Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Transportation Advisory Commission - 10/24/2011 RE EIVED Transportation AdvisoryCommittee DEC 12 2011 MeP eting Monday October 24 Minutes 2011 Cm'SECR"q S OFFICE Call Meeting to Order - Mr. Curtis A. Rock, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 2:31 p.m. II. Approval of Minutes- Minutes of September 26, 2011 were approved with a correction to the minutes. Ms. Cudd said a sentence in item h should be corrected to read: Ms. Cudd said that she noticed on Saratoga Blvd. it could be confusing whether you can make a left turn or not. She noticed they have a "Do Not Enter" sign. III. Presentations and Discussions - a. Monthly Traffic Fatality Report: Lt. Sherman reported one (1) new fatality, which brings the total to twenty-six (26) for year 2011. Lt. Sherman said this fatality happened at the 100 blk. of Jasper St., which is a private street. He stated there was a vehicle driven by a female driver and apparently, there had been a disturbance earlier in the evening between a female and male. The male had gotten out of the vehicle to walk away and the female went to a friend's house. As she was getting ready to leave, he showed up. She started to pull away and he jumped onto the hood of the car. She then stopped the car but he got off the hood and tried to open the door and she drove off. Lt. Sherman stated somehow he ended up under the car and he died on the way to the hospital. b.. Monthly Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee Report: Ms. Beard asked Mr. Cardenas if the "Safe Passing ordinance was still on for November 15. Mr. Cardenas said he did not believe so because the agenda item was sent back last week. He commented there was a technical issue, there are some new forms that we have to fill out, and there are some changes in the process. Ms. Beard said they were shooting for November 15. She said once we know for certain the date, we would be emailing everyone to let them.know it is coming forward. Ms. Beard said the subcommittee is pleased the TAC wanted us to go ahead with the ordinance. She said a couple of weeks ago there were two bike riders leaving from NAS going down Ocean Dr. and a vehicle drove by and clipped them and knocked them down. She said they are okay, just a little bruised. Apparently, the driver was texting or not paying attention. One thing that was brought up at the Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee meeting is a number of people feel it would be good for the City of Corpus Christi to pass a no cell phone use while driving. She said it is also one of those deals that everybody thinks is necessary but no one wants to do without their cell phones while they are driving. It was mentioned that it should just be texting but Lt. Trevino said it is too hard to be able to say are they just texting or are they reading their email. Ms. Beard said this is a very hot topic and if we did something like this then send it to city council it would be very hotly debated, probably up there with not smoking in restaurants. She stateda number of cities and states have addressed this so it is something we might want to address in the future. Mr. Cardenas said TxDOT has a no texting and driving campaign. He said Mr. Victor Vourcos with TxDOT would be presenting this to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee and he could present it to the TAC at the Page1of6 SCANNED next meeting. Mr. Cardenas said this is an awareness campaign only. Ms. Beard discussed the bike survey being conducted by MPO and said there is a survey to take for bike riders and non-bike riders. She said the bike survey is on the MPO website. Ms. Beard said to fill out all the questions because this would help the MPO and the bicycle committee know what direction the city residents feel we need to go regarding bicycle safety. Mr. Carrizales said the bike survey would be on the MPO website for three to six months and he would be sending the link to everyone. c. Police Department Traffic Enforcement Complaints: Lt. Sherman reported that in the month of October there have been 12 complaints. He said as the complaints come in; they send an officer to go and investigate. Capt. Vesely said many of the complaints they receive deal with speeders in different areas, not necessarily in school zones. He said they are looking into purchasing a device that costs about $4,000, which can be strapped on the side of a light pole or sign, and it does not look like anything but just a box. Capt. Vesely said that over a course of a week, this device tracks how fast people are driving on the road. He continued to say it would also track what times and speeds they are driving and what time of the day or night they are speeding. Therefore, we can refute some of these. Capt. Vesely said this should help us more efficiently use our police officers, instead of having motorcycle officers, which are a very limited group of officers. He said we could place them where we know there are