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City Council via the bcc line (this is our common practice to ensure that we do not violate any open <br /> meeting rules that the Council must follow when discussing topics in groups). <br /> While we have been monitoring the volumes on West Las Positas for the past several years and have <br /> been very focused on the volumes in this last year preparing for the Multimodal Reconstruction Project, <br /> we had hoped that the change in the merge location would not increase delay or cause intersections to <br /> become blocked. <br /> The previous AM backup was to around Payne Road and the striping project that we completed 2 weeks <br /> ago to improve the pedestrian crossing distance at Payne Road included the shifting of the merge 700 <br /> feet to the east. This shift should have moved the backup about 1000 feet to the east(closer to Dorman <br /> Road). But when we laid out the initial merge location, I didn't like the way it flowed through the curve, so I <br /> moved it further to the east. This was as it turns out, slightly too far when we have 100% student <br /> attendance at Foothill. The first week of the new striping had congestion between Dorman and Hopyard, <br /> which was expected, but last Wednesday— Friday was really bad. I believe that the reason for this is that <br /> Wednesday was the start of finals, which means that the normal 10% reduction in traffic we get due to the <br /> A period students arriving 1 hour before the rest did not occur; that coupled with the very high attendance <br /> rate (low absentee numbers during finals) added enough vehicles to extend back to and through Hopyard <br /> Road. While this backup only lasts 5 cycles (10-15 minutes), we don't want install bicycle and pedestrian <br /> improvements that will significantly impact vehicle operation. <br /> So, while the AM congestion was only 15 minutes out of the day, we will be modifying the striping over <br /> the summer to ensure that the backup will not impact Hopyard Road when school returns in the fall. <br /> For your second location of westbound West Las Positas at Coronado Lane, we are designing <br /> improvements to"square up" the intersection so that the turn resembles a standard 90-degree <br /> intersection. The previous design created a condition that allowed cars to turn at a faster than normal <br /> speed. Our design will shrink the crossing for the pedestrians and slow down the vehicle turning speed. I <br /> do understand your request to have a design that accommodates a comfortable turn for vehicles and we <br /> will incorporate that into the design (although we are not going to have a right turn lane for Coronado— <br /> we want to limit the number or right turn only lanes. The reason for limiting these, is that right turn lanes <br /> are challenging designs for bicyclists. To meet our"all ages and abilities" standard, we want to make <br /> riding in the bike lane as comfortable as possible. Adding a right turn lane requires bicyclists and vehicles <br /> to weave across paths increasing the number of conflict points. The level of comfort is also significantly <br /> reduced because a right turn pocket requires that bicyclists ride between the through travel lane and the <br /> right turn lane, essentially placing the bike between two vehicles—we want to avoid this wherever <br /> possible). We will incorporate a design that maintains a level of comfort for both the bicyclists and the <br /> vehicles while improving the crossing distance for pedestrians. <br /> Thank you again for your email to the City to express your thoughts and solutions. <br />