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 11, 2021 8:30 AMF. Simms Continuing Education Center, 620 Simms Ave Lucy 1. Welcome and Introductions The Transportation Safety & Advisory Commission met on August 11, 2021 at 8:30am at the Lucy Simms Continuing Education Center. The meeting was also streamed live on the Public Works Facebook page. Members of the public were also given the opportunity to provide comments on the items discussed by phone or e-mail prior to the meeting. All attendees introduced themselves. Commission members present: William Blessing, Marian Lebherz, Kyle Lawrence, Chance Ebersold, John Scherpereel, Erin Yancey (Public Works), Sgt. Wayne Westfall (Police Department) Advisory members and guests: Jakob zumFelde (Public Works), Tom Hartman (Public Works), Chief Matthew Tobia (Fire Department), Paul Helmuth (Fire Department), Kelly Adams (Public Works) 2. Liberty St reconfiguration between Rock St and Gay St Mr. zumFelde said that the reconfiguration of Liberty St between Rock St and Gay St has been mostly completed. He showed the diagram of the changes, and explained that the crosswalk across Noll Dr will be added at the intersection with Rock St, although it will not be feasible to provide a crosswalk across the railroad tracks and across Liberty St. Mr. zumFelde said that staff have heard concerns from people who bike, as they had previously used this segment of Liberty St to bike northbound. These people who bike have indicated concerns with safety on the alternate City of Harrisonburg Page 1 Printed on 12/1/2021 Transportation Safety & Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final August 11, 2021 Commission routes available to them. He provided a recent count of people who bike through the intersection of Liberty St, Rock St, and Noll Dr. Mr. zumFelde said that there were a few options that staff have discussed to address the concerns that they have heard. The options that he indicated include creation of a contra-flow bike lane on Liberty St, reconfiguration of Gay St to create bike lanes, or consideration of changes to Rock St to improve safety. He then showed a concept for how the contra-flow bike lane could be created on Liberty St, with an indication of having the bike lane be green in color to draw attention to the potential conflicts with vehicles entering and exiting the parking lane. Sgt. Westfall expressed concern about how bicycles would access the bike lane, and he indicated that people biking west on Rock St would not be able to legally turn right onto Liberty St, given the configuration of the intersection with Noll Dr. Sgt. Westfall also expressed concern about the potential conflicts between people biking and people entering or exiting the parking lane. Mr. zumFelde pointed out that there will be a 2-3’ buffer space between the contra-flow bike lane and the vehicle parking spaces. Mr. Helmuth asked whether the bike lane could be located adjacent to the curb, as opposed to between the parking lane and the vehicle lane. Mr. zumFelde asked whether this would be problematic for the Fire Department, given that the parking lanes would be located close together, not allowing for 20’ of space available for stationing a Fire Department apparatus responding to a fire in an adjacent building. Chief Tobia said that that was a good point, but there could be additional evaluation of whether this is a concern at this location. He expressed that he shares Sgt. Westfall’s concerns about the conflicts that are likely to occur between people biking and drivers entering or exiting the parking spaces. Mr. Lawrence said that he has had many discussions with people who bike and are concerned about the changes that were made. The concerns that he has heard are that these changes have left people biking with fewer options, and less safe options, for biking north in this part of the City. He said that he is confident that the contra-flow lane would be safe, in fact it may even be safer than the existing bike lane on the segment, even though he City of Harrisonburg Page 2 Printed on 12/1/2021 Transportation Safety & Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final August 11, 2021 Commission understands that this is counterintuitive. Mr. Hartman provided some background on the changes that were made on Liberty St and why they were made. Mr. Lawrence noted that the bump-outs have been an improvement for pedestrians in the area and that those changes are appreciated. Mr. Hartman added that staff are evaluating whether right turn truck restrictions can be added to keep trucks from turning right from Gay St onto Liberty St, as this is now a problematic movement due to the bump-outs. Mr. zumFelde said that staff will continue evaluating the options regarding the concerns that they have heard from people who bike in the area. 3. Virginia Avenue Mr. zumFelde said that staff have heard concerns regarding speeds and challenges turning left onto Virginia Ave, in the corridor of Virginia Ave between Mt. Clinton Pike and the City/County line. He provided speed data that had been recently collected. He listed a number of possibilities to consider that could improve conditions on this corridor, with the suggestion to have a corridor study to further evaluate conditions and determine appropriate improvements. Sgt. Westfall said that he was recently contacted with concerns about the Virginia Ave and Acorn Dr intersection. He said that discussions over the years have noted that there are not many things that draw attention to the change in context from the County into the City. Chief Tobia echoed this concern, and said that almost every other entrance to the City has a traffic signal very close to the City/County line. Ms. Yancey said that while it is unlikely that any intersections on this corridor would warrant a traffic signal, she thinks an aesthetically appealing entrance treatment may help, although there has been no coordinated effort to create such treatments in the City. There was some discussion of the benefits and challenges associated with installation of a school zone along Virginia Ave. Chief Tobia asked if there was a location where a signal might be warranted. Ms. Yancey and Mr. Hartman said that signals are a significant cost and are unlikely to be warranted at any of these intersections as this time. However, Mr. Hartman noted that increased development in the north side of the City may increase the need for improvements such as a traffic signal. Mr. City of Harrisonburg Page 3 Printed on 12/1/2021 Transportation Safety & Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final August 11, 2021 Commission Hartman said that he desires to see a corridor study completed to evaluate not only the need for a signal but other alternatives such as creation of planted medians to encourage slower speeds and improve safety on the corridor. Mr. Lawrence indicated that anything that would change the whole corridor would be particularly beneficial. 4. Liberty St & Acorn Dr Intersection Mr. zumFelde provided context and explained that staff have heard concerns about delay and sight distance at the intersection of Acorn Dr and Liberty St. He noted that this intersection has had around 30 crashes between 2014 and mid-2021, which appears relatively high compared to other nearby intersections. He said that staff will conduct turning movement counts and evaluate potential stop sign changes and whether a traffic signal is warranted. 5. Updates on Previous Agenda Items Sgt. Westfall said that he has recently heard that installation of “No Thru Traffic” signs leads to changes to Google Maps and Waze that can reduce cut-through in neighborhoods such as Portland East. Mr. Hartman and Ms. Yancey noted that there has been some uncertainty about the appropriateness of installing “No Thru Traffic” signs, and that staff will revisit this possibility. Mr. Hartman provided an update on the neighborhood roundabouts that were installed in the Sunset Heights neighborhood. He said that he thinks they are working well, although there have been instances of people not driving through the intersections correctly, which is to be expected as people get used to the new configuration. Mr. Hartman said that meetings will continue to be held at the Lucy Simms Center for the foreseeable future. Mr. zumFelde and Mr. Hartman said that live streaming and recording of the meetings will continue. Adjournment City of Harrisonburg Page 4 Printed on 12/1/2021