To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
From: TED SEMAAN, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
TITLE
title
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING ALL WAY STOP REQUESTS AT EIGHT INTERSECTIONS IN COUNCIL DISTRICT 4
end
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In response to a referral from the City Council, staff is presenting information for additional consideration related to the results of neighborhood outreach for all way stop requests at eight intersections in Council District 4. The intersections included in the referral are Mathews Avenue & Felton Lane, Mathews Avenue & Perkins Lane, Huntington Lane & Blossom Lane, Huntington Lane & Rindge Lane, Stanford Avenue & Marshallfield Lane, Ormond Lane & Wollacott Street, Harkness Lane & Clark Lane, and Felton Lane & Huntington Lane.
Per the City Council approved policy (see attached), staff completed two initial assessments at each of the requested intersections. The assessments included a resident survey to determine neighborhood support and a review of each of the intersection’s traffic collision history and potential for site line obstruction. These assessments were initiated by staff at the time of the initial resident requests to determine whether the stop signs should move forward for consideration of approval. None of the initial assessments produced data that met the threshold required for automatic advancement. The City’s policy allows for Councilmembers in these instances to direct that a request be brought forward for additional consideration regardless of the results of the initial assessments. This item provides for that consideration at the above mentioned intersections.
BACKGROUND
In recent years, the City Council has reviewed processes related to City staff response to resident requests for traffic infrastructure improvements, including all way stop (AWS) requests. In May of 2022, Council adopted a policy for the City’s response to AWS requests that is meant to shorten and simplify the process to evaluate whether these requests warrant the installation of additional stop signs at a given intersection. The updated process relieved the burden on the requestor to determine neighborhood support by having staff initiate a survey and analyze responses from residents within 150 feet of a given intersection. Staff initiated this practice in 2020, however, due to the pandemic, it was not formalized by Council until May 2022.
The new process also accelerated the timeline in two ways. First, by shortening the active period of the survey from 18 weeks to 4 weeks, and, second, by conducting the safety evaluation (collision history and site line verification) simultaneously with the neighborhood survey. In order for a request to be advanced by staff to the next level, an AWS request needs to receive support of two thirds of the residences surveyed (counting one vote per residence), or have technical concerns related to line of sight or collision history. Staff performs a field review for line of site concerns and follows the state guidelines for placement of stop signs published in the California Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (CA MUTCD) when determining thresholds based on collision history. Those guidelines indicate a stop sign installation is appropriate when there are five or more correctible collisions as reported by SWITRS data.
AWS requests for the eight subject intersections were made between November of 2021 and July of 2022. Process initiation was delayed due to staffing shortages and turnover, however, the accelerated timeline did yield prompt initial results in assessing each intersection location. In addition to feedback collected by staff, the Council Member from District 4 invited his constituents to provide their input on AWS controls at these intersections via his website. Staff saved the input it received from those outside the 150-foot radius and tracked it as “additional support.”
The following tables summarizes the request date, survey mailing date, survey response rate, number of residents providing additional support, and the reported correctible crashes for the four-year period preceding the request for each intersection.
Due to the fact that none of the intersections reached the thresholds triggering automatic follow up action, the requesting resident for each intersection was notified of the results and that the matter would be considered closed by staff unless resurrected with the support of the District Council Member.
Since the time of the notification letter sent for the Blossom and Huntington intersection, staff learned that a fence was installed in the front and side yards of the residence on the northwestern corner of the intersection. This installation, coupled with the vertical curve on Blossom and the alignment of the southbound traffic against the curb (i.e. no parking lane) make the line of sight more difficult. These physical changes have altered staff’s initial assessment of the intersection. Given the new conditions it is now staff’s recommendation that an AWS be installed at the intersection.
Per its approved policy, Council may direct staff to perform additional studies, bring the matter to the Public Works Commission for advisement, or decide immediately to implement all way stop controls at any of the considered intersections.
COORDINATION
This report was coordinated within the Engineering Services Division of the Public Works Department.
FISCAL IMPACT
The fiscal impact depends on the direction from City Council. The cost to implement way stop controls is roughly $3,000 per intersection. The cost to conduct further traffic studies is roughly $5,000 per intersection, depending on the nature of the data/analysis requested. Funds for the installation of the AWS signs can be accommodated in the maintenance budget of the Public Works Department. Funds for further traffic studies are available in the Public Works Engineering Services Division budget.
APPROVED BY:
Mike Witzansky, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
• Flowchart - All-way Stop Requests