DATE: August 28, 2024
TO: Council Infrastructure & Airport Committee
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT: Gading Road Complete Streets Project
RECOMMENDATION
That the Council Infrastructure & Airport Committee (CIAC) reviews and provides feedback on the Gading Road Complete Streets Project and recommends the proposed design improvements to Council for approval.
SUMMARY
The Gading Road Complete Streets Project is the second phase of the Patrick Avenue and Gading Road Complete Streets Project, which installed a road diet, bicycle lanes and other safety enhancements on Patrick Avenue. On April 8, 2024, the City conducted a public meeting to introduce proposed improvements to Gading Road between Schafer Road and Harder Road. Following input from the public, the City developed updated designs for Gading Road and identified additional near-term improvements on Patrick Avenue and in the surrounding neighborhood in response to concerns heard at the meeting. Staff are seeking feedback on the proposed street design for Gading Road and options to enhance the safety and livability of this corridor.
BACKGROUND
On September 14, 2023, the Council Infrastructure Committee directed staff to advance the Gading Road Complete Streets Project into planning and design. The project is the second phase of the Patrick Avenue and Gading Road Complete Streets Project. The first phase included removing travel lanes (a road diet) and addition of complete streets features on Patrick Avenue between Tennyson Road and Schafer Road. Gading Road is the continuation of Patrick Avenue between Schafer Road and Harder Road.
Gading Road is a five-lane roadway with no bicycle facilities. Gading Road serves residential, religious institutions, and Glassbrook Elementary School. This segment of Gading Road carries an Average Daily Traffic (ADT) volume of approximately 12,500 vehicles per day. While the posted speed limit is 25 MPH, the 85th percentile speed in April 2023 was 35 MPH, meaning 15% of motorists are traveling faster than 35 MPH. Traffic volumes on Gading Road are consistent with Federal guidance on when road diets are appropriate.
The Gading Road and Patrick Avenue projects are consistent with the City’s 2020 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (BPMP) that identify the corridor for a low stress bikeway. The BPMP recommended a Class IV separated bikeway, and a parking protected bikeway was installed on Patrick Avenue in 2020 (with the bikeway on the inside of parking, separated by a buffer). Feedback for that project from the community included confusion for vehicles using the available lanes and challenges with the parking protected bike lane due to the prevalence of single family homes with numerous driveways along the street. On October 12, 2021, Council adopted Resolution 21-198 approving the conversion of bike lanes on Parick Avenue to a buffered bikeway with separation provided between both parked vehicles and through vehicle lanes. This was subsequently implemented by the City.
The Gading Road project is also consistent with City policies, including the Hayward 2040 General Plan Goal Mobility-3 and Council adopted Resolution No. 13-027 that established Complete Streets as City policy. The City’s complete streets policy includes designing City roads to support travel by all users.
The project is also consistent with Council adopted Resolution 23-196 that establishes Vision Zero as City policy. The City’s Vision Zero policy seeks to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries by 2050 and establishes vision zero as the guiding principle for the design of City streets.
DISCUSSION
On April 8, 2024, the City conducted a public meeting to discuss restriping plans for Gading Road between Schafer Road and Harder Road. These plans included a road diet and adding buffered bike lanes, with buffers on both sides of the lane to create separation from moving vehicles and the ‘door zone,’ the area where bicyclists are at risk of being hit when people exiting their vehicles open their doors. The proposed design was generally consistent with the current design of Patrick Avenue.
Feedback from this meeting included:
Significant concerns about the speed of vehicles on Gading Road and Patrick Avenue and on parallel streets in the neighborhood Concerns about inadequate lighting in the corridor
Concerns about the ability of residents and visitors to safely cross the street along both Gading Road and Patrick Avenue Concerns about the ability of people to exit their driveways into the street Concerns about truck parking for deliveries to the businesses near the intersection of Gading Road and Patrick Avenue Concerns about both driver and bicyclist behaviors, including driving and bicycling in the two-way turn lane, parking in the bike lane, and similar concerns Desire for increased enforcement
Some interest in providing greater physical separation for bicyclists Based on the feedback, staff evaluated enhancements to the existing Patrick Avenue project and revised the draft striping plans for Gading Road. Each element is described below.
Enhancements to Patrick Avenue
Staff explored several enhancements to Patrick Avenue, including improvements for pedestrians crossing at several intersections along Patrick Avenue, and traffic calming along the portion of Gading Road that is parallel to Patrick Avenue (between Schafer Road and Roosevelt Avenue). Attachment II provides an illustration of the locations all of the following proposed improvements.
For potential crossing improvements of Patrick Avenue, staff observed conditions at the existing flashing beacons at St. Bede Lane and at the mid-block crossing at the St Bede’s Parochial School. These crossings are about 70 feet in length and the flashing beacons can be difficult to see due to the distance between the flashing beacons and the vehicle lanes (about 20 feet) and the tree cover. In the short term, staff are working to install median refuge islands using temporary materials at both crossings and trimming overgrown vegetation. Staff are also pursuing grant funding to install permanent median refuges and additional flashing beacons in these new medians to make the flashing beacons more visible to drivers.
