Transportation Safety & Advisory Commission

City Hall City of Harrisonburg 409 South Main Street Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Meeting Minutes - Final Transportation Safety & Advisory Commission Wednesday, August 12, 2020 8:30 AM virtual 1. Call To Order The Transportation Safety & Advisory Commission met on August 12, 2020 at 8:30am using a GoToMeeting. The meeting was not held in person due to the state of emergency related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Commission members attended by calling in using a phone or joining by audio/video on a computer. Information allowing members of the public to watch the meeting live was provided in the agenda and posted on the City website in the week prior to the meeting. Members of the public were given the opportunity to provide comments on the items discussed by phone or e-mail prior to the meeting. Commission members present: William Blessing, Marian Lebherz, Kyle Lawrence, Chance Ebersold, Erin Yancey (Public Works), Sgt. Wayne Westfall (Police Department) Advisory members and guests: Jakob zumFelde (Public Works), Tom Hartman (Public Works), Paul Helmuth (Fire Department), Bill Yates (JMU) 2. Business 2.a. Safe Route to Schools and Walk Zones Mr. zumFelde indicated that Harrisonburg City Public Schools (HCPS) has begun a collaborative effort - coordinating with Public Works, the Police Department, HDPT, and the Safe Routes to Schools coordinator - to identify zones around City schools where bus transportation will not be provided for children to get to school. The necessity for this is clear, due to significantly reduced capacity on school buses due to physical distancing that is necessary for safety due to Covid-19. Mr. zumFelde provided an overview of the process that is being completed to create these zones and ensure the ability for children within these zones City of Harrisonburg Page 1 Printed on 12/22/2020 Transportation Safety & Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final August 12, 2020 Commission to walk to school safely. He said that the zones would generally extend a maximum of ¼-3/4 miles from each school and would only be implemented where safe infrastructure exists for students to walk. He said that roads with sidewalks as well as most neighborhood roads without sidewalks would be considered safe for inclusion in a walk zone. He said that crossing guards, walking school buses, changes to the pedestrian phase at signalized intersections, and other Safe Routes to Schools efforts will be important for ensuring safety in these zones. Ms. Lebherz asked which schools would not have walk zones. Mr. Hartman said that only Skyline Middle School and Smithland Elementary School do not have any students who can access the school using safe infrastructure. Mr. Hartman indicated that the walk zones will likely be expanded in the future as infrastructure such as the Garbers Church Rd Shared Use Path is built. Mr. zumFelde then provided information about potential infrastructure improvements. He said that a bike/walk space similar to the Federal St improvements would be one option, with a ‘slow street’ being another possibility. Mr. zumFelde showed an initial concept for creation of a bike/walk space on Central Ave south of South Ave. The space would likely have delineators and would be of a similar style to the Federal Street space. Ms. Lebherz raised a concern about crossing South Ave at Central Ave. Sgt. Westfall said that that is a location where a crosswalk will be necessary. He also indicated that many crossing guards will need to be volunteers, given that HPD has trouble finding people to hire as crossing guards. Mr. Blessing and Mr. Ebersold expressed concern about ensuring adequate separation between the bike/ped space and the vehicle lane for safety for people walking and biking. Mr. zumFelde showed an initial concept for Gay St west of Waterman Elementary, which would be a pedestrian space that is created potentially using paint or markings but probably not using delineators. Ms. Lebherz asked if High School students could be crossing guards. Mr. zumFelde said this could be looked into. Mr. Lawrence asked if the Safe Routes to School route maps would be updated to show the school walk zones. Mr. zumFelde indicated that it would make sense to update these maps and include the walk zones. 2.b. Heatwole Road Concerns and Evaluation Mr. zumFelde explained that residents who live along Heatwole Rd have City of Harrisonburg Page 2 Printed on 12/22/2020 Transportation Safety & Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final August 12, 2020 Commission complained about speeding on the road. He said that while this is a narrow road with limited connection to public roads, it does connect to a private road through the Harrisonburg Mennonite Church property. Mr. zumFelde provided traffic counts that were collected on Heatwole Rd, which showed traffic counts just over 100 average daily vehicles, with most of those vehicles going to or from the private road. Mr. zumFelde went through multiple potential actions that could address this issue. One possibility would be for the church to restrict