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Minutes - Transportation - 1/12/2004CITY OF BOULDER, COLORADO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS MEETING 5UMMARY FORM NAME OF BOARD/COMMISSION: Transportahon Advtsory Board DATF, OF MF,F.TING: Jan 12, 2004 NAME/TELEPHONE OF PF.RSON PREPARING SUMMARY: Robm Madel, 303-441-4073 NAMES OF MF.MBERS, COUNCIL, STAFF AND INVITED GUESTS PRESENT: BOARD MEMBERS -'PAB: 7ohn Tayer, Jim Rettew, Biant Liebmann, Krtsta IIolland, Bill Roettker STAFF - Tracy W~nfree, M~ke Sweeney, Randall Rutsch, Bill Cowern, Teresa Spears, Joe Paulson, Bill Fox, Steve Stolz, Fred Gerhardt and Robm Madel, secretary WHAT TYPF. OF MEETING [REGULAR~ Agenda Item 1- Call to Order The meetmg was called to oider at 6 00 p m Agenda Item 2- Meeting Minutes from Nov. 10, 2003. Krista Halland motioned to approve the minntes as written. Jim Rettew seconded the motion. Tl~e vote was 5-0 in favor of the motion. Agenda Item 3- General Citizen Participatian Rob Smoke, 244519t6 St., Boulder, spoke about the lack of RTD serv~ce between Boulder and Denver on Satuidays and Sundays Smoke provtded spec~fics of some express routes He asked the TAB to get m touch w~th RTD and ask them to raise the level of serv~ce and to promote that seroice Marv Louis Chavers, P.O. I3ox 4342, Boulder CO 80306, spoke about passenger safety ~ssues Chavers ~s a monthly Ewpass holder She said that several drrvers have said that u would be helpful to have a left turn arrow at 14~~' & Canyon at Yhe Tranert Cente~ Chavers said thaC iC would help with passenger and communtry safeTy Also, the SKIP bus drivers get a 10 mmute dmner break and a 10-20 minute break m noith Boulder The~r contract specifies a 30 mmute break per seven to cight hour shitt Many of the dnvers are stressed out aud Chavers feels that changes could be helpful TAB Comments Bill Roettker encouraged people to contact RTD on their own but said that he will talk directly to RTD board members Roetkker asked what standards are used for the turn signal at 14°i& Walnut Joe Paulson said that the mty has criteua and guidelmes and said that he w~ll look at how bus schedules are ~mpacted by the l~ght trmmg. Tracy Wmfree said that she would raise the issue at the quarterly RTD - city of Boulder staff to staff ineetmg and she w~ll report back to the TAB Gener~l Citizen Participat~on was closed. Agenda Item 4- Staff distribution of the adopted 2003 TMP. Randall Rutsch d~stnbuted the TMP to the TAB The TAB and staff read a resoluhon expiessmg grat~tude for Rutsch's work on the TMP update Agenda Item 5- Pnblic hcaring and TAB consideration of a recommendation on the South Broadway Safety Project. Bill Cowein reviewed the contents mcinded m the packet of mater~al and the background of the pro~ect Cowern said that the c~ty apphed for and received a$300K grant from the Federal Hazard El~mmat~on Program The staff assembled a team to evaluate safety improvements to the mtersections of Broadway and Grmnell and Broadway and Darley Cowern summanzed the alternatroes evaluated by the staff and presented the staff recommendahon Cowern discussed the ophons that were evaluated and detailed why the staff chose tlie ophon they d~d The staff recommendat~on is to mstall a med~an on Broadway at Darley, a traffic signal on Broadway at Grmnell and a speed d~splay sign on Broadway TAB Questions TAB quest~ons covered the impacts of the staff recommendatrons in terms of number of cars, traf£ic m~t~gahon, hmmg of l~ghts on Broadway, demographics of accidents, altemate configurattons that tUe staff evaluated, the budget associated wrth the pro~ect, traffic drversion to Greenbnar and planned pedestr~an ~mprovements Public Participahon Marilvn Decalo, 4465 Grinnell Ave., Boulder, said she has seen a lot of clianges ~n Roulder and ~s conceined about the impacts to the commumty She rece~ved a matlmg about the issue m August and then didn't recerve anythmg after that She sa~d that the city should remmd people about the meetmgs and because they d~dn't a Trmispor[ateon Advtsory Board Summary Mmates Nov 1Q 2003 Page / petihon was created Decalo said she wants to preserve the small town feelmg that Boulder has had and is opposed to a signal She wants a more mtegrated solutton The study is much larger than Broadway and Grmnell. The neighborhood needs to be ~denh6ed Decalo urged the TAB to send the matter back ro the staff foi future consideratron She added tliat students park where Uiey shouldn't Dcane Johnson,1210 Toedtli,l3oulder, said she is opposed to a traffic hght and has never had a problem gettmg onto Broadway She asked about accidents where the hghts currently are and sa~d she doubts there will be