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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-10-05; Traffic Safety Commission; MinutesMINUTES MEETING OF: TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION DATE OF MEETING: October 5,1992 TIME OF MEETING: 3:OO p.m. PLACE OF MEETING: City Council Chambers CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Blake called the Meeting to order at 3:02 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Blake, Fuller, Piel, Rifkin and Stachoviak. Absent: None. Staff Members Present: Bob Johnson, Traffic Engineer Sgt. Don Metcalf, Police Department APPROVAL OF MINUTES: On motion by Commissioner Fuller, the Minutes of the Regular Meeting held September 14, 1992, were approved as presented. AYES: Blake, Fuller, Piel, Rifkin and Stachoviak ORAL COMMUNICATIONS: Thelma Hayes, 580 Laguna Drive, requested two items to be placed on future agendas: 1) the undergrounding, curbs, gutters and sidewalks on the northern half of Laguna Drive, which started today. She requested better striping at the two intersections at Madison and Laguna and Roosevelt and Laguna. She stated she has some ideas for that re-striping. 2) Crosswalks at T intersections. She requested indications to the pedestrians as to the place to cross. She stated she is conscious of this because at last on the west side of Roosevelt, you can now walk to the post office without walking in the street. When you get to Beech, there is no safe place to cross. Cars on the east are parked bumper to bumper, and if you cross Beech, the post office traffic is going in and out. She suggested a red curb to keep cars from parking where the pedestrians are to cross. Mrs. Hayes would like a general policy to be followed throughout the City at T intersections. Mrs. Hayes stated she had a comment to make about the newly laid sidewalk around Maxton Brown Park----that money was available for five years and improvements were finally installed just three or four months ago. Today it is being torn up for the undergrounding of the wires. She said it is difficult to believe that the City has a shortage of funds when curbs, gutters and sidewalks just installed are being torn out. She said this is a waste and inexcusable-especially now. Mr. Johnson stated that the City was in jeopardy of losing the funds for those improvements, and they had to be made. SDG&E would not give the City a date for the undergrounding and they are now tearing out the improvements to meet their own schedule. October 5, 1992 TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION Page 2 Mr. Johnson said the Project Engineer will meet with Mrs. Hayes on the Laguna Drive improvements, and Mrs. Hayes replied that she had met with the Project Engineer and he told her to meet with the Traffic Safety Commission. PREVIOUS BUSINESS: There were no items. NEW BUSINESS: A. La Costa Avenue between Nueva Castilla Wav and Vieio Castilla Way - Request to change TWO WAY LEFT-TURN LANE configuration. Bob Johnson gave the staff report, using a.transparency to show the present striping on the street and the proposed change suggested by Raymond Signer. Mr. Johnson explained that in 1988 an extensive study was made of this area upon requests from residents living along La Costa Avenue. The Traffic Safety Commission discussed this at several meetings and the City Council also discussed this item. The decision reached from those meetings was to stripe the street in the present configuration. Drivers previously were forced to stop in the #1 lane in order to make left turns into driveways. Mr. Johnson stated that to change the striping to a 'back to back" standard left-turn lane would then expose those drivers to the same hazards. He stated that the left-turn lane at this location has some sight distance deficiencies due to existing roadway geometrics and the two-way left-turn lane helps mitigate problems. Mr. Johnson stated that the Traffic Safety Coordinating Committee recommended leaving the present striping of a TWO-WAY LEFT-TURN LANE. Ray Signer, 150 Cleaveland Road, Apt. 34, Pleasant Hill, stated he had requested this change, due to the danger of a head-on collision. He said he had not stated that his suggestion was the best way to solve the problem, he just felt that something should be done. Commission discussion determined that the street was re-striped to the present configuration for safety reasons, and the Commissioners had driven the area and saw no sight distance problem for turning. ACTION: On motion by Commissioner Stachoviak, the Traffic Safety Commission adopted the recommendation of the Traffic Safety Coordinating Committee to leave the existing TWO-WAY LEFT-TURN LANE on La Costa Avenue as striped, since this striping was done for safety reasons. AYES: Blake, Fuller, Piel, Rifkin and Stachoviak B. Citvwide - Request to codify requirement that a right turning vehicle yield to a bicycle proceeding straight. Mr. Johnson stated he had talked with Mr. Biltchik and although Mr. Biltchik could not attend today's meeting, he stated Mr. Biltchik wanted this item discussed by the Commission today. October 5, 1992 TRAFFIC SAFW COMMISSION Page 3 Staff indicated that Mr. Bitchik is attempting to establish a set distance between a vehicle and bus when a turn conflict occurs, and for many reasons this distance cannot be established. The right-of-way rules for turning vehicles are adequately addressed in the California Vehicle Code. Mr. Johnson stated that the Traffic Safety Coordinating Committee recommended that Mr. Biltchik’s request to codify in the Carlsbad Municipal Code the right-of-way assignment for turning vehicles be denied. ACTION: On motion by Commissioner Rifkin, the Traffic Safety Commission denied Mr. Biltchik’s request to codtfy in the Carlsbad Municipal Code the right-of-way assignment for turning vehicles. AYES: Blake, Fuller, Piel, Rifkin and Stachoviak REPORT FROM TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSIONERS: Commissioner Rifkin inquired about construction areas on busy streets, where the contractor doing the work resets the signal to cause the green light to be very short on the busier of two streets. He was referring to the recent work at the intersection of Tamarack and El Camino Real. Mr. Johnson stated that most of that work is now complete, and the re-setting was done by the contractor without the City’s permission. REPORT FROM TRAFFIC ENGINEER: Bob Johnson stated that Thursday, October 8, 1992, the Commissioners/Board Members Thank-You Social will be held at 7:OO p.m., at the Senior Center. ADJOURNMENT By proper motion, the Regular Meeting of October 5, 1992, was adjourned at 358 p.m. i Minutes Clerk