Separately, as part of the City’s ongoing Safe Routes for Seniors project (CIP project 05323), staff are developing enhanced pedestrian crossings at Roosevelt Avenue and Gomer Street, including bulb outs, bus bulbs, and other enhancements to shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians and make the stop signs more visible to drivers.
In response to concerns about speeding on parallel neighborhood streets, staff reviewed existing speed humps and conducted speed studies on Gading Road between Schafer Road and Roosevelt Avenue. Along this stretch of Gading Road, the 85th percentile speeds were observed at 32 MPH. As a result, staff identified potential locations for speed humps and sent letters to the community requesting feedback.
To date, staff have received feedback from three community members about the proposed speed humps. All three were supportive of speed humps. One individual requested shifting the location of one speed hump and one requested to also add speed humps to Lemay Way. Staff are currently evaluating if speed humps are possible on that street.
Gading Road Restriping
Following from the meeting community meeting in April, staff worked to update the restriping plans, which include the following elements:
Buffered bikeway along the corridor, with space between the bicyclists and both moving and parked vehicles, creating significant separation. This design is consistent with the current design of Patrick Avenue.
Enhanced striping between Harder Road and Huntwood Way to provide physical separation for bicyclists. This design provides improved safety features in one of the more complicated blocks along the corridor.
Potential installation of a protected intersection at the Gading Road/Schafer Road intersection that would enhance pedestrian and bicycle and safety, including reducing crossing distances.
Pedestrian crossing enhancements at several locations pm Gading Road, similar to the upgrades proposed for Patrick Avenue. Note that there are no unsignalized crossings of Gading Road, so the improvements proposed are median refuges and do not include flashing beacons.
Narrowed lane widths throughout the corridor to help reduce speeds.
Adjustments to red curbs to add parking spots in select locations where there is sufficient space to meet sight line requirements for exiting vehicles.
Traffic calming on the slip road continuation of Gading Road (where the main portion of Gading Road becomes Patrick Avenue), including potentially adding a stop sign where the slip lane means the continuation of Gading Road.
Attachment III provides a summary of the proposed design for Gading Road.
Staff also continue to evaluate concerns about lighting on the corridor. A new private school at the corner of Harder Road and Gading Road will be adding streetlights to the west side of Gading Road. Staff are also continuing to seek grants to help evaluate and prioritize the implementation of new streetlights Citywide.
In addition to these upgrades, staff are also evaluating a more substantial adjustment to the Patrick Avenue-Gading Road corridor that would reduce the number of left turn lanes from eastbound Tennyson Road and westbound Harder Road to a single lane for each location. These double left turns require the corridor to have wider segments at either end, which results in increased vehicle volumes and speeds. Providing the double lefts from Tennyson Road was a contributor to the challenges of implementing the parking protected bike lanes on Patrick Avenue, especially on the east side of the street where there are fewer driveways.
Removing turn lanes would likely lead to people seeking other routes for some peak hour trips that currently use the corridor. Staff are evaluating how much route shifting might be expected and whether signal adjustments could help mitigate any impacts of that shift. Staff recommends that a decision about reducing the number of left turn lanes should be informed by a discussion about the role of this corridor in the overall street network. Currently, many of the City’s residential streets (like Gading Road) are designed to move significant traffic volumes in the peak period, resulting in higher speeds, concerns for people walking and bicycling, and reduced quality of life for residents who live along the street.
Gading Road and Patrick Avenue are currently classified as minor arterials, which are not typically intended to provide direct residential land access that exists along these streets. Ultimately that classification should consider the relative priority of through movement and local access for the street. Staff intend to conduct a more comprehensive review of City street classifications as part of the forthcoming Speed Management Plan, which will systematically evaluate how to reduce speeds across the street network. Reclassifying streets may be part of the strategy to refocus the priority the City sets for residential streets towards local access and away from through traffic.
FISCAL IMPACT
This item will not impact the General Fund. This project received a grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to implement both the Patrick Avenue and Gading Road improvements.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item supports the Strategic Priority of Invest in Infrastructure: Invest in Infrastructure. Specifically, this item relates to the implementation of the following project:
Project N1: Continue to implement major corridor traffic calming initiatives
SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES
This project will include safety improvements that will benefit pedestrian and bicycle modes of travel, which may facilitate increased use of these modes of transportation, reducing reliance on single occupant vehicles and reducing vehicle miles of travel.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public outreach for this project was first conducted through an in-person neighborhood meeting on April 4, 2024. For both the public meeting and the CIAC meeting, approximately 2,000 notices were mailed in both English and Spanish. Staff also notified participants from the April public meeting by email.
NEXT STEPS
After receiving feedback and direction from the CIAC, staff will update the plans and bring them to Council for approval, anticipated in late 2024 or early 2025. As part of plan approval, staff will provide an implementation plan for the work that may include phasing elements of the work overtime and potentially integrating elements into future repaving. Construction is tentatively planned to begin in Fall of 2025.
Prepared by: Hugh Louch, Deputy Director of Public Works - Transportation Recommended by: Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works
Approved by:
____________________________________________
Dustin Claussen, Interim City Manager
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