any Fewer acc~dents with a hght at the mtersection Johnson asked for anythmg else but a hglrt and sa~d that it w~ll draw kafftc She sazd also that the bue etop at that mteraechon ts very busy Ann Marie Ladd, 4475 Grinnell Ave., Boulder, said that a signal ~s a far-reachmg alteration It w~ll mcrease the volume and safety conceins and the neighborhood w~ll become qu~te unpleasant Ladd asked if the staff could go back to the piocess and improve the exisdng s~gnalized mtersecY~ons She gave spec~fic opt~ons and eaid that the impact to Grmnell needs to be groen more considerat~on A light at Darley would be safer for b~kers and pedeshians It ~s a dilemma to divert traffic to one or other sheets because most acc~dents on Gimnell ~nvolve drtvers from outside of the neighborhood She supports med~ans. Linda Feather, 4435 Grinnell Ave., Boulder, said she ~s concerned about the proposed recommendahons and would Lke the staff to go back to the drawmg board She said she is opposed to a hght because ~t will make Grmnell a parkmg lot She suggested usmg a camera on Broadway and flashmg hghts as well as other m~hgahon dev~ces Mike Darrah, 4440 Grinnell Ave., Boulder, said he would I~ke thts issue to go back to the stafE IIe doesn't favor either ophon The two mam reasons foi accidents m the area are speedmg on Broadway and students ~n tlie area Changmg student behavior will take working wrth the schools by l~mumg paikmg and reducmg volume Also, staggered hght hmmg on Broadway has not been explored well James E. Mabrv, 4430 Grinnell Avc., Bonlder, sa~d he is opposed to the hght because Gnnnell ~s a parkmg lot on bad days already He recommended designatmg some drop off pmnts for students and hymg to el~mmate s[udents and parents dr~vmg to school Iie said that smooth drromg on Broadway ~s not more ~mportant than the commumty. Judv Robinson, 4497 Grmnell Ave., Boulder, said she ob~ects to the staff recommendahon and the process used to create it She said that at the meetmgs the staff pushed the~r recommendahons The commumty wanted a fa~r resoluhon but the sta£f ~gnored th~s Both a light and a median are not fa~r Without the grant money other poes~b~hties would have been exploied It doesn't make sense to make Grmnell a ma~or slreet More [raffic w~ll decrease the property value of her home She would like to see this go back to the staff because there is more to be said and done. She asked the TAB not to make a dec~sion yet Dav~d Robinson, 4497 Grinnell Ave., Boulder, sa~d that the pubhc meetmg was kept a secret The $300K ~s like a bone to the staff and they can't wait to get the~r hands on ~t He asked ~f any studies with the Boulder Pohce Deparhnent have been done or if any research has been donc There has been degradahon of the ne~ghborhood and the staff is ~umpmg ~nto the pro~ect because of the free money He asked the TAB to not make a decision yet Lvnne Saerrv, 4260 Grinnell, Boulder, asked the TAB and staff to reconsider their proposal Intersechons are dangerous and most of the acc~dents are because people are impatient She sa~d there must be some othei way to keep the sheets open and she doesn't want one sfrect to suffer for anothei Lee Hartman, 4325 Grinnell Ave.,l3oulder, said he is vew to Boulder Twice a day the traffic is bad because of parents and teens A stophght is unfa~r because then the other streets have to take the burden. A stopl~ght ~s the wiong way to do ~t He thanked the TAB for their hme He said he would rather give up the iight to turn leR than have a stoplight Alex Medler,1070 Edinboro, Boulder, is concerned that traffic west of G~llasp~e will turn onto Edmboro, Yale and Table Mesa which would be faster tl~an gomg to Gnnnell if a hght were mstalled He suggested gettmg more mformahon about Edmboro and Yale and usmg money left over from the giant to do some uuUgahon m those areas Of all the ne~ghbors on the block only one knew about the pro~ect Their area ~s not m the area of consideration He urged the TAB to not make a decision ye[ Bob ReT, 4220 Grinnell Ave., Boidder, l~ves m the first home at Gnnnell and Gillaspie and sa~d that th~s ~s not a new problem He said the problems started 30 years ago when Foothills Parkway dead ended mto Table Mesa mstead of contmumg on to Hishway 93 south of Boulder At that hme traffic on south B~oadway doubled. Now there are more k~ds drivmg tltan ever before The parkmg lot is completely overflowed and the c~ty and school should contmue lookmg at the pro~ect. The b~ke path dead ends at Grmnell and ~s an issue that needs to be addressed The problem that the city and state created 30 years ago w~th Poothills needs to be addressed Transpartateon Advisory Board Suimm~ry Mmutes Nov 10, 2003 