HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/26/1993, 7 - REVIEW OF STOP SIGN PLACEMENT-INTERSECTION OF GRAND AND SLACK lllll�ly�llllllllll�ll ( II MEETING DATE:
II N II�I��'lllll C,,y3' of san LUIS oBIspo October 26 1993
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT ITEM NUMBER:
FROM: Michael D. McCluskey, Public Works Directori"�V
SUBJECT: Review of Stop Sign Placement-Intersection of Grand and Slack
CAO RECOMMENDATIONS:
Receive a report concerning a stop sign recently installed on Grand
Avenue and, direct staff to make no changes at the present time, but to
continue to monitor the situation.
DISCUSSION:
Attached is a communication item from Councilman Settle regarding a new
stop sign on Grand Avenue. During the Council meeting of October 20, the
Council directed staff to provide a report on this matter for the October
26 meeting.
During construction of the recent Grand Ave. Reconstruction Project, the
intersection of Grand Ave. and Slack Street was reconfigured to a full
four way stop intersection from a three way stop intersection. The
result of the change has been twofold: 1) peak traffic flows into the
Cal Poly campus have queued back to Fredericks Street near Hwy 101; 2)
neighborhood access across Grand Ave. has been enhanced.
Prior to design and construction of the Grand Ave. project, staff was
requested to provide "stop" intersections at any or all of the local
cross streets to provide a safe pedestrian access to/from Pacheco School
for neighborhood children residing north of Grand Ave. Staff felt the
request had merit as no controlled intersection existed on Grand Ave.
between Monterey and Perimeter Rd. within the interior of the campus.
Thus, except for times of traffic control provided by a crossing guard
(early morning and late afternoon) , no control is available to reduce,
mitigate or eliminate the danger to small children from vehicle traffic
with 5, 100 feet of uninterrupted flow (this is the same distance between
Orcutt and Tank Farm Roads on Broad Street) . While Grand Avenue is
considered an arterial, it also bisects a large residential area and as
such the interests of both the traveling public and local residents must
be considered.
Staff reviewed all intersections for potential controlled intersection
installation. The most logical locations fell into two groups: 1) Hwy.
101 ramp locations and 2) Pacheco School intersections. The former
locations were eliminated as not practical to provide school children a
crossing area within a reasonable walking distance of the school. In a
review of the latter locations, three potential intersections were
studied: McCollum, Hays and Slack. Although both McCollum and Hays are
situated to feed students directly to neighborhood areas, neither has
sufficient vehicular traffic to warrant a four way intersection and
placement of non-warranted stop intersections has shown disregard of that
intersection by the main flow of traffic and is not a recommended traffic
management practice.
The intersection of Grand and Slack was reviewed and found to be the most
practical solution. A three way intersection already existed and three
14
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COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
way intersections are a non-standard control mechanism i.e. most drivers .
expect four way control and behavior patterns are based thereon.
Therefore a driver, not familiar with the area, would expect all four
directions to stop and would make traffic movements based upon that
assumption. Thus traffic on Slack or exiting the campus would expect
incoming Grand Ave. traffic to stop. The installation of the four way
stop would conform with normal driving expectations of the traveling
public.
School children entering or exiting Pacheco School and feeling the need
for a controlled intersection, would be required to walk to the west end
of the campus to accomplish their purpose. Thus while the route might
not be as direct as McCollum or Hays, a route would be available and
provide for pedestrian access. Because traffic would be required to come
to a stop at Slack Street, the net effective traffic speed at Hays would
be reduced allowing the possibility of a viable non-controlled pedestrian
crossing at that location.
Due to the benefits of a standardized intersection and pedestrian access,
Slack Street was chosen for installation of four way stop controls. This
decision was incorporated into the plan for the construction project.
The design of the new entrance to the school and four way stop was
coordinated with the Pacheco School principal, Mr. Jim Miller. The Cal
Poly facilities coordinator, Mr. Robert Kitamura was informed of the
upcoming changes. The plans and specifications were made available for
City Council review prior to approval to go forward with bidding the
project for construction. The neighbors requesting the changes were
informed and agreed with the compromise solution. The project was bid,
awarded and is now very near complete.
