PC 092519 - Laserfiche WebLink

Chair Allen inquired about the current queuing on Hopyard Road for vehicles exiting the 1-580 freeway from the eastbound and turning right onto Hopyard Road. She recently visited this location and there is a visible issue and concern with traffic backing up on the freeway exit lanes. She knows there are anticipated changes for this location, and she asked Mr. Tassano to describe those changes and for the current traffic and queuing levels at the intersection of Hopyard Road and Owens Drive. She then inquired about the improvement of adding an additional right turn lane and the anticipated traffic at build-out which could potentially include Costco or other large businesses. Mr. Tassano responded that the project design for a new southbound turn lane at the Hopyard Road and Owens Drive intersection is at 95-percent design. The plan is to add a right turn lane at the face of the brick building and shift all the lanes to the east in order to have enough space, however, the new right turn lane would extend all the way to the freeway off-ramp. Currently, there are more than 600 vehicles per hour making the right-hand in the afternoon/p.m. peak hours. In the morning/a.m. peak hours, it is currently 574 vehicles per hour. Previously, the morning hours had the heavier movement which could have been addressed by adjusting one of the through lanes into a right turn lane. However, now that evening/p.m. volumes have resulted in increased right turns, a new lane needs to be added. He continued by saying when the Chick-Fil-A project was constructed, staff had them dedicate land for the new turn lane as one of their mitigations. The project would've already been constructed, but as staff was looking at it at this time last year, decided to modify the design to improve the bike lane proposed, given the traffic speeds and volumes. Rather than placing the bike lane between the travel lane and right turn lane; they are now elevating the bicycle lane so after crossing southbound and traveling through the eastbound intersection off-ramp, so cyclists would go up onto an elevated surface which will result in a more protected location all the way to the traffic signal. At the traffic signal there will be a designated bicycle traffic signal which stops traffic and will run independently. This way, when a bicyclist approaches, the through lane for the bicyclist will be actuated and through an illuminated "No Right Turn" sign, it will stop vehicles from turning. Commissioner Balch noted that this isn't an ideal solution at Valley Avenue and Bernal Avenue; Mr. Tassano recognized this concern and how residents will handle that. In response to Chair Allen, Mr. Tassano stated construction is projected to start next summer, and with respect to full buildout adds a third southbound turn lane and a second eastbound lane so there will be two left turn lanes and two thru lanes. It also adds a second left hand turn lane and a second northbound left-turn lane. Therefore, every approach increases by a lane. In response to Commissioner Balch, regarding available room for the improvements, Mr. Tassano stated the medians are wide enough, and so as it's acceptable not to have trees in these locations, the design will work. In response to Chair Allen, regarding Level of Service (LOS) with buildout of the improvements, Mr. Tassano stated they are currently at LOS D. One issue is that the eastbound and westbound movements at Hopyard Road and Owens Drive run independently. All westbound traffic moves, then all eastbound traffic moves. They need to separate those movements out so the left turn is activated, which is a heavier movement, and then the through Planning Commission Minutes Page 8 of 19 September 25, 2019 was in full support of the proposed project with Planning Commission Minutes Page 5 of 19 September 25, 2019