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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Transportation Advisory Commission - 08/23/2010 RECEIVED 'OCT 0 5 2010 Transportation Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes CITY SECRETARY'S OFFICE Monday, August 23, 2010 6 Call Meeting to Order - Curtis A. Rock, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 2:34 p.m. II. Approval of Minutes - Minutes of July 26, 2010 were approved. III. Presentations and Discussions - a. Monthly Traffic Fatality Report: Sgt. Pena reported fourteen (14) fatalities to date for the year 2010. b. Monthly Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee Report: Ms. Beard said last month there was not a BPS meeting due to not having a quorum. She mentioned that in November another bicycle ride-along will take place and encouraged everyone to participate. Ms. Beard commented that she will be sending an invitation to the City Council to see if they would like to ride-along. She continued to say that the bicycles will be provided and stressed this will not be a meeting and stated this is to take a look at the bicycle routes and see what they are dealing with. Mr. Cardenas mentioned that he will be attending the bicycle ride-along and reported that a map showing the bicycle routes will be provided at next month's meeting. Ms. Beard stated that the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and city staff are working on the Urban Transportation Plan with Bob Payne with Development Services. She said that Mr. Payne will bring a report of what they're looking at for bicycle lanes at the next meeting and she said this is specifically for input. c. Bicycle a Pedestrian Subcommittee Webpage Update: Mr. Cardenas mentioned that Daniel Carrizales with MPO is working on the website. Mr. Cardenas said the city will have more input in the way of getting more information and stated this is not a city run website. Ms. Beard inquired if there will be a conflict of interest or conflict in any way. Mr. Cardenas said no it's not and it's just like some kind of independent organization posting to the website and the only thing the city does is to give it public information. Any information given by the city will only be public information approved by the committee, like past agendas. Mr. Rock asked if these updates are something that will be recurring in the agendas. Ms. Beard said no, once the basic information is done, the only thing that will change periodically is'if a survey is conducted but we have to report on that anyway. d. Traffic Signal at McArdle at Sunrise Mall Entrance: Mr. Cardenas said this intersection was studied within the last several weeks and mentioned this past weekend was taken into consideration. Mr. Cardenas stated it did not warrant the signalized intersection at McArdle Rd. and Burlington Coat Factory. He continued to say one of the highest peak seasons of shopping was taken into consideration, which was the tax free weekend and this past weekend was also a very high traffic weekend. Mr. Cardenas said there were big volumes; however, it did not meet the warrants. He stated city staff will make the decision to whether or not to remove the signalized intersection. Mr. Cardenas reported that after reviewing this Page 1 of 4 SCANNED intersection the equipment is very old, is almost 30 years old, and is on span wire, which is something we don't practice anymore in the City of Corpus Christi. He continued to say the city does mast arm type of intersections. Mr. Cardenas said staff would do changes at this intersection but staff would also like to hear any comments, not any recommendations but just comments and discussions from the committee before deciding to do any changes to this intersection. Ms. Cudd inquired if Sunrise Mall ever rejuvenates itself I guess another traffic signal would have to be installed. Mr. Cardenas replied that a formal study would have to be done again if that would ever happen. He said there are new technologies and methods to look at traffic flow, specially at businesses and private driveways but this was a practice that was done 30 years ago, which was different than today. He said yes, if the Mall may rejuvenate and may look at other methods to improve the traffic flow but in this case the current conditions affect the traffic flow on McArdle Rd. and it may save some money in the long run. Ms. Cudd asked what will be the next step, will city staff decide or will they make a recommendation to the committee. Mr. Cardenas replied this will depend completely upon city staff, this item does not go to City Council. Therefore, there is no need for recommendation from this committee; however, city staff will take into consideration any' comments from this committee. Mr. Cardenas stated the next step will probably be standard practice, the signal will be placed on flash and it would be on a yellow or amber flash on McArdle Rd. and red flash on the Burlington Coat Factory driveway. Normally, this operation will be done for