming features on these
streets is anticipated to begin late 2020/early 2021.
For the five streets that have recently qualified for Phase II improvements, staff will conduct
neighborhood meetings to present these communities with traffic calming strategies and options
for each individual street. This next step is prescribed by the CRTMP.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health orders, these neighborhood meetings
have been on hold since March 2020 and will likely remain so until the public gathering
restrictions have been lifted. Staff is currently investigating alternative ways to conduct these
neighborhood meetings effectively in a safe manner.
Attachment: A. Council Memorandum -Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program,
June 20, 2019
cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Celia Brewer, City Attorney
Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services
Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services
Neil Gallucci, Police Chief
Tom Frank, Transportation Director
Kristina Ray, Communication & Engagement Director
Robby Contreras, Assistant City Attorney
Hossein Ajideh, Engineering Manager
John Kim, City Traffic Engineer
Nathan Schmidt, Transportation Planning and Mobility Manager
Christie Calderwood, Lieutenant, Police Department
Miriam Jim, Senior Engineer
To the members of the:
CITY COUNCIL
Datejdoi.fl CA ,I . CC v
CM ~ COO lb/ DCM (3) \./
ATTACHM ENT A
June 20, 2019
To:
From:
Via:
Re:
Council Memorandum
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
Paz Gorn. e.z, Dep.uty City Manager, Public ~rks__;
Elaine Lu key, Chief Operations Officer ~ ·
Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program
{city of
Carlsbad
Memo ID#2019069
This memorandum provides an overview of the Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management
Program {CRTMP), which guides implementation of the city's traffic calming program on
residential streets.
Background
The CRTMP was developed to address safety and speeding concerns on residential streets.
Originally approved i_n 2001 and updated in 2011, the CRTMP has served to counter excessive
traffic volumes and speeds that may exist in residential neighborhoods and thereby, helped
improve the quality of life.
Discussion
The CRTMP defines the traffic management strategy and establishes the procedures to reduce
the negative impacts associated with vehicular traffic on residential streets. The goals of the
CRTMP include:
• Improving quality of life in neighborhoods
• Creating safe streets by reducing collision frequency and severity
• Reducing negative effects of vehicular speeding
• Utilizing features that are self-enforcing.
The CRTMP describes three phases to address speeding concerns on residential streets. The
purpose of these t hree phases is to provide a best value, cost-effective approach by
incrementally increasing the magnitude of applied solutions as needed to achieve goals.
When a resident calls the Public Works Branch to express a concern regarding speeding and/or
cut-through traffic on their residential street, staff collaborates with the Police Department to
utilize engineering, education and enforcement efforts to add ress those concerns. These
resident contacts ·are shared between the Public Works Branch and Police Department to
identify the severity of the reported speeding issue and to work collaboratively toward a
solution. This call from a resident would initiate Phase I of the CRTMP as described below.
Phase I focuses on the human element of driver behavior and leverages strategies such as
education, police presence and enforcement, evaluation, installing speed limit signs and
pavement legends, and deployment of t emporary speed feedback signs. The temporary speed
Public Wo'rks Branch
Faraday Center 1635 Faraday Avenue I Carlsbad, CA 92008 l 760-602-2730
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 20, 2019 .
Page 2
feedback signs serve a dual purpose: collection of speed data and as a temporary speed
reduction feature. They are usually deployed for a period ofrwo weeks. During the first week,
the display is turned off, and the unit is used to collect speed data. During the second week of
deployment, the display is turned on and used as an educational tool for drivers and to help
reduce speeding. Phase I solutions are usually implemented at the staff level and may include
work orders for installation of signs and pavement legends. Depending on the availability of
the temporary speed feedback signs and the type of work proposed, Phase I can last between
four to six months.
If the Phase I solutions do not adequately address the reported issues, Phase II of the CRTMP
can be considered. The threshold for Phase JI eligibility is a minimum critical speed of 32 miles
per hour {MPH), determined through the data collected by the temporary speed feedback signs
described above. This threshold was set so that city resources could be most effectively
allocated for the highest priority traffic safety needs. Residential streets with critical speeds of
31 MPH or lower were not considered by the Traffic Safety Commission or staff to have a
"higher than normal" vehicle speed. The cri_tical speed, otherwise known as the 85th percentile
speed, is the speed at which 85% of the drivers drive at or below. The critical speed, as
described in the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, represents one standard
deviation above the average speed and is used for speed zoning purposes.
