Traffic and Transportation Committee

TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION July 17, 2018 A meeting of the Committee on Traffic and Transportation was held this date beginning at 2:19 p.m., at City Hall, 80 Broad Street, First Floor Conference Room. Notice of this meeting was sent to all local news media. PRESENT Councilmember Seekings, Chair; Councilmember Moody, Councilmember Wagner, Councilwoman Jackson, and Mayor Tecklenburg (arrived at 2:51 p.m.) Staff: Keith Benjamin, Robert Somerville, and Bethany Whitaker, Council Secretary The meeting was opened with a moment of silence provided by Councilmember Wagner. APPROVAL OF MINUTES On the motion of Councilmember Moody, seconded by Councilwoman Jackson, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the June 19, 2018 meeting. Application for Original Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity:  Mohamed Ali DBA Champion Transportation (Taxi) On the motion of Councilmember Moody, seconded by Councilwoman Jackson, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the above item. Traffic Calming Speed Humps for Approval  North Central Neighborhood- Francis Street  Byrnes Downs – Sothel Avenue  Daniel Island- Barfield Street Mr. Somerville stated that all three locations met the 75% petition requirement, as well as the 350 vehicles per day. They requested approval. Councilmember Moody said that the one in North Central had an average speed of 27 mph in a 25 mph zone, but the ones in Byrnes Downs and Daniel Island were under the speed limit. He wasn’t sure how they would calm traffic more than what it was. He was wondering how they would adjust the speed when the average was already under and he thought what this was, was that they were cut-through streets. Chairman Seekings said he was a property right across from the speed hump and no one had ever called him. He was voting ‘no’ until someone asked the property owner. Mr. Benjamin said what they did was they switched from doing the study first to getting the community buy-in first. Once they had community buy-in, they were bringing it to the Committee and it was at their discretion. Chairman Seekings asked who brought in the one for Sothel Avenue and Mr. Somerville said it was Michelle Robinson. Councilmember Moody said it couldn’t be because people were speeding. It had to be the traffic because it was a cut-down street, and they couldn’t do anything about that. This wouldn’t stop that. Mr. Benjamin said that was one of the prime things about traffic calming, in general, that the only tool they had was the speed humps. So, people immediately equated traffic calming to speed humps, and not to signage or different roadway designations. Councilmember Moody said they were also anticipating the Greystar project and that the traffic would be worse. It probably would be, but unless they made it a private street, he didn’t see how speed humps would calm it down. He didn’t know if he could vote to approve these two with the average speed below the speed limit. Chairman Seekings said the speed humps, in Byrnes Downs particularly, were problem creators, not problem solvers. Councilwoman Jackson stated that people did speed on Francis Street and that it was a cut-through from Rutledge Street to King Street. Chairman Seekings said he knew they had a cap on the City speed limit of 25 mph and asked where that came from. Mr. Somerville said it was per ordinance. Chairman Seekings asked what someone would have to do to petition the City for a lower speed limit and Mr. Somerville said that it would just be a petition to request a speed limit reduction. Chairman Seekings asked if anyone had done that. Mr. Benjamin said they had it in some areas, such as Avondale. Chairman Seekings said that 25 mph may not seem fast in some areas, but on a 2 block street, it was speeding. They needed to look at that, especially in areas of urban-core. On the motion of Councilmember Moody, seconded by Councilwoman Jackson, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the speed hump for North Central Neighborhood on Francis Street. On the motion of Councilmember Moody, seconded by Councilwoman Jackson, the Committee voted unanimously to deny the speed humps for Byrnes Downs on Sothel Avenue and Daniel Island on Barfield Street because the average speed was less than the speed limit. Director’s Update Mr. Benjamin stated that this was a busy week for their department. They were trying to complete the re- submission of the application for the Ashley River Crossing. He had put part of the rendering in their packet from the consulting firm. They had also done conceptual engineering designs for this, as well. The reason why this was so pivotal was because it would allow them to show in their grant that they were further along. The big difference this year was that they decided not to move the allocation date. So, for the last round of TIGER the allocation date was September 2020, and that was still the date. So, by the time they got between June- September 2020, they had to at least have the NEPA process moving forward and near completion. They also included, because of the charrette, work that had happened on the West Ashley Bikeway. The span of the bridge would be 18 feet. It would change intersections on the Lockwood Side and 35 Folly to make sure there was better connectivity. They had over 80 support letters for the project, including the Secretary. She would be in D.C. in two weeks and would be talking about both the BRT project, and this project to be prioritized by USDOT. They would be hopefully be submitting that the next day, so that they would have it in early. Councilmember Moody asked what the total cost was and Mr. Benjamin said that last year it was $18.225 million, but that was for a 12 foot span and didn’t include a lot of things with the greenway/bikeway. This year, it was a little higher, about $22 million because of the expansion. The match was still the