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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Transportation Advisory Commission - 07/25/2011 RECEIVED DEc Y 2 2011 Transportation Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes CITY SECRETARY'S OFFICE Monday, July 25, 2011 Call Meeting to Order - Mr. Curtis A. Rock, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m. II. Approval of Minutes - Minutes of June 27, 2011 were approved. III. Presentations and Discussions - a. Monthly Traffic Fatality Report: Lt. Sherman reported two (2) new fatalities, which brings the total to nineteen (19) for year 2011. He saidfatality eighteen (18) occurred on June 28 at the 1500 blk. of Winnebago St. and it was pedestrian related. Lt. Sherman said fatality nineteen (19) happened on July 16 at the 5800 blk. of SH358 and it was pedestrian related. He said the pedestrian was crossing the freeway when he was struck by the vehicle. b. Monthly Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee Report: Ms. Beard reported the last recommendation she made at one of the meetings with the City Attorney's Office was to change the "Safe Passing" ordinance to a resolution. She stated Mr. Reining had volunteered to write up the resolution. She said Mr. Reining has presented a draft of the "Safe Passing" resolution to the subcommittee and the subcommittee agreed to review it some more and then place it as a motion for the resolution to replace the vulnerable user/safe passage ordinance that was previously approved by the TAC. Ms. Beard also said that the subcommittee is recommending the previous motion that the TAC approved, be retracted in order to approve this resolution. She said the "Safe Passing" resolution should be sent to the TAC for approval and then it would go to City Council for their approval. c. Police Department Traffic Enforcement Complaints: Lt. Sherman reported the complaints have been about the same as the month before. He stated the Traffic section of the Police Department has been addressing the complaints as they come. d. Top Intersection Crashes for the Month: Mr. Cardenas reported he has been working with Capt. Vesely on the top intersection crashes. He said they are working on a program to construct some signs. Mr. Cardenas commented he has seen this in bigger cities. These signs should say something-like number of accidents at each location. He said they are looking at the top intersections with the most crashes. Mr. Cardenas stated this would be more like an eye opener for motorists to be more careful at these locations. Mr. Cardenas said this item would be reoccurring on a monthly basis. e. Discussion on Proposing to Establish a 55 MPH Speed Limit Zone on US-77 Frontage Roads between Northwest Blvd. a IH-37 with Possible Action Taken: Mr. Cardenas introduced Mr. Jacob Longoria and Ms. Linda Guartuche with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Mr. Longoria demonstrated and explained a map of the proposed speed limit zone area. The committee members expressed several concerns they had regarding the proposed speed limit zone. Mr. Carrizales had some concerns with a bus stop and the speed being proposed. Page of SCANNED Mr. Carrizales said the best way to go would be 45 mph from FM624 to County Road 52. Mr. Longoria said that TxDOT would reevaluate the recommendations of the TAC. f. RTA 25th Anniversary Celebration: Mr. Cardenas introduced Ms. Karina Paris with the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). She said they had celebrated their 25th Anniversary the week of Monday, July 11, 2011 through Sunday, July 16, 2011. Ms. Paris stated the RTA originated in 1986 and reported that the RTA's bus service has almost tripled their usage from 1.9 to 5.4 million riders annually. Ms. Paris said they had several events throughout the week. She said that each day they raffled off several bicycles. Ms. Paris said the youngest winner was ;three years old and the oldest was 84 years old. She said they encourage the youth to use public transportation. g. Sports Entertainment Ft Arts District (SEA) Traffic Control - Chaparral Improvements: Tabled for next month. h. Discussion on Consideration and Possible Action on the Repeal of Identified Sections of Chapter 11 in City of Corpus Christi Ordinance Governing Bicycles with Possible Action Taken: Ms. Beard went over sections 11-2 through 11-7 and said the Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee voted and recommended that all these sections be repealed. She said section 11-8 (a-c) has been tabled for now. Ms. Beard reported this is where they got input from Mr. Valdez and Mr. Reining as far as what this meant and what was involved. She said the original language was between "Harbor Bridge" and "New Ship Channel Bridge". She said there are some things here that need to be addressed. It was actually recommended to the committee that if it so desires to have the City to have a bicycle ordinance of some sorts on the books this is where it would belong. Therefore, section 11-8 (a-c) was tabled so it could be looked at closer. She said section 11-9 goes back to registering and the number