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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/6/2026 Item 8a, Floyd and Schwartz - Staff Agenda CorrespondenceCity of San Luis Obispo, Council Memorandum City of San Luis Obispo Council Agenda Correspondence DATE: October 6, 2026 TO: Mayor and Council FROM: Aaron Floyd, Public Works and Utilities Director Prepared By: Luke Schwartz, Transportation Manager VIA: Whitney McDonald, City Manager SUBJECT: ITEM #8a – GRAND AVENUE PAVING PROJECT STUDY SESSION Staff received the following questions regarding Item #8a on the agenda for the October 6, 2026, City Council meeting. Questions are below with staff’s response shown in italics: 1) When exiting campus, the road goes from 1-lane on campus, to 2-lanes at the Grand/Slack intersection, then back to 1-lane. What is the purpose of this configuration rather than just one continuous lane? On urban streets, the traffic capacity is generally constrained at intersections. The purpose of providing two lanes on Grand Avenue in the southbound direction through the Slack Street intersection is to reduce traffic delays and queueing exiting the Cal Poly campus during peak periods, including the typical weekday afternoon commute and after larger on-campus special events. Based on traffic analysis prepared by the City, and corroborated by traffic analysis prepared by Cal Poly’s transportation engineering consultant, if only a single lane was provided along southbound Grand Avenue at Slack Street, peak period traffic queues exiting the campus would increase by >200 feet and the southbound approach would experience delays and level of service (LOS) below the City’s adopted thresholds. If desired by the Council, staff could pursue (A) an option that maintains two lanes on southbound Grand Avenue from Cal Poly to the US 101 freeway, or (B) explore an option that retains one southbound lane continuously exiting Cal Poly, eliminating the one-to-two-to-one lane transition. However, each of these alternatives would introduce trade-offs in terms of reduced width for multimodal facilities (with Option A), or increased congestion exiting the Cal Poly campus (with Option B). Further, Option B would require street design changes within Cal Poly’s right-of-way, which would be dependent on Cal Poly’s approval of this modification, and resulting increase in congestion exiting the campus. If a roundabout was installed at the Grand/Slack intersection, as recommended for future consideration, a single lane could be provided entering/exiting campus on Grand while maintaining efficient traffic operations. Item #8a – GRAND AVENUE PAVING PROJECT STUDY SESSION Page 2 2) The right turn onto the SB 101 ramp is shown as a right turn yield to through bicycles. Can you explain the reasoning for this rather than a merge? There is also concern about the speed of overtaking bicycles given this is going downhill. With the initial Grand Avenue pilot installation, the design strategy for the southbound Grand approach to the US 101 SB On-Ramp intersection was to stripe a dedicated right turn lane and bike lane to the left of this turn lane, which allowed vehicles to merge across the bike lane before making a right-turn onto the freeway ramp. While in some locations, this can be an effective strategy to reduce potential for vehicle vs. bicycle “right hook” conflicts, unfortunately, this design approach was not very effective at this location during the initial pilot installation. Following the initial pilot installation observations, southbound drivers often did not merge into the dedicated right-turn lane at this intersection—instead, drivers would often make a wide sweeping right turn from the through lane at higher speeds. For this reason, the pilot roadway striping was modified in early 2026 to remove the dedicated right-turn lane and add dashed bike lane striping to provide a tighter radius corner to encourage drivers to instead merge into the dashed bike lane and navigate the turn at slower speeds. Staff have generally observed slower turning speeds and improved bicyclist visibility with the revised striping design, and have received similar positive feedback from the adjacent preschool representatives. Staff understands the concerns with high speeds along the downhill slope on southbound Grand Avenue—both for vehicles and cyclists, as this does introduce additional potential for conflict at intersections and driveways. The current concept designs include features such as radar speed feedback signs, additional bulbouts to reduce turning speeds, and additional streetlighting and warning signage to increase visibility of conflict points. Staff recommends exploring a future roundabout as the ideal engineering solution to both reduce speeds and manage conflicts at this intersection. If the Council is interested in revisiting the potential to provide a dedicated southbound right-turn lane with a bike lane aligned to the left of the turn lane at this location, staff can evaluate this design option and explore strategies to increase proper use of this turn lane beyond what was observed during the initial pilot project. Item #8a – GRAND AVENUE PAVING PROJECT STUDY SESSION Page 3 Southbound Grand Ave & US 101 SB On-Ramp - Original Pilot Project Striping Configuration Southbound Grand Ave & US 101 SB On-Ramp - Revised Pilot Project Striping Configuration 3) Why is on-street parking being maintained on Grand? Is there evidence that this parking is needed? Could additional buffering be provided to the bike lanes if the parking was removed? The current concept designs retain on-street parking along Grand Avenue where it currently exists. The on-street parking along Grand Avenue is well utilized during the Cal Poly academic year, and a residential parking district is currently in place along the east side of Grand Avenue between US 101 and Slack Street to manage residential parking demand. Item #8a – GRAND AVENUE PAVING PROJECT STUDY SESSION Page 4 While buffered bike lanes have been provided along the full extent of Grand Avenue, removal of on-street parking would be needed to extend the limits of physically protected bike lanes, as ultimately recommended in the City’s Active Transportation Plan. Staff can pursue this design option, if desired by the City Council, but would recommend conducting additional noticing and outreach to the properties in the vicinity. 4) There is a proposed raised crosswalk at Fredericks St. Why was this not proposed at all side streets? Cost/funding constraints are the primary reason why raised crosswalks have not been proposed at all side streets along Grand Avenue. In particular, raised crosswalks can create additional challenges and costs to accommodate stormwater drainage. Staff is proposing a raised crosswalk at the Fredericks side street, as this location has a history of turning vehicle vs. bicycle crashes, including a fatal crash involving a cyclist in 2023. If desired by the Council, staff can evaluate additional side street locations for raised crosswalks, but this would likely require reducing project scope/costs at other locations to stay within the available funding.