same, $6 million plus $50,000 that the Charleston Parks Conservancy decided to commit to. Of that $6 million, $3 million would be from the County, $1.5 million was from the City, and $1.5 was from private entities. Councilmember Moody asked where the City’s money was coming from and Mr. Benjamin said his understanding was that it was from Fiscal Year 2019. Chairman Seekings said it would be in the budget. Mr. Benjamin stated it was similar in vein to when they applied the last year. Councilmember Moody said he wasn’t sure at what point they would have the discussion, and he didn’t want to slow the project down, but when they set up the West End TIF, they came across the river to West Ashley and picked up the land around the Holiday Inn. Over the years, they had created TIF’s downtown. What happens was that they redeveloped those things, and he was in favor of TIF’s, but as they redeveloped, they seemed to always create excess funds. They money had to be spent in the TIF, so it wasn’t available for West Ashley, so he wanted to have a discussion about how they could get that money out of the TIF. They had come across the river for some reason, and at some point they would redevelop that area where the Waffle House was and that money ought to be used for those kind of things. Mr. Benjamin said he didn’t mind that conversation. Councilmember Moody said he didn’t want anyone to be surprised if he voted against something because of the funding. They needed to be more aware of what was going on. They had a lot of West Ashley to be redeveloped and only had one TIF. Mr. Benjamin said that when they were awarded, that was when they would have to show, so however that discussion went was fine by him. Councilmember Moody said he wasn’t saying they shouldn’t have the discussion. Chairman Seekings said that they would have the Budget Committee and they would have that meeting sooner rather than later. They could raise this issue there and they wanted to make sure that if they did get the grant that the City was in lockstep moving forward. They needed to identify funds and hash it all out in public. They may not be in agreement, but they would be on the same page. Mr. Benjamin said the motion that came from County Council, for their $3 million was specifically for construction, so the City’s $1.5 million would be crucial for moving the needle forward on West Ashley efforts with the bikeway and final design for the bridge itself. Councilmember Wagner stated that he had said something about 35 Folly Road. The bikeway came across Folly Road and back. He asked how they would be getting across there. Mr. Benjamin said that had been looked at. If they watched the traffic signals there, there was a moment when all the traffic was stopped, except for the left hand movement out of the shopping center. So, when they were doing the charrette process, they looked at if there was a re-designation of signaling, so that if someone came up from the bikeway and pressed for a signal, that left turn traffic would stop as well, and they’d be able to make the turn straight-through. Coming off the Greenway, on the back of 35 Folly apartments, they had a way for people to take the existing path that the complex built to connect to the path. Chairman Seekings stated that he had talked to Victor about the crossing on Folly Road a lot and it was problematic. The re-signaling was a short term solution, so it was something they would have to look at. Councilmember Moody said that what could be a future alternative was that if they were on the Peninsula side, there was supposed to be a bridge/road from Brittlebank Park down to the City Marina. They ought to have something similar on the West side that could come down Hwy. 61, go under the bridges, and bring them back up in front of 35 Folly. He was fearful that people would continue going down Hwy. 61, but if they had something to take them around, it would be helpful. Mr. Benjamin stated that they had been told that if the intersections weren’t fixed coming up to the bridges, than it wouldn’t be safe enough for people to feel like they could use them. It was a show-and-tell, with all that had gone back and forth about Ashley River, moving forward on the Grant process, it would help to open up opportunities. Councilmember Wagner said it looked like it was going to swing away from the Hospital District. It looked like it was on the wrong side, at first glance. Chairman Seekings said it was another complicated intersection. Mr. Benjamin stated that they had gotten the engineering conceptual designs and when they did the designing of the bridge, it would eliminate the slip lane onto Lockwood Blvd., and caused traffic to go all the way up to the light. All car traffic would come to the light. The bridge would touch down and the bridge boardwalk would come down where the slip lane was. Chairman Seekings said there was no bigger fan of the project than himself, but he thought that was a problematic interchange, and he couldn’t see the DOT allowing all the traffic to go to the light. Mr. Benjamin said it was possible to have a third lane that would come to the light, but the elimination of the slip-lane gave the bridge space to land. Councilmember Moody said that would make a lot more sense. He got into the slip-lane, and if they eliminated a whole lane, it would cause a traffic back-up, but if they had three lanes, it could work. Mr. Benjamin stated that they had the consultants coming to town the next day regarding the parking study. They would be having stakeholder meetings and there would be a drop-in time for the Councilmembers as well. He would be coming to them in a few hours with the City-wide Transportation Plan, which he was excited about because of the engagement of many individuals. Councilwoman Jackson asked if the vote on that was the final decision about adopting it into the Master Plan. Mr. Benjamin stated that it was first reading and a public hearing. Update