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2-2-23 TSAC MinutesTransportation Safety Advisory Commission Minutes Thursday, February 2, 2023 5:30 PM 02-02-2023 Minutes Transportation Safety Advisory Commission The Transportation Safety Advisory Commission (TSAC) convened for a meeting on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 5:30 PM in the Bob Andrews Conference Room, Building #2 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas 78154 TSAC Commissioners Present: Dziewit, Richard, Chairman Cornelisse, Chuck Heyward, Ferrando Stevens, Ronald Wiley, Paul TSAC Commissioners Absent: Dominguez, Andrews Freeman, Allison Hormel, Christopher Icke, Steven Ragsdale, Roy Winter, Michael Staff Present: Brian James, Assistant City Manager Kathy Woodlee, City Engineer Mark Davis, City Council Liaison Doug Letbetter, Streets and Drainage Manager Cyndi Simmons, Administrative Assistant NOTE: At the 5:30 PM hour, there was not a quorum present to begin the meeting. There were two residents present and they stated their concerns to be placed on a future agenda. • Billy Cameron, 380 Frank Baum Drive, Schertz TX 78154: Request speed bumps on Frank Baum Drive in Jonas Woods. • Christopher Duffett, 3400 Woodlawn Farms, Schertz TX 78154: Request for discussion on Savannah Crosswalk project. CALL TO ORDER at 5:59 PM by Chairman Richard Dziewit. ROLL CALL 1. Minutes: Consideration and/or action regarding the approval of the minutes of the November 3, 2022 meeting. Motion was made by Commissioner Chuck Cornelisse to approve the minutes of the November 3, 2022 meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Ferrando Heyward. Motion passed. Vote was unanimous. 2. Staff Updates on Various Requests and Studies: a. Issues Referred to Consultant 02-03-2023 TSAC Minutes 2 • Pedestrian crossings: a. Savannah Drive near Dietz Creek – Kathy Woodlee reported on the Kimley Horn study to provide better access to Paschal Elementary School and support access to pocket park and shared use path for Willows Ridge/Sunset Ridge. Traffic data collected indicates that the 85th percentile speed is approximately 36-38 mph so it’s not excessive, but not crawling either, and approximately 2,700 vehicles per day volume. Recommended treatment: Install a raised median so there’s an area of refuge and also to narrow down the lanes of traffic around the crosswalk to help folks slow their speed at a cost of approximately $35,000. Will provide traffic calming, a two-stage crossing, and positioned to maximize sight distance. b. Homestead Parkway – Kathy Woodlee reported on the Kimley Horn study to provide access to the Community Center and trail. Traffic data collected indicates that the 85th percentile is approximately 36-38 mph and approximately 1,200 vehicles per day volume. The neighborhood is still building and a little more than half complete in Schertz; however, there will be additional building within the Cibolo boundary. Recommended treatment: Have two crossings installed; one aligned with trail and one aligned with community center entrance with ADA ramps and detectable warnings at a cost of approximately $29,000. Potential Enhancement: Construct median refuge at northern crossing for added traffic calming benefit, and 85th percentile speed indicates consideration for active/enhanced crossing. The developer had come to us previously and asked if we could put in a crossing and at that time we indicated that we would do the study to determine the appropriate location and treatment. There is still an opportunity for the developer to participate in installing the crosswalks. The next steps for these two are budget considerations and discussion with the developer. Commissioner Heyward asked about the height of the island. Kathy Woodlee responded that it would be an approximate 7 inch curb. The refuge is flush with the road, but the island is built up around it so that it is protecting the pedestrian. Brian James remarked that the feedback we are looking from TSAC is that we understand the issues and the challenges and the safety concerns and how we’ve looked at the solution so is this something TSAC thinks we need to move forward including how to fund the solution. He anticipates this would become a program in the budget for next year to do these two things. It helps us to hear from TSAC to say that this solution makes sense or we aren’t quite there yet. Commissioner Cornelisse asked about the width of the pavement. Kathy Woodlee responded that it is currently one lane of travel in each direction with bicycle lanes striped on both sides. It is roughly 36 feet across with a typical lane is 12 feet, the bike lanes are approximately 7 feet each, so it feels very wide. The width of the refuge is approximately 6-8 feet. The island will force vehicles to slow down and pay attention going through the area. Signs will be posted that will alert drivers. Commissioner Heyward remarked that if we know there is a problem and we do nothing about it, then a hospitalized child becomes the city’s problem because the city was aware of it and did nothing. Brian James responded that staff is comfortable with TSAC proposing that we fund these projects, otherwise nothing will change on the Savannah issue. 