system and section 11-10 is destruction. She said section 11-11 is responsibility of owner but the language on this one is not very, clear. Ms. Beard proposed to leave section 11-11 alone. Ms. Beard recommended mirroring the recommendation from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee to vote to repeal sections 11-2 through 11-7; in addition, 11-9 through 11-10 and table section 11-8 (a-c) and leave as is section 11-11. i. Pedestrian Crossing Flasher at Staples St. @ Ray High School: Mr. Cardenas stated this item would be combined with item 1. He said this was discussed last month and he brought up the possibility of getting something safer for the kids to cross on Staples St. Ms. Cudd stated the main concern is something that would. not tie up traffic so much. He said one of the types of applications that could be done at this location is called the "HAWK System". He said there is a crossing on Kostoryz Rd., the other one is on Texan Trail. These are signalized crossings, which are the safest kind there are. He said it was brought to his attention that something could be done similar to the Nueces County Courthouse on Lipan St. that has a signalized intersection. Mr. Cardenas said the "HAWK System" stands for "High Intensity Activated Crosswalk" and he explained how the system works. He said signage would go up on the mast arm and stated the system costs about $80,000. However, we have about $20,000 already done, since we already have the foundation, the pole and Page 2 of 4 fj the assembly. The only thing we have to put in is the signal heads, signage, wiring and the controller cabinet. He said all this could be done under $50,000. He said the "HAWK System" could be coordinated with the other traffic signals. Mr. Cardenas said he is apprehensive aboutusing it in a school zone because he does not want to set precedent at every school zone. It would cost the city millions, if that were the case. He said the "HAWK System" is going to be installed on Staples St. by City Hall across from the bus station for the RTA and he would like to see how this operates for about a year before this could be the official program that the city is going to do. He said the "HAWK System" is a lot more economical than a traffic signal. He said the good news on Staples St. by Ray High School is that there is already an existing infrastructure on the flashing assembly. j. Yield Sign at Louisiana Ave. @ Ocean Dr.: Mr. Cardenas said after checking out this location he was under the impression that there was a yield sign at Louisiana Ave. headed south on Ocean Dr. However, this is a stop condition and not a yield condition. There is a yield sign on the triangular island facing this movement. He said the purpose of the yield sign is so movement can yield to the signalized movement. Mr. Cardenas stated this holds pretty well, we have not seen any big collisions at this location for this yield sign. He did not know if Ms. Beard wanted to make the stop condition into a yield condition or the yield condition into a stop condition. Ms. Cudd said that she wanted to do away with the yield sign. Mr. Cardenas said that this has to be a yield condition because it does not have a big radius like Airline Rd. does. He said the yield sign is necessary and maybe he could place some pavement markings on the ground to emphasize the yield sign being there. k. Traffic Engineering Budget: Mr. Cardenas reported Traffic Engineering is funded through the General Fund. He stated that Traffic Engineering suffered some significant cuts to their budget. Mr. Cardenas commented three positions were cut from the budget and one position was rifted to another department. He said in 2009 Traffic Signals was added to his section and in 2010 Signs and Markings was added to his section as well. Mr. Cardenas stated Traffic Engineering is doing more with less. 1. HAWK System: This item was combined with item i. IV. Staff Recommendations requiring Committee Review for Recommendations/ Actions - a. Appointments to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Sub-committee: Ms. Cudd motioned to recommend the re-appointments of Ms. Gretchen Arnold, Mr. Dave Cochran, Mr. Victor Vourcos and Mr. Kirby Warnke to serve another term. The committee seconds. Motion passes. b. Motion to Approve to Establish a 55 MPH Speed Limit Zone on US-77 Frontage Roads between Northwest Blvd. Et IH-37 with Possible Action Taken: Mr. Carrizales motioned to establish a 45/55 mph speed limit zone past the businesses on the west and east frontage roads of US-77. Ms. Beard seconds. Motion passes. Page 3 of 4 c. Motion to Repeal Identified Sections (11-2 - 11-7 and 11-10) of Chapter 11 in City of Corpus Christi Ordinance Governing Bicycles with Possible Action Taken: Ms. Cudd motioned to mirror the recommendations from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee to repeal sections 11-2 - 11-7 and 11-9 - 11-10 and table section 11-8 (a-c) and leave as is section 11-11. Mr. Price seconds. Motion passes. V. Identify items to be placed on a future agenda - None VI. Public Comment - None VII. Adjournment - Meeting adjourned at 4:12 p.m. Page 4 of 4