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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 02262008 - C.6 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra FROM: MAURICE M. SHIU, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR -...-K- R`� Costa DATE: February 26, 2008 �� sT9 COUTt County SUBJECT: Highway Safety Improvement Program grant applications for projects being considered along Marsh Creek Road, Vasco Road, and the intersection of Camino Diablo and Byron Highway, East County area. (District III, IV, V) Project No. 0676-6P1032 SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMI-NDAT ION(S)&13ACKGROIJND AND JUS'T'IFICATION RECOMMENDED ACTION: APPROVE AND AUTHORIZE the Public Works Director,or designee,to submit to Caltrans Local Assistance the Highway Safety Improvement Program(HSIP)grant applications for safety projects being considered along Marsh Creek Road, Vasco Road, and the intersection of Camino Diablo and Byron Highway. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no impact to the County General Fund. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: El SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDA TION OF COUNTYADMINISTRA TOR IIECOMMENDA7'ION F BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): I ACTION OI'BOA VO 4M4APPROI-ED AS RECOVMENDED � OTHER VO OFSUPERV1S'ORS: I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT TI IIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON UNANIHOUS(ABSE11'T ) MINUTES OF THE BOARD OI' SUPERVISORS ON THE AYES: NOES: DATE SIIOWN. ABSENT: ABSTAIN: CL:JC:sr Contact: Jenna Caldwell(313-2020) O Orig.Div. Public Works('11Division) ATT IHS'T'ED D \\pwpcuet\grpdata\Transl ng\2008\BO-TE\BO_IIS1P 0708.doc JOHN CULL ,CLERK OF tHE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS cc: M.Carlson,TE C.I_au,TE J.Pulliam,TE C.Raynolds,P.W.Accounting BY: SUBJECT: Highway Safety Improvement Program grant applications for projects being considered along Marsh Creek Road, Vasco Road, and the intersection of Camino Diablo and Byron Highway, East County area. (District III, IV, V) Project No. 0676-6P1032 DATE: February 26, 2008 PAGE: 2 of 6 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS AND BACKGROUND: Applying for and obtaining grants allows the County to construct more improvements than would be possible without obtaining these grants. Public Works staff took this item to the Transportation Water and Infrastructure Committee meeting on February 11, 2008. The Committee supported the applications and requested that staff present this item to the Board as a consent item. The Safe,Accountable,Flexible,Efficient Transportation Equity Act:A Legacy for Users(SAFETEA-LU)created the Highway Safety Improvement Program(HSIP). This is the second cycle of the HSIP,which replaced the Hazard Elimination Safety(HES)Program. For a project to be eligible for HSIP funding a specific safety problem must be identified for correction and the project must correct or substantially improve the condition. HSIP funds are available for expenditure on any highway safety improvement project on any local agency public road, bicycle or pedestrian pathway or trail. There are three HSIP funding categories: "Safety Index","Work Type",and"Traffic Data". At this time,the call for projects is focused on Safety Index and Work Type projects. A call for Traffic Data projects will be separate from the other categories and will come soon. Safety Index projects receive approximately 50 to 70 percent of the available HSIP funds; Work Type projects receive approximately 20 to 30 percent. Traffic Data Projects will be eligible for the remaining funds, a maximum of 20 percent. Safety Index Projects: Projects may qualify for HSIP funding based on a calculated Safety Index(SI). Caltrans Headquarter staff will calculate the SI for all applications competing under this category,and will then prioritize projects statewide,by the Safety Index. If a project submitted as a Safety Index project fails to get funded under the Safety Index category, it will automatically be moved into the Work Type category and re-compete for funding within that category. Public Works is submitting all projects under the Safety Index category. This will allow our projects to compete in both categories. Work Type Improvement Projects: The Work Type category is used to fund projects that cannot be quantified by a SI due to the lack of data. Projects providing evidence of collision history or collision potential will compete better than projects that do not. All projects submitted by Public Works will include collision history. i1 V SUBJECT: Highway Safety Improvement Program grant applications for projects being considered along Marsh Creek Road, Vasco Road, and the intersection of Camino Diablo and Byron Highway, East County area. (District III, IV, V) Project No. 0676-6P1032 DATE: February 26, 2008 PAGE: 3 of 6 Examples of current eligible Work Type construction and operational improvements may include,but are not limited to, the following list: • Traffic signs • Sight distance improvement • Upgrade median barrier • Pavement markings and delineation • New median barrier • Widen or improve shoulder • Remove obstacles • Flatten side slopes • Upgrade traffic signals • Realign roadway • New traffic signals • An intersection safety improvement • New or upgrade guardrail • Traffic channelization For the previous HSIP call for projects,the Public Works Department submitted five safety improvement projects, none of which were awarded funding. During the last call