02-03-2023 TSAC Minutes 3 Commissioner Heyward motioned that we recommend to staff to take to City Council to add the Savannah project to next year’s budget. Commissioner Stevens seconded the motion. Motion passed. Vote was unanimous. Commissioner Stevens motioned that we support the Homestead project but that we recommend the staff to go to the developer for full or partial funding. Commissioner Cornelisse seconded the motion. Motion passed. Vote was unanimous. • Schertz Parkway/Curtiss Avenue stop sign warrant study: a. This intersection is currently a multi-way stop. There is a traffic light at Schertz Parkway and Hwy 78 and a traffic light at Schertz Parkway and Elbel Road. Schertz Parkway is an arterial roadway, Curtiss Avenue is a local roadway not on the thoroughfare plan. A citizen expressed concern that the stop signs on Schertz Parkway are not visible enough and we needed to take a look at the safety of the situation. In order to perform this evaluation, the consultant looked at traffic signal warrants; not to see if a traffic signal is warranted at this location, but because that’s the terminology for the particular counts and criteria they look at with respect to a multi- way stop also. The results are mostly volume related and none of the thresholds were met and the significance is that the volume on Schertz Parkway is so much higher with respect to the comparison with Curtiss Avenue. The last warrant that is taken into consideration is crash information and the warrant is considered met if there are five crashes within a 12 month period that could potentially be corrected by installation of a traffic signal. There were four crashes, but every one of them was attributable to driver inattention, so that threshold was not met either. Then taking all of that information, they look at the multi-way stop criteria analysis and there are four conditions here (A, B, C, and D as presented on page 18 of the PowerPoint presentation and none of the four criteria were met. So, this is not here as an interim measure where a signal has been warranted and installation is pending. The minimum volume criteria was not met and for items C and D, all the subcategories have to be met in order for them to consider that those criteria were met. In consideration of all criteria, it is not warranted as a multi-way stop. If there was not a stop sign already present, we would not recommend placing one there. But since it is already there, we have to factor that into the situation. Also to note – and probably the most significant thing to note – was that this really comes down to a compliance issue. When the stop is not warranted, generally you’ll have situations where folks don’t stop because there’s no feeling there’s a reason to stop. Other considerations that were checked were adequate sight distance that does exist for all lengths of the intersection, intersection visibility, slight impairment by a light pole, fence corner, and some vegetation with respect to being able to see the stop signs and to see your sight distance. It’s there, but you have to negotiate your view somewhat. The options are: 02-03-2023 TSAC Minutes 4 i. Remove the all-way stop. ii. Rework the crosswalks instead of having four crosswalks on each side of each street. iii. Maintain the all-way stop and improve the visibility of the stop signs and put in a larger stop sign. The larger stop signs are generally used on higher speed roads and what’s there now meets the normal specification for this speed on the road, but because we’re trying to enhance the visibility, putting in oversized signs for this road would be recommended. iv. If we can make it work, another option would be to add additional stop signs in the median of the road so there are stop signs on both lanes of travel to enhance the visibility. v. In any case, monitor the vegetation that may be in the way of seeing clearly. Commissioner Dziewit remarked that he likes the idea of a center stop sign because it gives visibility to the