Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: MAY 16, 2023
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
SUBMITTED BY: RAUL GODINEZ, INTERIM PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR PREPARED BY: DAVID ROSEMAN, CITY TRAFFIC ENGINEER
SUBJECT: HARBOR BOULEVARD AND LA ENTRADA PLACE INTERSECTION SIGNALIZATION RECOMMENDATION
SUMMARY
City Council consideration of a Transportation and Circulation Commission (TCC) recommendation to install a new traffic signal at the Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place intersection.
RECOMMENDATION
Approve design and construction of a new traffic signal at the Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place intersection as shown in Attachment 2.
Authorize new Capital Improvement Project for traffic signal design and construction at the Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place intersection and authorize $35,000 budget transfer and appropriation in existing traffic signal improvement funds to begin project design.
CITY MANAGER REMARKS
The Transportation Commission recommends approving to move forward with the project. The City Manager recommends City Council concurrence.
If approved, the project would go out for design and the staff would seek funding for the project.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Priority Policy Statements:
Public Safety
Infrastructure and City Assets.
FISCAL IMPACT
Traffic signal installation requires significant engineering design and public works construction effort. Staff estimates the project would take two to three years to complete for a minimum $350,000 cost. Staff cannot determine full project components and exact project costs until completing engineering design. Utility conflicts, required ADA upgrades, median modifications, traffic signal operations and inflation could impact project elements and costs. Staff recommends City Council reallocate $35,000 identified for traffic signal improvements within the Capital Improvement Program to begin engineering design work, should City Council approve the TCC recommendation. Staff would return to City Council following completion of engineering design work with an estimated construction and project administration cost and request funding allocation for new traffic signal construction through the FY 2024-25 budget process.
DISCUSSION
Residents of the Sunny Ranch and San Juan neighborhoods requested a traffic signal at Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place for years. Attachment 3 provides an overview of the intersection, the two neighborhoods and adjacent traffic signals. Residents have expressed safety concerns related to traffic speed on Harbor Boulevard, lack of gaps in Harbor Boulevard traffic during peak traffic flows, poor lighting, poor visibility of conflicting traffic and difficulty making left turns into and out of the neighborhoods. City traffic engineers have conducted studies, implemented striping and signage improvements, installed speed feedback signs, trimmed landscaping and monitored operations and crash statistics at the intersection in response to resident requests. Traffic flow characteristics on Harbor Boulevard remain unaffected despite these efforts.
The California Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (CAMUTCD) provides guidance regarding intersection signalization. The CAMUTCD outlines a process which evaluates physical conditions, traffic flow, pedestrian activity and crash performance against established criteria or warrants. The warrant study process does not provide an absolute answer to the signalization question but encourages engineers to look beyond the warrant numbers and exercise judgement when evaluating unique characteristics of an intersection and associated traffic operations. The warrants offer a guide for engineers and officials in the decision-making process.
City traffic engineers conducted CAMUTCD warrant studies for the Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place intersection in February 2023 and determined that three of nine warrants related to school zones, major intersections and railroads did not apply. Staff gathered a variety of traffic and crash data, as well as physical observation, to complete the remaining six warrant studies. The analysis did not support the pedestrian warrant due to low pedestrian activity at the intersection. Staff shifted the focus of the study to the three warrants related to traffic flow and one warrant related to crash experience.
An intersection experiencing five or more reported crashes within a twelve-month period susceptible to correction by a traffic signal would satisfy the crash warrant. The public does not well-receive the five crash per year limit, felling that government should do everything possible to prevent serious crashes. The crash experience warrant also requires a minimum level of traffic flow through the intersection and that the agency has attempted all other safety and enforcement alternatives without success. The Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place intersection has sufficient traffic volume and the City has taken all reasonable steps to improve safety. However, the number of crashes per year does not rise to a level that satisfies the warrant. All reported crashes at the intersection in the last five years have resulted in injuries. A traffic signal would have prevented over 60% of those crashes. The most recent verified crash information is from 2021, noting four crashes at this location, all resulting in injury. A traffic signal could have prevented two of the four accidents.
Three traffic volume-related warrants set the criteria for intersection traffic volume levels over eight hours, four hours and the peak hour. The Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place intersection did not meet the peak hour warrant. It did meet the four-hour warrant and slightly missed meeting the interruption of continuous traffic warrant for eight hours by three vehicles over a two-hour period. The intersection might have met the eight-hour warrant threshold had staff conducted the study on another day or another time of the year. Staff thinks it reasonable to conclude that the intersection meets two of the three volume related warrants.
The last warrant study relates to the signal system operation. The warrant study considers the spacing of traffic signals and whether signalizing the intersection would improve the platooning of vehicles and progressive operation of the roadway, determining if the intersection provides a good location for a traffic signal based on signal timing parameters. The Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place intersection is about 1,000 feet from the signalized intersection to the north and 4,000 feet from the signalized intersection to the south, meeting the signal system operation criteria and satisfies the warrant.
Bus stops exist on both sides of Harbor Boulevard at La Entrada Place. Residents getting on a bus at one stop would most likely return by bus to the stop on the other side of the street, which requires the resident to cross the street to return home. Isolated bus stops on major arterials without crosswalks and/or traffic signals can pose a risk to the pedestrian and a liability to the bus operator and the City. Signalizing an intersection with isolated bus stops can mitigate City liability, significantly enhance pedestrian safety and encourage bus ridership.
Staff also considered intersection lighting. The intersection has no dedicated streetlights and is relativity dark at night. The City has streetlights affixed to power poles on the east side of Harbor Boulevard. However, one light is 50 feet south of the intersection and the other 85 feet north of the intersection. Intersection signalization would provide dedicated safety lights to illuminate vehicle conflict areas within the intersection as well as provide lighting for crosswalks and bus stops.
The City Traffic Engineer recommends signalizing the Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place intersection based the traffic signal warrant study which found three warrants satisfied. The City Traffic Engineer believes traffic signal installation would prevent future severe injury crashes, enhance pedestrian safety and improve transit accessibility for area residents.
The Transportation and Circulation Commission voted unanimously to concur with the City Traffic Engineer’s recommendation and recommend City Council approve the design and implementation of a new traffic signal at the Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place intersection.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – PowerPoint
Attachment 2 - Exhibit A Vicinity Map 1
Attachment 3 - Exhibit B Vicinity Map 2
Attachment 4 - TCC Staff Report
cc: City Manager Eric J. Levitt
Harbor Boulevard and La Entrada Place Signalization Recommendation May 16, 2023 - Page PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 2