Keceived After Agenda Printed
City Council Meeting. May 1, 2024
OF MURPIE 14
Item No.
into Supplemental (StAFF)
MEMORANDUM
TO: BOB MOEHLING, PE - DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS
FROM: BRIAN STEPHENSON, PE, TE, PTOE - CONSULTANT TRAFFIC ENGINEER Bes
SUBJECT: LMC DESIGN OF MURRIETA HOT SPRINGS ROAD
DATE: MAY 7, 2024
Murrieta Hot Springs Road, adjacent to the LMC project, is classified in the City's General Plan Circulation Element as an Urban Arterial Highway (City Standard No. 102) with a design speed of 60 mph (City Standard No. 116). When the applicant's design engineer submitted conceptual striping plans for the project, staff identified that the project's frontage improvements did not appear to meet the design requirements for a 60 mph design speed. Staff provided a comment to the applicant's design team that the "Street design shall meet requirements of City Standard Drawing No. 116, and Caltrans Highway Design Manual (HDM), which will be verified when Street Improvement Plans for the public improvements are submitted for review." At a meeting between City staff and the applicant's design team on January 16, 2024, the applicant's design engineer stated that they would not be able to meet the required design speed of 60 mph on Murrieta Hot Springs Road.
• If the LMC project's proposed roadway design does not meet the required design speed of Murrieta Hot Springs Road (60 mph) and uses 45 mph, and the speed survey for the next speed ordinance update (after the LMC project is constructed) comes in higher than 45 mph, then based on the posted speed limit setting requirements of the California Vehicle Code (CVC) and the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), the City could potentially not have an enforceable speed limit along this segment of Murrieta Hot Springs Road. The City would not post a speed limit higher than what the roadway is designed for; this could result in a potential safety hazard for the City. Additionally, if the lateral shifting of traffic is too abrupt and doesn't meet minimum required taper lengths for the speed of traffic traveling along this segment of roadway (where the new striping ties into the existing striping) and does not meet the requirements of the MUTCD and HDM, this could also result in a potential safety hazard for the City.
Please contact me at (951) 304-2489 or [email protected] should you have any questions. cc: Jeff Hitch, PE, City of Murrieta - City Engineer
Jarrett Ramaiya, City of Murrieta - Deputy Development Services Director David Chantarangsu, AICP, City of Murrieta - Development Services Director