right, but also to the driver’s side in the front. That is also a school crossing and during that time period people watch more closely, but at all other times the extra stop sign might be of benefit. Commissioner Heyward asked the height of the stop signs and who maintains the foliage (property owner or city). Brian James responded that the property owner can be made to do it if they violate the ordinance, but the city has the authority in the right-of-way to cut it back. We would likely reach out the homeowner and would coordinate with them. Possibly have the city do it the first time and then the homeowner maintain. Councilman Davis asked about flashing LED stop signs. Brian James responded that the drawback with the flashing LED stop signs is that if we open that up, are we okay with opening it up to the possibility of multiple requests. Kathy Woodlee agreed that the possibility of multiple requests is one drawback, another drawback is that the residents may not want the blinking lights in front of their house and yet another drawback is that they have limited daytime benefits. Another option is installing a very narrow curb/island with a stop sign between the regular lanes of travel and the turn lane. Another suggestion is that there’s an existing grass median island after the turn-in to Arlan’s and to install a “stop ahead” sign. Doug Letbetter commented that once a month the crew does a check on the streetlights as well as the reflective properties of the stop signs. Brian James commented that the drawback to taking away the four-way stop is that there is a crossing guard during the day and becomes a safety issue. Kathy Woodlee commented that there may be political implications of removing something that’s been there for quite some time. Brian James also recalled the bigger issue with removing the four-way stop was that it was the crossing guard not being protected by a stop on Schertz Parkway. Councilman Davis asked about suspended or light poles that flash red in each direction. Brian James commented that if it’s something we wish to explore that we should go back to Kimley Horn and get their feedback. Commissioner Heyward asked if, in the interim, can we pursue installation of larger stop signs on Schertz Parkway and manage the foliage. Brian James responded that if that is what we want to do, we can certainly do that. Doug Letbetter advised that the current size is 30 x 30 and we can go 36 x 36 or 48 x 48. 02-03-2023 TSAC Minutes 5 Commissioner Cornelisse motioned that we recommend to staff to increase the size of the two stop signs on Schertz Parkway (size according to advice from Kimley Horn) and monitoring the vegetation. Commissioner Wiley seconded the motion. Motion passed. Vote was unanimous. b. Traffic Studies Pending • Speed concerns – Misty Woods, Dimrock, Woodland Oaks, Bench Trail, Cliffside Drive, Rhine Valley, Westchester, Columbia, Wild Cherry. Data collection is underway. Will likely add Frank Baum to this list. • Request for 4-way stop sign – Aero Drive and Oak Street • Request for evaluation of 4-way stop – Woodland Oaks and Kline Circle c. Lighting concerns on Bench Trail – A resident came to the last meeting and expressed his concern for safety due to low level of street lighting. Staff investigated and confirmed that there are dark areas partly due to vegetation and partly due to geometry. Staff is working with GVEC to address problem spots in service area on a holistic basis. Staff working on proposed UDC update on street light placement frequency including requirements of lighting study. 3. Chapter 86 Proposed Amendments: Update on Preparation to Present to City Council – Text and formatting of ordinance and appendices being finalized. Tentatively scheduled for City Council on February 28, 2023. 4. Staff Updates: None 5. Future Agenda Items Requests from Commissioners (Next meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 2, 2023): Commissioner Stevens commented that the two driveways by Arlan’s off Schertz Parkway is confusing and he was almost hit. Would like to explore the option that the driveways become one-way? There are stop signs on both sides, but people turn in on the left side and that’s where he was almost hit. Brian James commented that there are two possibilities – one that it is private property and two that it may have to do with the lotting pattern. We will add to next month’s agenda. 6. Adjournment: Motion was made by Commissioner Chuck Cornelisse to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Ferrando Heyward. Motion passed. Vote was unanimous. Meeting adjourned at 6:50 PM by Chair Richard Dziewit.