CITY OF SIGNAL HILL
STAFF REPORT
2175 Cherry Avenue • Signal
Hill, California 90755-3799
6/13/2023
AGENDA ITEM
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR
AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: CARLO TOMAINO
CITY MANAGER
BY: THOMAS BEKELE
PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
SUBJECT:
ADOPTION OF A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE CITY OF SIGNAL HILL LOCAL
ROADWAY SAFETY PLAN (LRSP)
Summary:
The City Council will consider adopting a resolution approving an LRSP to enhance the safe transportation environment and improve the City’s ability to obtain transportation infrastructure related grants, such as Safe Streets and Roads for All and Safe Routes to Schools. An LRSP is a roadway safety planning document that provides a holistic analysis of historical vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle crash data and provides a roadmap for implementation of safety improvements. On September 13, 2022, the City Council approved a Professional Consultant Services Agreement with Minibar & Associates, Inc. to collaboratively work with City staff to develop the City of Signal Hill’s LRSP. Working with its consultant, the City recently completed the LSRP and recommends the City Council adopt a Resolution approving the plan. Adoption of the Resolution will enable the City to comply with Caltrans requirements and remain eligible for grant funding to implement specific safety measures.
Recommendation:
Adopt a resolution, entitled:
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SIGNAL HILL, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING THE CITY’S LOCAL ROAD SAFETY PLAN
Fiscal Impact:
There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommended action.
Strategic Plan Objectives:
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Goal No. 4: Maintain and improve the public infrastructure.
Background:
An LRSP is a roadway safety planning document that provides a holistic analysis of historical vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle crash data and provides a roadmap for implementation of safety improvements. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) requires that all state, county, and local agencies adopt a LRSP to be eligible to receive Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) grant funds. The LRSP can also be utilized to apply for Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) and Safe Route to School Program Grants. These funds are used to fund projects aimed to mitigate safety-related issues at high-priority intersections and street segments, including planning documents, preliminary engineering documents, and construction of roadway safety improvements.
In addition to providing a prioritized list of traffic safety improvements, the LRSP provides a five-year snapshot of collision trends citywide. This data can be used to focus education and enforcement activities. The LRSP is considered a living document which can be updated periodically to assess how well the implemented strategies have performed and update the crash data to identify new trends that might occur throughout the City.
On September 13, 2022, the City Council approved a Professional Consultant Services Agreement with Minagar & Associates, Inc. (M&A) to collaboratively work with City staff to develop the City of Signal Hill’s LRSP.
Analysis:
The process of developing an LRSP consists of analyzing collision and traffic data over the last five years, observing current traffic patterns and conditions, identifying emphasis areas, developing safety strategies and countermeasures, preparing cost/benefit analyses of proposed countermeasures, and preparing and adopting the final plan. In addition to proposing countermeasures intended to mitigate collision rates, this Safety Plan also provides the corresponding cost estimates and benefit to cost ratios of the proposed countermeasures.
On October 24, 2022, M&A and City staff convened a meeting with several local stakeholders, including personnel from the Long Beach Public Works Department, Signal Hill Police Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department, and Long Beach Unified School District. The purpose of the meeting was to align with Los Angeles County's Vision Zero Policy, which aims to reduce severe injuries and fatalities. During the meeting, the stakeholders were informed about the content and purpose of the LRSP, historical traffic collision data, identified high-priority intersections and street segments, and established a channel of communication to gather input from the stakeholders regarding the proposed safety measures.
The LRSP was prepared in accordance with the Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) guidelines established by the Federal Highway Administration that primarily focuses on the “5 Es” of traffic safety: Engineering, Enforcement, Education, Emergency Response, and Emerging Technologies.
The LRSP emphasizes the following four items:
1. High Collision Intersections
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2. High Collision Roadway Segments
3. Broadside Collisions Due to Improper Turning or Automobile Right-of-Way
4. Rear End Collisions Due to Unsafe Speeds
High Collision Intersections: The LRSP recognizes that most collisions take place at intersections. A total of 15 intersections were identified based on the number of collisions that took place over a fiveyear period from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2021. See table 1 below.
Table 1. List of High Collision Intersections
Primary collision factors for these intersections include improper turning, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and/or not yielding to pedestrian right-of-way. Proposed countermeasures and preliminary construction improvement cost estimates are also provided.
High Collision Roadway Segments: Table 2 below shows the ten roadway segments in Signal Hill with the most collisions over a five-year period study.
Table 2: List of High Collision Roadway Segments
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Broadside Collisions Due to Improper Turning or Automobile Right-of-way Broadside collisions ranked as the highest type of collisions with a total count of 311 collisions out of 728 total crashes (43%). The Primary Collision Factors (PCF) for broadside collisions due to improper turns and unsafe yielding to right-of-way (118) and misinterpretation of traffic signals and signs (127). Analysis was performed on these intersections that experienced these specific traffic collisions.
Rear End Collisions Due to Unsafe Speeds
Rear end collisions ranked as the second highest type of collision with a total count of 232 collisions out of 728 total crashes (32%). The PCF for rear end collisions is unsafe speeds (145).
Proposed Improvements
Having identified the most common types and locations of accidents in Signal Hill, the LRSP proposes specific traffic safety improvements designed to improve safety at each of the high collision intersections and roadway segments. The proposed countermeasures are tailored to each site, but in general include installation of new traffic signage and striping to meet the latest standards, upgrade of traffic signal hardware, improvement of traffic signal timing and coordination, and in some cases upgrade of traffic signal poles and mast arms.
Grant Funding Opportunities
The proposed improvements are eligible to receive funding from HSIP. Additionally, the LRSP serves as a crucial document that will help the City compete for SS4A and Safe Routes to School Program Grants. The most recent call-for-projects for HSIP closed on September 12, 2022. While the next callfor-projects has not been announced yet, HSIP projects are typically solicited every one to two years.
Staff anticipates a call for HSIP projects will take place by the end of 2024. Staff is planning to apply for the SS4A grant, with applications due on July 10, 2024. To be eligible for both SS4A and HSIP grant programs, adoption of the proposed Resolution approving the LRSP is required.
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Reviewed:
_________________________
Sharon del Rosario
Approved:
_________________________
Carlo Tomaino
Attachment(s):
A. Resolution
B. Local Roadway Safety Plan
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