issues. Mr. Rock inquired if it is a radar device. Capt. Vesely said yes it is. Mr. Carrizales asked Capt. Vesely to send him information about this and maybe MPO could help him with this. d. Top 20 Traffic Accident Locations for the Month: Lt. Sherman reported the most notable location was number one at SPID ® Everhart Rd. with four accidents. He said the number one and number four accidents in this category; although, they have different titles, were both vehicles failing to yield the road coming off the exit ramp. Capt. Vesely said that as you look through the list of the top 20, most are along SPID. Capt. Vesely said this reflects what he talked about before, working on getting red light cameras on some of these locations. Once we get the red light cameras, we will be able to obtain the Municipal Maintenance Agreement (MMA) with TxDOT. He said looking at the accident rates afterwards; maybe there would be a decrease accident rate. Mr. Cardenas said many of the accidents on westbound SPID are actually on Ayers St. and SPID and this is actually, when you get on to the freeway. On the frontage road, the new configurations really relieved those accidents because traffic is now merging on the frontage road instead of the main lanes. Mr. Rock said he would be interested to know what the improvements have been as far as accidents, it seems like a smoother transmission now on the westbound. Mr. Cardenas said he knows TxDOT is working on the ramp configurations on the other side. He said it is a funding issue; we still have to acquire some parcels of row on the Moore Plaza side to make it happen. The City and TxDOT is moving forward with that. Mr. Cardenas said if Wal-mart were to leave this would relieve the traffic of course but there are some plans for this location; for that reason, it is not going to matter. e. Discussion of Previously Approved "Safe Passing" Ordinance: Mr. Cardenas gave an update on the ordinance. He said the dates have changed and some of the changes to the agenda forms have changed. Mr. Cardenas stated he has to narrow down specifics and dates when it started and do a little bit more research for the agenda packet. He said an alternative has to be included to the ordinance and one Page 2 of 6 of the things staff is going to put in as the alternative is the resolution. All the agenda items have to have an alternative to the ordinance and that is why the agenda item was sent back and this was the delay. He said instead of looking at November 8 for the briefing and November 15 as the first reading, it is going to be moved back another week. Now, November 15 would be the briefing and November 22 would be the first reading. Ms. Beard said if it all possible let us not push this too much into December. f. Discussion of Unified Development Code (UDC) Changes: Mr. Cardenas said UDC is a standard in which the city does developments. and that includes some traffic impact analysis, driveway permitting and similar items. He said this might be on the agenda as a continuing running item. He said one of the things that we have talked about before was the acreage of a development that would need a traffic impact analysis. For example, a mall would need a big traffic impact analysis, a Wal-mart would need a smaller one and Stripes would not need one This is based on developed area. He said the current ordinances and codes did not cover this but the UDC does. However, currently if you are trying to build a house and you want a certain driveway we have driveway standards. There are certain restrictions whether it is commercial or residential. He said for example, you as a developer or homebuilder need to obtain the proper permits to make sure you meet the current driveway standards or codes. If your driveway does not seem to meet code but you as a developer or homeowner think it does. The way the old ordinance read, you would go to the City's Traffic Engineer and he had, as per city ordinance, the final decision on judgment on whether the driveway is permitted or not. The Traffic Engineer still has the authority under the new ordinance but has to have the consent of the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC). This means that the developer or homebuilder needs to present his or her case to the TAC before he can approve it. Some others do not think anadvisory committee should have that capacity to make these types of decisions. Mr. Cardenas said currently there is nothing yet but there is one that is brewing. He said that next month there might be a driveway request. In addition, next month he would be providing the driveway standards to the committee. Mr. Price asked if Mr. Cardenas would still have the final decision. Mr. Cardenas said yes that is correct. Mr. Cardenas said some of the developers have a problem with it because it is a month that you basically have to wait. Ms. Beard inquired if this would be a permanent item to where somebody finds out the day before it needs approval before we meet. They could show up