for projects, Caltrans did not publish the formula they used to calculate a project's Safety Index,therefore it was difficult to determine the exact criteria they were going to use to evaluate and prioritize the projects submitted. For this cycle, Caltrans has published the formula they will use to calculate a project's Safety Index. This formula takes into account the number of accidents over the last three years,the scope of the proposed improvement project, the average daily traffic(ADT),the total project cost and the length of the improved project,along with a variety of factors that are predetermined and were provided with the formula. Additionally,the formula makes no distinction between fatal and injury accidents and instead groups them into one category. Staff evaluated the projects which were submitted the last cycle given this formula and determined that our focus on projects with high fatalities led to our projects having low S.I.'s, and therefore they did not successfully compete for funding. For this cycle, we are focusing on road segments with high combined fatal and injury accidents. Additionally, the applicant is to give a priority ranking to the projects they submit. The Vasco Road Safety Improvement Project was given the number one priority the last round,however after evaluating the project given the Safety Index formula, we have determined that the Safety Index for this project is much lower than the Safety Index for the projects that were awarded money last cycle. The Safety Index of those projects that were awarded money the last cycle was on the order of 170, whereas the Vasco project scored less than 10. Public Works currently plans to rank the projects in order of their Safety Index,with the largest S.I. being our top priority. The method in which Public Works selects projects for this grant is based on the historical collision history. Public Works utilizes the Crossroads database program,which obtains data from the California Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), to assist in project selection. From the Crossroads database, traffic collision history reports for June 30,2004 to June 30,2007 were generated. From the data contained in these reports,staff ranked the top three projects in each of the following categories: Road segments & intersections - with the highest number of collisions that resulted in fatalities or injuries SUBJECT: Highway Safety Improvement Program grant applications for projects being considered along Marsh Creek Road, Vasco Road, and the intersection of Camino Diablo and Byron Highway, East County area. (District 111, IV, V) Project No. 0676-6P1032 DATE: February 26, 2008 PAGE: 4 of 6 - with the highest number of collisions Staff then used these prioritized lists to evaluate safety improvement projects that would substantially improve the existing condition and used this array of data to evaluate an approximate Safety Index using the formula provided by Caltrans. Public Works is evaluating which projects could have the highest Safety Index and therefore potentially compete well for the HSIP funding. Public Works is also considering resubmitting last cycle's projects,because even though they have relatively low S.I.'s, they can still compete in the Work Type category. Public Works is considering the following projects. These are not listed in any particular order. 1. Marsh Creek Road Safety Improvement Project between John Marsh Road to Deer Valley Road Locution:This project is located in Eastern Contra Costa County along Marsh Creek Road between John Marsh Road and Deer Valley Road. Projecl description: This road is a narrow two-lane road with tight turning radius through rough terrain and has very little shoulder area for drivers to recover when vehicles veer off the road or cross the centerline. This project would widen the travel lanes to have 12 feet of pavement,provide a left turn pocket for vehicles turning onto Deer Valley Road from Marsh Creek Road,widen the shoulders to a minimum 4 feet of pavement,place a minimum 3 feet of shoulder backing,relocate utility poles,eliminate roadside obstacles,improve/install highway signage,and improve/install pavement markings. This project would also include storm drainage improvements to accommodate the roadway drainage and satisfy Regional Water Quality Control Board's C.3 requirements. These improvements would bring this section of road up to County standards for two-lane rural roads. Project Benefits: This project will improve the roadway conditions and safety by widening the traveled way, adding a turn pocket, and adding shoulders and shoulder backing. 2. Vasco Road Safety Improvements Project (Potential re-submit from last cycle) Location: This project is located in Eastern Contra Costa County along Vasco Road between the Alameda/Contra Costa County Line and approximately 5.5 miles north of the County Line. Project description: This project will construct a concrete median barrier along Vasco Road from the Alameda/Contra Costa County line north for approximately 5.5 miles. The median barrier will be constructed within existing truck climbing/passing lanes and Vasco Road will be widened as necessary through the Brushy Creek area to accommodate the median barrier and emergency vehicle access. Associated signing,striping,turn pockets and barrier end-treatments will be constructed as necessary to accommodate the installation of median barriers. Bridge widening at Brushy Creek may be required. Project Benefits: This project improves traffic safety by reducing the number of