Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: FEBRUARY 20, 2024
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
SUBMITTED BY: STEPHEN BISE, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
PREPARED BY: DAVID ROSEMAN, CITY TRAFFIC ENGINEER
SUBJECT: LEMON STREET AND VALENCIA DRIVE INTERSECTION TRAFFIC SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS
SUMMARY
Recommendation to modify traffic signal at Lemon Street and Valencia Drive to improve school zone traffic safety and operational efficiency for Maple Elementary. The Transportation and Circulation Commission (TCC) recommended City Council approval on January 22, 2024.
PROPOSED MOTION
Approve City Traffic Engineer recommendation for traffic signal improvements for Lemon Street and Valencia Drive intersection.
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
Approve the Proposed Motion
Do not approve project
Defer project for consideration at a later date
Other options brought by City Council.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Proposed Motion.
CITY MANAGER REMARKS
The City Manager concurs with the Traffic Engineer’s recommendation.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Priority Policy Statements:
Public Safety
Infrastructure and City Assets.
FISCAL IMPACT
Implementing the recommended traffic signal modifications would install new poles, signal equipment, lighting and wiring. The design and construction would cost approximately $175,000 and take two years to complete. Staff would program sufficient funding in the FY 2024-25 Capital Improvement Program, if approved.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Lemon Street is a 64-foot wide north / south arterial street with two through lanes and left-turn pockets at key intersections. The City allows some on-street parking but prohibits parking on most of the roadway. Daily traffic volumes on Lemon Street vary historically with 27,000 to 32,000 vehicles on any given day. Downtown and school activity north of Commonwealth Avenue and retail activity on Orangethorpe Avenue to the south influence the variable traffic volumes. Additionally, some motorists use Lemon Street as an alternative to Harbor Boulevard during periods of congestion since Lemon Street has direct access to and from the CA-91 freeway.
The traffic signal at Valencia Drive shown in Attachment 1 is the only traffic control device for three-quarters of a mile on Lemon Street between Commonwealth Avenue and Orangethorpe Avenue. A train track undercrossing exists approximately 900 feet north of Valencia Drive and a pedestrian bridge spans the roadway 650 feet south. The long distances between signalized intersections, lack of on-street parking and presence of grade-separated structures contribute to the car-centric character on the street which potentially leads to more aggressive driver behavior and faster vehicle speeds. Lemon Street has an almost 45 mph, eighty-fifth percentile speed south of Valencia Drive and over 40 mph north of Valencia Drive. The City prohibits on-street parking on Lemon Street close to the intersection.
Valencia Drive is a 40-foot-wide east / west residential collector street with one lane of traffic in each direction and on-street parking. Valencia Drive offers the only signalized street for resident access to Lemon Street from the neighborhoods immediately east and west of Lemon Street (Attachment 2). Daily traffic volumes on Valencia Drive range between over 3,500 vehicles a day west of Lemon Street and over 5,000 vehicles a day east of Lemon Street. The prima facie speed limit on Valencia Drive is 25 miles per hour.
Area residents and the Fullerton School District have expressed safety concerns with the Lemon Street and Valencia Drive intersection over the years, citing aggressive motorist behavior, elevated traffic speeds, crash rates and school zone congestion. City traffic engineers conducted safety studies, implemented minor striping improvements, installed speed feedback signs, upgraded school zone signage, modified traffic signal timing, trimmed landscaping and removed on-street parking. In addition, an adult crossing guard works at the Lemon Street and Valencia Drive intersection during Maple Elementary arrival and dismissal periods of to assist students and residents crossing the intersection. Residents still believe the intersection requires more safety and walkability improvements, including a northbound left-turn arrow at the traffic signal to improve safety and circulation in the school zone. The City Traffic Engineer conducted a thorough review of the intersection and traffic signal operation to determine needed modifications.
The California Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (CAMUTCD) provides guidance in the conduct of studies to determine if left-turn arrows are needed at a signalized intersection. The following provides a summary of the CAMUTCD study criteria and results:
A history of five or more collisions for a particular left turn movement during a recent 12-month period.