The project was not totally complete when on September 20, 1993 the Cal
Poly academic year began. The contractor, at times, only had one lane
available for incoming traffic. As expected, tremendous traffic
congestion resulted. Currently two travel lanesare available and
traffic congestion does incur primarily on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
In conversation with Mr. Frank Lebens, Vice President of Administration
at Cal Poly, this congestion is due to a large number of "lab" classes
which are scheduled on those days. At time of the conversation, the
congestion was occurring between 7 :45 AM and 8 : 15 AM. Before and after
those hours the new stop intersection was having little effect.
This type of congestion can be expected whenever new or different traffic
controls are placed. Initially, due to congestion, short-cut routes are
established, nerves are frayed and dissatisfaction rises. However, in
the normal course of events drivers change their driving habits to
mitigate a new set of circumstances with an average delay at the peak
morning hours of two minutes, drivers begin to permanently change their
driving habits by adjusting their departure time to compensate for the
new circumstance. On the morning of October 19th, the peak congestion
had dissipated by 8: 05 AM - already showing a 10 minute reduction in the
peak congestion time.
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city of san lugs 0131 SPO
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Does the intersection meet the warrants of the Uniform Traffic Manual for
a four way stop intersection? Yes, in fact a traffic analysis by Public
Works staff found the intersection meets two separate warrants for
signalization. Because of the inordinate cost of signalization
($140, 000) the installation of the stop intersection was found to be a
reasonable compromise between pedestrians needs, traffic needs and cost.
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December 26, 1990
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Mr. Dave Romero Pr,gZ:pyyLA.{';��
Public Works Director
955 Morro St.
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San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Dear Mr. Romero
I am writing this letter to request that you consider examining
the non-existence and positioning of stop signs at the inter-
section of Grand Ave. and Slack St. with the following information
in mind: As I was traveling south on Grand Ave,. and had stopped
at the stop sign at Grand and Slack St. , I looked to my right and
saw a stop sign on Slack St. and assumed' the intersection was a
4-way stop. I proceeded across the intersection and a person on
a motorcycle made a left turn in front of me yelling a few choice
words. It wasn' t until the next day that_ I realized the traffic
traveling north on Grand Ave. does not have to stop. Since there
is a left turn lane on the northbound Grand Ave. road, and there
are two other lanes for traffic; it is quite a distance across the
intersection to look for a stop sign, especially after dark which
was the .situation when I had the uncomfortable encounter with the
enraged motorcyclist.
It seems that there are several alternatives which would be better
than the present situation. Some of these are ( 1 ) post a stop
sign at all four corners, ( 2) post a stop sign for the northbound
left turn traffic on Grand Ave. , ( 3) remove the stop sign for the
southbound traffic on Grand Ave. , or ( 4 ) add "3-way stop" to the
present stop signs.
I 'm taking this opportunity to thank you in advance for taking the
time to read my letter and am asking you to take the time to give
my suggestions serious consideration.
Very truly yours,
Maragaret A. -Wiggin
904 Mesa View Drive
Arroyo Grande, CA 93420
ph. ( 805) 481 -2016
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STING AGENDA
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�fCIty Of SAn WIS OBISPO
990 Palm Street/Post Office Box 8100 • San Luis Obispo, CA 93403-8100
October 18, 1993
COMMUNICATION ITEM
TO: Council Colleagues
FROM: Councilman Allen Settle Q
SUBJECT: STOP SIGNS ON GRAND AVENUE
I would request that the Council reconsider the newly placed stop sign entering the Cal Poly
campus on Grand Avenue. There have been a great number of complaints since the
installation of the fourth stop sign. Traffic has been backed up for blocks; people are now
driving through the surrounding neighborhoods trying to avoid the problem; and during the
early morning hours, children are afraid to cross the street in the crosswalk.
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/O The City of San Luis Obispo is committed to include the disabled in all o1 its services, programs and activities.
l� Telecommunications Device for the Deaf(805) 781-7410.
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CA!1'Cn\;A OL1'TE:'r.XiC Yh-E UNICEFS17Y
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October 1, 1993 31 Fm,E'F- ;60
Mike
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Mike McCluskey
Public Works Director
City of San Luis Obispo
P. O. Box 8100
San Luis Obispo, CA 93403
Dear Mike:
As you are aware, the campus has experienced major congestion problems during the recent
construction on Grand Avenue resulting from an occasional reduction to one northbound lane.