about a month, then when traffic gets used to these conditions, the signalized intersection will be taken down. Mr. Cardenas said this traffic signal will be placed on flash within the next couple of weeks. e. Traffic Signal at Nile and Ennis Joslin facing Hans Suter Park: Mr. Cardenas said this item was placed on the agenda from last month for discussion on this month and no action has been taken yet, but staff needs some direction as far as the committee on what is being considered. Ms. Cudd said the concern at this location is coming out of Hans Suter Park. She continued to say the light takes a long time and sometimes it does not turn green within a reasonable amount of time. She said motorists usually run this light and if there is no traffic coming, they just use it as a stop sign. Mr. Rock commented maybe the problem is just a timing issue and stated motorists are crossing four lanes of traffic. Mr. Cardenas stated as far as an operations standpoint, we will take a look at the operations on it to see the timing and make sure the detection lenses are clean to make sure there is detection because this could be one of reasons why there is some delay. Mr. Cardenas said he will give a formal report at next month's meeting and maybe conduct a warrant analysis. f. Airline Rd. Realignment at Rodd Field Rd.: Item was tabled until next month. g. Brooke Rd. a Rodd Field Rd. Intersection: Mr. Cardenas said he has not taken a formal look at this item but given any concerns, would definitely like to discuss and take a look at this intersection. Mr. Rock stated there is a lot of confusion by the users of these roads on when to go and said he witnessed two vehicle accidents on the same day at this location. Mr. Rock said there is a possible need for signalization, depending on traffic counts. Mr. Rock said there is a stop on Brooke Page 2 of 4 Rd., east and westbound on Brooke Rd. Mr. Cardenas said he would see if this intersection warrants a signal and what improvements can be made, maybe it's poor lighting, need for pavement markings and things like this. h. Fire Et Police Traffic Discussions: Mr. Cardenas reported he works closely with these two departments on a lot of traffic issues, like: school zones, school traffic, construction zones, speed hump approval, creating one-way streets, no parking, creating fire lanes and things like that. i. Staples and Saratoga Median Construction Project: Mr. Cardenas said a preconstruction meeting took place and Bay Construction obtained the bid on this project. Construction will start on August 30, 2010. This project entails placing medians on Saratoga Blvd. from Staples St. to Rodd Field Rd. and on Staples St. from Saratoga Blvd. to Oso Pkwy. The medians are designed to increase traffic flow on Saratoga Blvd. and Staples St. and will restrict certain left turns into some driveways. Mr. Cardenas continued to say certain left turns will still be able to be made in certain driveways and some u-turns can be made in certain areas but the project is geared to increasing the traffic flow and maintaining accident safety by reducing the conflict points. Mr. Cardenas said this project will also involve resurfacing both streets and-said the construction project is going to start from Staples St. to Rodd Field Rd. on Saratoga Rd. and the same thing will be done on Staples St. Mr. Cardenas said the final hot mix will not be done until the end so there is going to be some time where motorists will be driving on a rough surface, similar to an overlay project on Weber Rd. last year. The length of construction is 18 months on both streets. He said TXDot hosted three public meetings and that's how it was considered where the left turns were going to be along these medians and the whole city was invited to these meetings. Mr. Cardenas stated this is a TXDot project. Ms. Cudd asked where the left turns will be allowed on Staples St. Mr. Cardenas responded that he will bring some layouts at next month's meeting but it does mitigate the Montana Mike's situation, and it does mitigate coming out of HEB and you will not be able to do a left turn there, it's going to be further down. It mitigates a lot of those issues. There are going to be some inconveniences but at the same time you still are going to be able to make a u-turn. There is going to be safer u-turns, which are called "loons", which is extra piece of roadway when you do that u-turn. Mr. Cardenas said he will bring the schematic layout to show where the left turns and u-turns are going to be. He said this project is similar to the medians in Calallen. IV. Staff Recommendations requiring Committee Review for Recommendations/ Actions - a. Appointments to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Sub-committee: None Page 3 of 4 V. Identify items to be placed on a future agenda - • Everhart Rd. Stop Signs by Aberdeen Dr. • Cedar Pass Speed Hump Ahead Sign • Redlight Camera Update Discussion VI. Public Comment - No public comment. VII. Adjournment - Meeting adjourned at 3:12 p.m. Page 4 of 4