Phase II of the CRTMP is initiated automatically when speed measurements indicate a critical
speed of 32 MPH or higher. Phase II utilizes cost-effective physical traffic management devices
such as traffic circles, speed cushions and tables, high-visibility crosswalks, narrowing travel
lanes with striping, and neighborhood signs.
Per the CRTM P, consensus support of the community is required before these Phase II
measures are implemented. The first step toward establishing consensus is a neighborhood
meeting. Property owners (both residing and non-residing) within the project study area are
invited to attend a neighborhood meeting organized by staff. At the meeting, staff presents
traffic calming strategies and options tailored to their individual street. Input provided by the
meeting attendees is used to develop a preferred concept plan for traffic calming.
After the meeting, a mail survey is used to determine neighborhood support for the traffic
calming plan developed at the neighborhood meeting. The surveys are sent to all property
owners within the project study area. The CRTMP requires that at least 50% of the mailed
surveys be returned to constitute a valid survey and that a support rate of 67% or more is
required to indicate positive community support for the proposed plan. If these consensus
requirements are satisfied, the proposed traffic calming plan is brought before the Traffic
Safety Commission for their recommendation and to the City Council for their consideration. If
the City Council approves the traffic calming plan, the prnject enters the design phase, which
will result in a set of construction plans for implementation. It can :take between 6-12 months
for staff to work with a neighborhood through the Phase II process.
If implementation of the Phase JI solutions does not adequately address the reported issues,
residents can request moving to Phase Ill of the CRTMP.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 20, 2019
Page 3
Phase Ill utilizes more expensive physical traffic calming devices that change the character or
nature of an intersection or roadway and includes traditional traffic calming features such as
limiting access or turn restriction to a residential street to reduce cut-through traffic, textured
pavement, entry pavement, center island narrowing, curb radius reductions, raised
intersections, mid-block chokers, lateral shift in lanes, chicanes, intersection bulb-out, realigned
intersections, forced turn channelization, median barriers, semi-diverter, partial diverter and
diagonal diverter.
Eligibility for Phase Ill consideration is determined using Phase Ill Qualification Criteria to be
conducted by staff. The criteria consider such factors as travel speeds, traffic volumes, collision
history, absence of sidewalks, proximity to schools and presence of marked crosswalks, and
utilizes a points assignment system. A minimum criteria score of 51 points is required for ·
candidate streets to be considered for Phase Ill.
With the three-phase CRTMP, the city has a comprehensive and effici.ent strategy to address
excessive traffic volumes and speeding issues on residential streets.
Last year, the CRTMP resulted in construction of traffic calming improvements on Corintia
Street, Daisy Avenue, Cadencia Street and Harbor Drive.
The following nine streets are currently qualified for but have not yet completed Phase II of the
program: Amargosa Drive, Basswood Avenue, Hillside Drive, Avenida Diestro, Estrella de Mar
Road, Harwich Drive, Segovia Way, Avenida Pantera and La Golondrina Street. Neighborhood
meetings for Amargosa Drive, Basswood Avenue and Hillside Drive have been completed, and
staff has tentatively scheduled to complete neighborhood meetings for the remainder of the
streets before end of the year.
To date, Phase Ill of the CRTMP has not been implemented on any street in Carlsbad.
Next Steps
The nine streets that have qualified for Phase II improvements will continue through the CRTMP
collaboration process between staff and the neighborhoods. Upcoming neighborhood meetings
will be held for Averiida Diestro, Estrella de Mar Road, Harwich Drive, Segovia Way, Avenidc!
Pantera and La·Golondrina Street.
cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Celia Brewer, City Attorney
Neil Gallucci, Police Chief
Marshall Plantz, Transportation Director
John Maashoff{ Public Works Manager
Amanda Guy, Deputy City Attorney
Massoud Saberian, City°Traffic Engineer
John Kim, Senior Engineer