on Traffic Calming Program Mayor Tecklenburg arrived at 2:51 p.m. Chairman Seekings asked if there was anything specific that Councilmember Griffin wanted to hear. They were prepared to give a general update. Councilmember Griffin stated that stated that he wanted to talk about Shadowmoss specifically, but also all throughout District 10. Because it was mostly residential, there was a good bit of interconnectivity in the neighborhoods. Shadowmoss was connected to Grand Oaks and that took up the majority of his district. Someone could travel from Shadowmoss Parkway over to Grand Oaks Blvd. and could take that. Ashley Gardens Blvd. went all the way around Grand Oaks, so someone could get almost to Hwy. 17 and Main Road from that neighborhood. Over the last couple of months, Shadowmoss was seeing an increased amount of traffic, speeding, people running stop signs, and people getting tickets. He would assume that a lot of people getting pulled over were residents of the neighborhood. There was divisiveness between neighbors and people were trying to take it into their own hands and put up their own signs. There was only so much the police officers could do. They came through the neighborhood from time to time to check on things, but they also needed to be on the main roads, because those were the roads that really mattered. When this dilemma had come up, he had researched the City’s Traffic Calming Program. He looked at the brochure. Shadowmoss Parkway and Ashley Gardens Boulevard were great examples because there was so much traffic and they had people going over the speed limit. Mr. Benjamin had said that it would be tough right now, and that they needed to revisit the program to see how they could improve it, so that they could get some of the bigger residential streets in the program. Mr. Benjamin stated that in 1996, it was requested to take a look at the issues around speeding and accessibility. In 2000, a plan was finished, the Traffic Calming Program, and funding was ascribed to it at the time, of about $100,000 per year. It didn’t just consist of speed humps. It had markings plans, roundabouts, signage, etc. They were trying to make a way for people to be safe within the public right-of-way’s. Today, the program only consisted of speed humps and they received about $61,540 per year for that. Mr. Somerville managed the program. The demand was high. They had well over $500,000 in requests. $89,000 was for speed hump requests that were currently ready to come before Council, but based off what had happened with the speed hump approvals, they only had about $8,000-$10,000 left to go to two other speed humps. They had about $111,000 in maintenance of speed humps that they had requests for and then they had about $360,000 in general requests that had come from people who hadn’t done the petitions or the study hadn’t been done by the department to see if the speed limit fit. Most people only thought of speed humps when it came to traffic calming. He thought there should be a conversation as to whether the program was still viable. He believed it was. Chairman Seekings said that it seemed like the best way to address it, given budget limitations, was to work with each member in the district, and with the Homeowner’s Associations, and have them speak with each other and devise some plans, so they could get ahead of it. They had to get new developers in the game, about putting out speed humps, or putting money aside for the City to go in and build speed humps. Councilwoman Jackson thanked Councilmember Griffin for bringing this up. She knew it was something that they all heard from people in their districts. She knew that they knew that one size didn’t fit all and so, when she responded to her constituents, what would be good examples of tools they could be substituting or using for speed calming. Mr. Benjamin stated that it could vary. The capacity, with their department, to execute was a piece of the equation as well. There was significant work they could do on the maintenance side from signs to markings. He had staff going out for the next four months to see where the issues were with that, but he thought that they should go back to what was in the brochure. He didn’t think that was out of bounds. He hadn’t been able to dig up what had changed from what was voted on when the plan was completed to them only funding speed humps. It was almost about implementation. With Drayton Elementary, they had put in a raised crosswalk, and then the school completed the sidewalks. Councilwoman Jackson said that if citizens were getting involved and putting up the “Drive like your kids live here” signs, then maybe they should have a citizen task force that could meet with the neighborhoods. Councilmember Moody said he knew they used to have about $25,000 in that account and then they doubled it. Now, he was hearing it was up to $60,000, but even when it was at $25,000, they had an inventory of three years. Chairman Seekings said that the City was growing. Mr. Somerville said they were fulfilling what they could, but the requirement was the petition and sometimes they would find that they met the speed and volume requirement, but they were lacking on the petition, so they kept those on hold. Councilmember Wagner stated that the big deal was connectivity when developments came through planning. The older subdivisions were getting hammered with traffic. He had read something that said ‘a well-planned neighborhood needed no speed humps’, so they might need to look at it in the beginning during development. Mayor Tecklenburg said it was a two-edge sword. They had so many people complain about traffic and being held up, but then they sped. There were 13 speed humps on either side of his daughter’s house in Shadowmoss. He wasn’t sure where they could put another speed hump. There might be other options. Having no further business, the Committee adjourned at 3:12 p.m. Bethany Whitaker Council Secretary