It is my understanding, as part of the project, that the City intends to put a four way stop at the
intersection of Slack and Grand Avenue. If we have learned any lessons from the construction
experience, it would be that we would want to minimize the congestion on Grand Avenue,
particularly during the early morning "rush" hour on campus. When traffic backs up on Grand
Avenue it creates congestion all the way to Monterey Street, as was the case on September 29th,
and there are extreme delays in accessing the cue when one utilizes the offramp from Highway
101 onto Grand Avenue with the intent of making a left turn. I envision very similar problems
if oncoming campus traffic is required to stop at Slack and therefore request that serious
consideration be given to not erecting a stop sign northbound on Grand Avenue onto campus at
Slack.
Thanks, Mike, for considering this request. Should you desire to discuss this further, please call
me at 756-2171. In any case, I would appreciate your reaction to my request.
Sincerely,
Frank Lebens
Vice President for Administration & Finance
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cc: J. Dunn
R. Kitamura
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955 Morro Street • San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
October 12, 1993
Frank Lebens OCT 1 .s 1993
Vice President for Administration & Finance
California Polytechnic State University �._.. .. _
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 -. CA
Dear Frank,
Thank you for your letter of October 1, 1993, which we received on
October 6. I am very much aware of the situation at the
intersection of Slack and Grand Avenue. The decision o install a
fourth stop----Y-
si n ae intersection was not made li htl Staff
received numerous requests for help from citizens with small
children attending Pacheco Elementary School. Speeding traffic
heading inbound for the Cal Poly campus created severe pedestrian
safety problems for these small children. Parents called and
related stories of their own fear in trying to. cross Grand Avenue
with their children in the same early morning rush hour that you
re-€erence- in-your letter. The requests that we received included
one to establish a multitude of stop intersections along the entire
street to keep inbound traffic from exceeding the speed limit and
to enhance pedestrian safety. The solution of a single stop sign
at the intersection of Slack and Grand was the City response to
these requests.
The intersection will now be in compliance with standard uniform
traffic manual recommendations. We will monitor the situation to
see if the problems you foretell do arise. If so, we will deal
with the conflicting issues as best we can. I do not want to
create a situation where we are pitting the interests of Cal Poly
versus the interests of the local neighborhood citizens, ' and as
such, I am trying to promote a situation which will best handle
both cases.
It may interest you to note that at the City Council meeting by
which the reconstruction and overlay project was approved, I
vigorously defended the current design against a proposal which was
made to limit Grand Avenue to a single lane roadway. Had that
proposal beery adopted, the congestion you experienced during the
construction phase of the project, would truly have become the
norm.
I am confident that the proposed solution and roadway design will
allow a smooth and even flow of traffic, while providing safety to
OThe City of San Luis Obispo is committed to include the disabled in all of its services. programs and activities.
Telecommunications Device for zhe Deal (805)7881.7410.
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the pedestrians, and maintain access to the California Polytechnic
State University campus.
If you have any questions or would like any further details, please .
feel free to give me a call at 781=72141 or I'd be happy to meet
with you or Bob Kitamura at your convenience.
✓n
Very truly yours,
Michael McClus ey
Director of P lic Works / a �
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c: John Dunn h
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the pedestrians, and maintain access to the California Polytechnic
State University campus.
If you have any questions or would like any further details, please
feel free to give me a call at 781=7214, or I'd be happy to meet
with you or Bob Kitamura at your convenience.
Very truly yours,
Michael McClus ey
Director of P lic Works
c: John Dunn
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MEED,, AGENDA
DATE.IlI:e ITEMi
CITY CLERK MEMORANDUM
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October 22, 1993
TO: The Honorable City Council
FROM: Diane Gladwell, City Clerk
SUBJECT: Computer Policy, Equity of Information
As you know, two Council Members personally own IBM-compatible computers at home
and have been utilizing the pilot remote access program. It has proven successful and
efficient, but it has raised.an "equity of information" dilemma.
We have implemented electronic agendas in City Hall and I would like to make this
information available to Council. In addition, Council Member Roalman has found a way
to implement Citylink information in a cost-efficient and effective manner. I do not feel
comfortable implementing these programs without the full Council having access to the
information at the same time. I.would like to discuss the problem and alternative solutions
at a future council meeting.
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6
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MEETING - AGEND" Ca u u
DATE 1ITEM I i a q N
MEMO
To: City Council members
From: Marion Wolff, HRC „ �� M ,,, C ,*-1Z- N s
Having just returned from the Palm Springs annual meeting of the
California Association of Human Rights Organizations, I am inspired!
