CCMIN082906 - Laserfiche WebLink

on the proposed circulation network at Santa Rita Road and Black Avenue that prohibits traffic exiting the frontage road. She was uncomfortable with modeling this without first talking to the School District. Mayor Hosterman said the model would show what it looks like today and with the changes. That would give a better idea of how traffic flow could look. Director Iserson said staff could delete that from the plan. It is not in the 1996 General Plan or the proposed General Plan. Director Wilson agreed to model the area without that change. If there are issues in that area, staff would identify a problem and request Council approval to look at it. At that point there could be discussions with the School District. Council member Thorne asked if the same thing applied to the three left turn lanes on Santa Rita. Will the model show what it looks like with and without the improvements? Director Wilson indicated the model of Alternate B would include the three left turn lanes. If Council directed, staff could also model the area without the turn lanes. Council member Thorne said he has seen the traffic on Santa Rita increase a lot over the last twenty years and felt the section of Valley between Santa Rita and Stanley is really horrible. Council must do something to stop adding more traffic onto Santa Rita. He supported leaving the three left turn lanes out. Councilmember Brozosky agreed. Councilmember McGovern said she received a phone call after the article in the newspaper about traffic on Valley and increased noise levels. The point of the article was that there is an enormous increase of truck traffic to the transfer station on Busch Road and she felt these vehicles are part of the noise problem. Director Wilson said staff is still reviewing these issues. These truck trips occur from 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. and will not be affected by the three left turn lanes or would add to the traffic. Staff has also found that there are many cars parked on Busch Road, which adds to the problem. Councilmember McGovern commented that people like to leave their windows open and night and the noise of these trucks is disturbing. She felt staff needed to review this situation to see if there is a solution. She then referred to a comment about constraining traffic on Valley Avenue by not putting those lanes in and asked if that is what would occur. Director Wilson said there are tradeoffs. It is known there is an existing level of service issue at this intersection. If nothing is done in terms of improvements, that problem will continue and Council may choose to accept Level of Service D, E or F at this intersection. Staff needs to determine if the improvements will lower the level of service to LOS C even though it raises the level of traffic on Valley. That will then be modeled. Once that information is known, Council can determine if it is comfortable with LOS E and F and staff would then make findings around that. Staff cannot make improvements to the intersection without doing something like widening or making policy changes in terms of how traffic gets into Pleasanton. General Plan Workshop Minutes 23 AU9ust29,2006