because it is already on the agenda or would it have to be specific for the name of the developer. Mr. Cardenas said we could have this as a running item or we could do a special item. Ms. Cudd asked is the reason they want the Planning Commission, as well as the TAC to do it is because it is more of a safety issue that the Planning Commission would not address. Mr. Cardenas said he does not have the answer to this but it does make sense. He has been in several Planning Commission meetings and they do address safety issues and they have addressed traffic impact analysis and number of driveways and the configuration of the driveways so it could be a safety issue but does not,know. He does not recall in the UDC meetings that they have had. He said the UDC has been trying to be passed for years. Mr. Cardenas said he does not recall this being a safety issue but does know that the Planning and Zoning Commission did address it and they do address these issues in their meetings. Mr. Cardenas said this is a Development Services issue and it all has to do with releasing the driveway Page3of6 permit. Ms. Ocanas said to keep in mind the UDC is supposed to be a working document; therefore, if you have comments after this process gets underway on whether you think this is too much or it could be handled better. If the TAC sees it before the Planning Commission or there is some way to make it more efficient and effective then we can make that recommendation to Development Services to amend. She said they are learning everything that is happening with it as we go along. g. Discussion of Speed Limit Change on Aquarius St. with Possible Action Taken: Mr. Cardenas discussed an exhibit for the proposed speed limit change on Aquarius St. Currently, the speed limit is set on Aquarius St. at 35 miles per hour; however, the way the ordinance reads it is from Whitecap Blvd. to Commodores Blvd. Right now, Aquarius St. is built out from Whitecap Blvd. to Dasmarinas Dr. We do not know where the alignment is going to be; however, city ordinance states that the speed limit is set from Whitecap Blvd. to Commodores Blvd. Therefore, what we are trying to do is to set the speed limit for the new constructed area, depending on these curves here, what the speed limit would be. He said there is actually a reverse curve over here but this exhibit does not show and then there is a reverse' curve here. We do not know what the traffic is going to be like in this new area and we do not know how many cars are going to go through here. He said but we do know what the traffic is like in this area and we do know that it is progressively faster as you get closer to Whitecap Blvd. Mr: Rock inquired if Aquarius is a two- way street. Mr. Cardenas said it is a two-lane two-direction roadway. He said it functions as a residential street. Mr. Rock said just to clarify; therefore, it is a two lanes and no sidewalks. Mr. Cardenas said yes in the existing portion of Aquarius St. He said that staff 'is considering to lower the speed limit from 35 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour, simply because of the manner in which the existing portion of Aquarius St. functions. That is currently the minimum that the city can lower the speed limit to without it being a school, hospital or church zone. Mr. Rock inquired if the speed limit reduction would onlybe for the proposed section. Mr. Cardenas said it would be for the whole stretch as the way the ordinance reads. He said what they are trying to do is set the speed limit before construction starts. Ms. Beard inquired that she thought that it is usually traditional, in the transportation codes, that if it is a residential street it is usually 30 miles per hour. Mr. Cardenas said that it functions as a residential street but it is actually classified as a neighborhood collector, which can go up. Mr. Carrizales asked how wide Aquarius St. is. Mr. Cardenas said he believes the current pavement is 30 feet but the proposed is wider than that. He said they have done some traffic studies and they showed that there is a slight increase in speed and most of it is on Whitecap Blvd. Mr. Price said if Aquarius St. is opened up all the way to Commodores, traffic is going to increase and this is residential. He said our purpose is to set the speed limit whether it is either one. Mr. Cardenas said that that the recommendation is to lower the speed limit down to 30 miles per hour. h. Temporary Traffic Signal on Staples St. @ Moore Plaza: Item tabled for next month. i. Possible Installation of Delineators on Everhart Rd. @ 'Whataburger Way: Mr. Cardenas said there is a lot of construction going on'right now in this area with the new Wal-mart opening up on Wednesday. He said there are some barrels there right now because there is some traffic control on the Everhart Rd. and Staples St. Page 4 of 6 • signal that is required. Therefore, it is serving kind of a deterrent to turn left. Mr. Cardenas said he does agree that there is a need for some