09 - Laserfiche WebLink

BACKGROUND The 2005-2025 Pleasanton General Plan Circulation Element and Traffic Impact Fee Study identified the need to add a dedicated right turn lane from southbound Hopyard Road to westbound Owens Drive. Currently during peak hours, the right southbound lane on Hopyard Road backs up into the 1-580 eastbound off -ramp. This is due to the right lane currently being a combined through/right turn lane. If the light is red and a vehicle is proceeding straight, it blocks all the vehicles waiting to turn right and congestion occurs. The 2015/16 CIP allocated $530,000 to fund the design and construction of the dedicated right turn lane. The Chick-fil-A development was conditioned to dedicate to the City the right-of-way needed to install the right turn lane as described in the General Plan. The new right of way boundary was established at 4 feet from the existing building to allow for construction of the additional lane needed to separate the through and right turn movements. The project is also partially within the Caltrans right-of-way for the freeway off -ramp to the north of the intersection. Under the on-call contract, Quincy Engineering was authorized to begin design development of the right turn lane for a not -to -exceed amount of $16,700. During the design development, it was determined that in addition to widening for the right turn lane, the roadway must be further widened to include standard -width bike lanes. Unfortunately, there is insufficient land to install both a right turn lane and the dedicated bike lane when considering only moving the west curb line of Hopyard Road further west; even if getting closer than 4 feet to the existing building was found to be feasible. To gain the needed width, the median must also be narrowed and shifted to the east. With this shift, the bike lane in the area would be narrower than is standard. Since the project extends into the State right of way, Caltrans was consulted to see if they would consider a variance for the slightly narrowed bike lane. Caltrans denied the request but indicated they would be open to allowing narrow traffic lanes to help accommodate the bike lane improvements. On August 15, 2017, City Council approved a professional services agreement in the not -to -exceed amount of $158,928 with Quincy to design and prepare biddable construction documents for the Hopyard Road and Owens Drive Intersection Improvements Project. The project included adding buffered bike lanes through the intersection and modifications to the lanes and medians on Hopyard Road both north and south of Owens Drive to align the lanes correctly. The project requirements were based on the Caltrans staff -approved preliminary design alignment and draft Design Standard Decision Document (DSDD) needed because the vehicle lanes as proposed are narrower than the Caltrans design guidelines. DISCUSSION Quincy completed the 95 percent plans based on the Caltrans -approved alignment, adding the bike lanes through the intersection. They submitted the 95 percent plans, along with the final DSDD, to Caltrans for approval. Since Caltrans had been involved in the design, and had indicated it would be acceptable, it was expected that the review would result in a quick final official approval. However, during the 95 percent plans review process, Caltrans rejected the previously agreed upon design exceptions and required a new cross section, modifying the alignment of the intersection. Quincy began development of a concept to address the new Caltrans requirements, and presented it to them for consideration. Caltrans has Page 2 of 4