cross-median collisions that occurs along Vasco Road within the vicinity of Brushy Creek. Cross-median collisions have proved to cause severe injury or resulted in fatalities. The installation of median barrier may prevent errant vehicles from crossing the median, which otherwise may result in injury or death. SUBJECT: Highway Safety Improvement Program grant applications for projects being considered along Marsh Creek Road, Vasco Road, and the intersection of Camino Diablo and Byron Highway, East County area. (District III, IV, V) Project No. 0676-6P1032 DATE: February 26, 2008 PAGE: 5 of 6 3. Vasco Road Advance Warning Signs near Vasco Road and Camino Diablo(Potential re-submitfrom last cycle) Location: This project is located in Eastern Contra Costa County, along Vasco Road at both the northern and southern approaches to Camino Diablo. Project description: This project will consist of installing illuminated advance warning signs with flashing beacons along Vasco Road on both the northern and southern approach to Camino Diablo. The illuminated signs and flashing beacons will be actuated to turn on when a significant number of vehicles are queued up at the Camino Diablo traffic signal. Project Benefits: The proposed illuminated signs will warn approaching drivers that there is stopped traffic ahead and allow them enough time and distance to safely stop behind the vehicles queued at the signal light. 4. Marsh Creek Road Safety Improvement Project between Russelmann Park Road and Morgan Territory Road: Location: This project is located in Eastern Contra Costa County along Marsh Creek Road between Russelmann Park Road and Morgan Territory Road. Project description: This road is a narrow two-lane road with tight turning radius through rough terrain and has very little shoulder area for drivers to recover when vehicles veer off the road or cross the centerline. This project would widen the travel lanes to have 12 feet of pavement,widen the shoulders to a minimum 4 feet of pavement, place a minimum 3 feet of shoulder backing, relocate utility poles, install guard railing, construct retaining wall, eliminate roadside obstacles, improve/install highway signage, and improve/install pavement markings. This project would also include storm drainage improvements to accommodate the roadway drainage and satisfy Regional Water Quality Control Board's C.3 requirements. These improvements would bring this section of road up to County standards for two-lane rural roads. Project Benefits: This project will improve the roadway conditions and safety by widening the traveled way, shoulders, and shoulder backing. Improved sight distance at the curve will increase drivers' reaction time and help avoid head-on collisions or driving off the roadway. 5. Marsh Creek Road Safety Improvements Project near Lydia lane: Location: This project is located in Eastern Contra Costa County along Marsh Creek Road near Lydia Lane between Deer Valley Road and Camino Diablo. Project description:This road is a narrow two-lane road with tight turning radius through rough terrain and has very little shoulder area for drivers to recover when vehicles veer off the road or cross the centerline. This project would widen each travel lane to 12 feet of pavement, widen the shoulders to a minimum 4 feet of pavement, place a minimum 3 feet of shoulder backing, relocate utility poles, install guard railing, construct retaining wall, eliminate roadside obstacles, improve/install highway signage, and improve/install pavement markings. This project would also include storm drainage improvements to accommodate the roadway drainage and satisfy Regional Water Quality Control Board's C.3 requirements. These improvements would bring this section of road up to County standards for two-lane rural roads. • SUBJECT: Highway Safety Improvement Program grant applications for projects being considered along Marsh Creek Road, Vasco Road, and the intersection of Camino Diablo and Byron Highway, East County area. (District III, IV, V) Project No. 0676-6P1032 DATE: February 26, 2008 PAGE: 6 of 6 This project has received a High Risk Rural Road Grant for $900,000. Project Benefits: This project will improve the roadway conditions and safety by widening the traveled way, shoulders, and shoulder backing. Improved sight distance at the curve will increase drivers' reaction time and help avoid head-on collisions or driving off the roadway. 6. Camino Diablo and Byron Highway Intersection Improvements Project (Potential re-submit from last cycle) Location:This project is located in Eastern Contra Costa County at the intersection of Camino Diablo and Byron Highway. Project description. This intersection is stop controlled for east and westbound traffic along Camino Diablo whereas traffic along Byron Highway free flows. In addition,a railroad crossing and another intersection(Main Street and Camino Diablo)approximately 250 feet west of this intersection creates a situation where motorists will need to make more decisions than a traditional intersection. This project proposes to install traffic signal and turning lanes. Project Benefits: The proposed project will construct traffic signal to reduce broadside collisions and the new turning-lanes will reduce rear-end collisions. The traffic signal will also improve the intersection efficiency to handle a higher traffic volume as projected by the Discovery Bay West EIR. CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATIVE ACTION: Failure to approve the submittal of this application will eliminate a potential funding source.