The crash experience criteria, as stated above, isn’t without controversy in the court of public opinion. The requirement to have five crashes per year before a change is made is generally not well received by a public that feels that government should do everything possible to prevent serious crashes. In the case of the Lemon Street and Valencia Drive intersection, the number of crashes per year does not rise to the level that satisfies the CAMUTCD guidance. However, in the past twelve months there were a total of three crashes, all resulting in injury, and two of those three could possibly have been prevented if a left-turn arrow had been in place. Additionally, it is notable that in the past five years, two pedestrians were struck by vehicles while crossing at the intersection.
A pattern of left-turn delays of one or more vehicles, which were waiting at the beginning of the green interval and are still remaining in the left turn lane after at least 80% of the total number of cycles for one hour.
This condition was not met since most left-turning vehicles clear within the signal cycle they arrive. Staff is of the opinion that there are sufficient gaps in traffic flow on Lemon to allow vehicles to safely complete their left turns within a single cycle, even during periods of peak traffic.
A minimum of 50 left-turning vehicles per hour in one direction with the product of the turning movement and conflicting through traffic movement is 100,000 or more.
The study revealed that in a 24-hour period, there were twelve hours where a minimum of 50 cars made the northbound left-turn movement. Additionally, during those twelve hours, there were five hours where the left-turn vs. conflicting-thru traffic product exceeded 100,000, satisfying this part of the guidelines.
Additional factors that might be considered include but are not limited to, impaired sight distance due to horizontal or vertical curvature or where there is a large percentage of buses or trucks.
Lemon Street is not a designated truck route; however, more than 27,000 vehicles travel this segment of Lemon Street each day, with a significant percentage of those vehicles being delivery trucks and transit buses, as Lemon Street provides direct access to both the shopping center to the south and the Fullerton Transportation Center to the north. As to sight distance, there technically is sufficient sight distance when making a left-turn in either the northbound or southbound directions based on the posted speed limit; however, drivers regularly exceed the speed limit in this stretch of road. Additionally, the road drops in elevation to go under the train tracks to the north of the intersection, limiting northbound motorists’ visibility of oncoming traffic. Therefore, it can be challenging for a motorist making a northbound left-turn to accurately judge when the right time is to negotiate his or her turning movement when a southbound motorist is significantly exceeding the speed limit.
Traffic engineers may consider factors that could improve safety and efficiency in addition to the CAMUTCD guidelines, including the location of Maple Elementary on the southwest corner of the intersection and that the intersection provides the only controlled crossing for pedestrians within a three-quarter mile stretch of a high-speed arterial. Traffic counts revealed 527 pedestrians and 103 cyclists utilized the crosswalks during the school arrival and dismissal periods. Staff anticipates actual total daily crossings at the intersection double those counted during the school periods. The brisk pedestrian and cyclist activity at the intersection conflicts with motorists when deciding to make turn movements.
Motorists find it difficult to make eastbound right turns during school arrival and departure times since the City prohibits right turns on the red interval. The crossing guard typically uses most of the available green time crossing students in the south leg crosswalk during the green interval resulting in traffic backups on Valencia Drive in front of the school, waiting for an opportunity to turn right. Installing a northbound left-turn arrow would provide an eastbound right-turn arrow simultaneously activated with the left-turn arrow to move eastbound right-turn traffic from the front of the school and significantly improve traffic signal operation efficiency.
The intersection has only two safety lights - one over the north-leg crosswalk and the second over the south-leg crosswalk. Busy arterial intersections typically have four safety lights, one over each crosswalk, to illuminate not only each of the crosswalks but to uniformly illuminate intersection conflict areas. Increasing the number of safety lights would enhance intersection safety at night and during low visibility periods, such as fog and rain.
The City Traffic Engineer recommends modifying the Lemon Street and Valencia Drive intersection traffic signal to include a northbound protected-permissive left-turn arrow, an associated eastbound right-turn arrow, and additional safety lighting. These improvements should significantly reduce the risk of collisions, improve the walkability of the intersection for students and residents, and substantially improve Maple Elementary School traffic circulation.
The TCC considered this item on January 22, 2024, and recommended City Council approval.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – Intersection Detail
Attachment 2 – Vicinity Map
Attachment 3 – TCC Report January 22, 2024
cc: City Manager Eric J. Levitt
Lemon Street and Valencia Drive Traffic Signal Improvements February 20, 2024 - Page PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 5