Yesterday I received word that on NOV 5, loam -12noon, there
would be a 'downlink' event originating from the Old Dominion
University, North Oak, VA, entitled "HEALING RACISM'. The core of
this will be a discussion by the author of the book of the same title,
there will be a moderator, call in opportunities from cities around the
country who are dealing the problems of racism, questions and
answers etc.
After calling members of several local ethnic groups, members of the
newly formed HAVE PEACE (Hate Violence Prevention Coalition), and
fellow members of the HRC, I took the initiative to arrange with the
Cal Poly audio visual dept. for them to join the 'downlink', and make
it available to our community. Dr. Robert Gish from the Ethnic
Studies Dept will be the official sponsor. We are now in the process
of trying to estimate the size of the audience, so that Cal Poly can
provide a room with adequate space. It seems that the timing of
this event is most opportune. We are in the midst of very
distressing and frightening occurrences, as well as some really
positive thinking and movement.
Now to the nitty gritty. The cost of the 'downlink' is $200, and Cal
Poly's Ethnic Studies Dept has offered a $50 contribution. It should
not be difficult to raise the remaining amount from our community.
If the City Council and Board of Supervisors would also be willing to
contribute, we will approach other groups and individuals for the
remaining amount. All contributors would of course automatically
become co-sponsors.
To recap: Downlink - HEALING RACISM, NOV. 51 1993. 10a.m. - Noon
(Noon - 1p.m. brownbag lunch & debriefing for those who wish
to stay) at Cal Poly in room to be announced later.
Produced by OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY, North
O2y
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I can be contacted at home at 544-3450. Thanks. ` ' L RN PR
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In The Superior Court of The State of California
In and for the County of San Luis Obispo
AFFIDAVIT OF PUBLICATION
No dvl-1630-0-4
City of San Luis Obispo
STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
ss.
County of San Luis Obispo
I am a citizen of the United States and a resident of the CrCY of
sari ltns 661spo
County aforesaid; I am over the age of eighteen and not CITY COUNCIL
PUBLIC HEARINGS
On Tuesday, October 26,
interested in the above-entitled matter 1993, the San Luis Obispo
City Council will hold public
hearings beginning at 7:00
I am now, and at all times embraced p.m.in the Council Chambers
of City Hall,990 Palm Street,
on the items listed below.
in the ublication herein mention was, the rncal clerk The reports will be available
ii
p P P for review in the City Clerk's
Department on the Wednes-
day and publishers of the SAN LUIS OBISPO day before the meeting. For
of the
P P more information,please call
781.7103.
The Council may also dis.
COUNTY TELEGRAM-TRIBUNE, a newspaper of general cuss other hearings or busi-
ness items before or after
circulation, printed and published daily, Sundays those listed. If you challenge
p p y ays eX- any one of the proposed
actions described below in
court,you may be limited to
cepted, at the City of San Luis Obispo in the above raising only those issues you
or someone else raised at the
public hearing described in
named county and state; that notice this notice, or in written
correspondence delivered to
the City Council at,or prior to,
the public hearing.
EXPANSION OF PARKING
DISTRICT - to consider a
request for the expansion and
modification of an existing
preferential parking district in
at which the annexed clipping is a true printed copy, was a residential area southof Cal
Poly campus, bounded gen-
published in the above-named newspaper and not in any erally by Slack Street, Hath-
way, Fredericks, and Grand
supplement thereof — on the following dates, to-wit: Avenue.(30 min.)
LOT LINE ADJUSTMENT-
October 16 2039 FIXLINI - to consider a
request for an exception to
the City's subdivision regula.
tions to allow a reduction of
the access flag lot width from
20 feet to 17.75 feet, and .
reduction of the setback from
the access drive from 10 feet
to 3 feet for a flag lot line
adjustment at 2039 Fixlinl
that said newspaper was duly and regularly ascertained Street.(30 min.)
and established a newspaper of Diane R.Gledwell,
general circulation by city clerk
Decree entered in the Superior Court of San Luis Obispo Oct 16,1993 dvilim
County, State of California, on June 9, 1952, Case #19139
under the provisions of Chapter 1, Division 7, Title of the
Government Code of the State of California.
I certify (or declare) under penalty of perjury that the
foregoing is true and correct.
(Signature of Principal Clerk)
Date October 16 19 q
1