Page 2 John Bovlan, 4445 Grinnell Ave., Boulder, sazd that commumcat~on about the meetmgs was mm~mal and he wants a fau opmion He said the city needs to conduct a poll rather than hold a meetmg The veh~cle counts are from several years ago There are soluhons that could come from wrthm the neighborhood that wouldn't wst as much Darley ~s more conducive to a l~ght than Gnnnell 'Phe best idea is photo radai and a light at Darley. He said that the traffic counts would be a wash He asked the TAB to reconsider and better publ~sh meetmg announcements Public Participation was closed. TAB Discussion TAB discussion covered traffic stackmg on Grmnell, level of serv~ce analyses, accident stahshcs for Grmnell and Broadway, school d~strict mvolvement m the process, school parkmg lot regulation, creatmg alternatives to student drrvmg the schedule for use of the grant money, a neighborhood parkmg perm~t program for Ludlow Ave , hmmg of the ltghts and speeds on Broadway, the prionhes for the comdor for the state aud the ctty, the plans for dealmg with speedmg on Grmnell, the possibility of usmg the NTMP program to m~tigatc speedmg, the ~mpacts from a traffic l~ght on Darley, restrictmg left turns fiom Broadway onto Gn~mell and Darley, the deta~ls of photo enforcement on Broadway, the public process that was followed and the complamts of the pubhc speakers, the need to address the problem of speedmg, the lack of a neighborhood feelmg on south Bioadway and the wsts to do addrt~onal mailmgs The TAB asked the staff to review several ~tems left turn lanes with photo enFoicement and restricted hours, the effect of speed and its mittgahon on Broadway, a staggered light cycle on Broadway and an alternahve drop ofF location for students No mot~ons were made about the ~ssue Agenda Item 6 - Matters From Staff: • Tracy Wmfiee dtscussed the 17°i SC B~kelane Pxo~ect Wmfree eaid that the staff is st~ll workmg with the crty manager to get addmonal mformahon because the city manager wants to brmg rt forward m a way that is clear The item may shll be presented to the TAB for a public hearmg at the February meehng • Tracy Wmfree d~scussed the TMP Workplan and d~stributed a color vers~on Winfree reviewed the status and the award process from DRCOG • Bill Cowern dtscussed accident stahskcs from 9'" St Cowern said that accident rates m all cases except for one didn't mcrease and m some locahons rates were lower durmg Broadway construction The one locahon where rates mcreased was 9°i&Umversrty • Tracy Wmfiee d~scussed the US 36 Env~ronmental Impact Statement The open period for tl~e scopmg phase ended on December 5, 2003 A range of ideas came from the scopmg penod but CDOT is still acceptmg mput from the pubhc All suggeshons w~ll be considered and then the opttons will be nanowed foi analys~s The process should take about a yeai and w~ll be done m 2004 There will be pubhc meetmgs to d~scuss the top~c on Peb 24, 25 and 26 An eaily ~ssue m the EIS ~s determmmg the area to be stud~ed and whether or not to mclude the Diagonal m the study area One suggestion has been to do a separatc feasib~hty etudy along the D~agonal to Gunbarrel, which ~s w~tlim the FasTracks area. TUe EIS wtll examme "end of the l~ne" issucs for Boulder The mayor's coal~tton is plaiwmg a trtp to Washmgton, D C to promote the US 36 MIS • The Human Relatrons Comm~ssion for the c~ty of Bottlder asked the crty manager to make some ad~ustments to how the mty does the~r public process for services for non-English speakmg residents The staff is lookmg at how they can better serve all members of the publ~c Matters b'mm the 13oard: • Krista Holland made a presentahon on behalf of the TAB to the staff to thank the hansportation staff for all of theu hard wark • Brant Liebmann said that the ~nv~ronmental Advisory Board wants to make a presentation to the TAB about reducmg carbon dioxide em~ssions • Biant Liebmann mentioned the anc~le about Ecopasses m the newspaper Tracy Wmfree d~scussed details of the anc~le that had to do wrth no longer issumg Ecopasses for people workmg outs~de of the General Improvement D~effict Transpartadon Advtsory Uoard l` Summary Minutes -~! _ Nov 10, 2003 Pagc 3 J~~~~~~ Agenda Item 7- Discussion of Futurc Agenda and Schedule The next regular meetmg w~ll be on Feb 9, 2004 Agenda Item 8 - Adjournment Jim Rettew mohoned to adjourn the mceting. Krista Holland seconded the mot~on. The vote was 5-0 in favor oP the motion. The meetmg was ad~ourned at 9.40 p.m Date, Time, and Location of Next Meeting: • Feb 9, 2004, 6 00 p m Tranaportat~on Adv~sory Board regular meeC~ng Mummpal Bu~ldmg Council Mmutes approved on By Transportahon Advrsory Uoard Summary Minutes Nov 10, 2003 Page 4