access at their entrance, but the City has no authority to force this closure so it will be up to the church to determine if they desire to do so. A second option would be to lower the speed limit on Heatwole Rd, although staff are concerned about the effectiveness of this option. A third option is to replace the speed humps on the road, which would be relatively expensive, when considering the low number of trips they would address, and may not eliminate the concerns. A final option is to close the segment of Heatwole Rd between Sharon St and Perry St to vehicles. Emergency vehicles and people walking and biking would still be able to use the segment. If the church is not interested in restricting access at their entrance, staff are recommending this option, as it is expected to resolve the concerns with limited negative impacts. Sgt. Westfall asked if any additional efforts could be taken to ensure we aren’t redirecting the cut-through traffic from Heatwole Rd to Emery St. Specifically, he indicated that an additional ‘no through traffic’ sign could be placed at the entrance on High St to try to reduce the traffic cutting through. Ms. Yancey asked if the closure of Heatwole Rd could be completed and then staff and the Commission could determine if any action is necessary as it relates to vehicles using Emery St to cut through the church property. Mr. Helmuth noted that any restrictions at the church entrance would need to be accessible for emergency vehicles. All TSAC members were in favor of moving forward as staff proposed: having a discussion with the church about restricting access at the entrance and if that is not an option, proceeding with the steps to close Heatwole Rd. 2.c. Truck Complaints and Potential Restrictions Ms. Yancey said that staff have received many complaints in recent months about noise related to truck traffic. The residents have requested either ‘no trucks’ or ‘no engine brake’ signs in different places. Ms. Yancey said that staff have developed an initial list of criteria for evaluating where these signs City of Harrisonburg Page 3 Printed on 12/22/2020 Transportation Safety & Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final August 12, 2020 Commission would be installed. She provided a list of those criteria and a proposed process that staff would go through to respond to these complaints consistently. Ms. Lebherz noted that living on Vine St, she is very aware of noise from trucks and she thinks that speeding is part of the problem, with trucks going too fast and then using an engine brake to quickly slow down. Ms. Lebherz asked why a ‘No Trucks (9PM-5AM)’ was removed on Vine St at US-11 a year or two ago. Mr. Hartman and Ms. Yancey said that staff would follow up on this. 2.d. Upcoming City Studies/Plans 2.d.1. Port Republic Road and Bluestone Drive / Hillside Avenue Intersections Mr. Hartman provided information about a study that will be completed regarding a potential bridge for bicycles and pedestrians over Port Republic Rd at Bluestone Dr/Hillside Ave. He indicated that this would remove the crosswalks at the intersection and provide a safe route for people walking and biking through the intersection, to accommodate all users while improving traffic flow through the intersection, as recommended by a corridor study completed in 2019. Mr. Hartman said that it is a feasibility study, and that the first phase will evaluate the impacts to people walking, biking and driving to determine whether it is a project that may be an application for funding in the future. If the benefits appear adequate to justify the bridge, a second phase of the study will be completed with public outreach and preliminary designs. 2.d.2. Downtown Master Plan Mr. Hartman gave an overview of the Downtown Master Plan. He said that it will include a lot of different items that have been discussed or studied in recent years, including the proposal for a park near City Hall, the results of the downtown parking study, and the results of the downtown traffic study, among other things. The City Manager’s office will be leading the effort and will ensure that a wide range of aspects are addressed in the Plan, which will look ahead and plan for what the downtown area could look like over the next 20 years. 2.e. Updates on Previous Agenda Items Mr. zumFelde asked if there were any questions related to the updates that City of Harrisonburg Page 4 Printed on 12/22/2020 Transportation Safety & Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final August 12, 2020 Commission were included in the agenda. There were no questions from the Commission members. 2.e.1. Federal Street Improvements 2.e.2. Port Republic Road at Bradley Drive 2.e.3. Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program Updates 2.e.5. Garbers Church Road Curve 2.e.6 SMART SCALE pre-applications 3. Other Business/Announcements Mr. Ebersold asked about the lane marking changes that were made on Old Furnace Rd. Mr. Hartman said that those changes were necessary to improve safety for people entering and exiting school buses on that segment of the road. 4. Adjournment City of Harrisonburg Page 5 Printed on 12/22/2020