delineation and he is moving forward with that, once the Everhart Rd. and Staples St. construction is over, this is going to be like the delineation on Everhart Rd. and SPID. This would prevent people making a left turn into Whataburger Way or someone coming out of Whataburger Way making a left turn into Everhart Rd. Mr. Cardenas said it is going to be straight delineation. j. Discussion of Traffic Signal at Congressional Dr. and Everhart Rd.: Ms. Cudd said at one time this was a very busy intersection but it is no longer busy. She said she goes down there almost daily at various times. She said many times the traffic on Everhart Rd. has to stop and there is no one coming out of either Congressional Dr. or the golf course. Ms. Cudd asked if the light is on a timer or is there a way it could be activated if there is a car there. She said the light is long and it does tend to stack up the cars on Everhart Rd. She asked if something could be done and she assumed the light is necessary because people still go there to play golf. Mr. Cardenas said there is an elementary school back on Killarmet Dr. and many people use Congressional Dr. to get to the school. Mr. Cardenas said he would like to check if the camera is detecting. The way the detection works, there are some minimal timings that a signalized intersection has to have. For example, it is midnight and you are at a certain intersection and at one point, it has to turn red even though there are no cars there; the intersection has to cycle through. There are some minimum timings involved. He said when the camera comes in, when you are starting to get a lot of traffic on both streets. This is when the camera starts detecting the cars and starts giving more time to the cars. Many times, those cameras can get dirty and are not detecting vehicles. He said if the camera is not detecting it goes into fog mode then the detections turns off and you go into traditional timing. Mr. Cardenas said the detection would be checked then we have to look at the timings. He said HDR is working on a program to change the timings on several of our signals for the energy grant. He said if this grant is implemented at this particular intersection, yes you will see a better change on Everhart Rd. The way the program works is, we want to concentrate on the side of the roadway that has more traffic. HDR did a traffic study before they do their signal timings and this is being finalized this month. Mr. Cardenas said a work order would be created to check it out and check out the timings. k. Discussion of Committee Member Vacancy on the TAC: Mr. Cardenas reported Mr. Anthony Colosi submitted his resignation. He is having some conflicts with employment and the committee and he felt that he needed to resign. We have his resignation and are submitting it to the City Secretary's Office. Mr. Cardenas commented before we pursue with another appointment, he wanted to discuss this with the committee. He said there was a question on whether we have to have someone from the Naval Air Station be represented on this committee. Mr. Rock said he remembered we have had this discussion in the past and it was determined we did not but it was recommended. Ms. Beard said her recommendation is to fill this position with a citizen but still send an invitation to the Naval Air Station as a courtesy. Mr. Rock stated he agrees with Ms. Beard that we should fill the position with someone that would really want to do it. Mr. Cardenas said we could either let City Secretary's Office know that we still want someone from the Naval Air Station or just leave it up to the general public. He said the City Secretary's Office would take care of it and we do not need to vote on it because it is just a Page 5 of 6 recommendation. Ms. Beard inquired if the committee could recommend someone to City Secretary's. Mr. Cardenas said he believes that the TAC can give a recommendation of a person or a seat. Ms. Beard said she does not want to hold up.the position but if somebody has applied for it from NAS for them to get preferential treatment. Mr. Rock said whether we have NAS representation or not it really does not matter to him. He said as long as we get somebody that is representing the community, he does not care where they come from. IV. Staff Recommendations requiring Committee Review for Recommendations/ Actions - a. Appointments to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Sub-committee: None b. Motion to Change the Speed Limit on Aquarius. St. with Possible Action Taken: Ms. Beard motioned to approve to change the speed limit on Aquarius St. between Commodores Blvd. and Whitecap Blvd. from 35 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour. Ms. Cudd seconded. Motioned passed. V. Identify items to be placed on a future agenda • Discussion and Presentation of Possibility of No Cell Phone Use • Update of Municipal Maintenance Agreement with City and TxDOT VI. ' Public Comment None VII. Adjournment - Meeting adjourned at 3:43 p.m. Page6of6