Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee

City of Mountain View Minutes Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee Wednesday, June 24, 2020 6:30 PM Video Conference with No Physical Meeting Location This meeting was conducted in accordance with State of California Executive Order N-29-20, dated March 17, 2020. All members of the Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee participated in the meeting by video conference, with no physical meeting location. 1. CALL TO ORDER Greg Unangst called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Staff members present: Transportation Manager Ria Hutabarat Lo, Transportation Planner Aruna Bodduna, Traffic Engineer Tim Cheng, and Director Dawn Cameron. Four members of the public were present. Present 5 - Vice Chair Lada Adamic, Committee Member Kalyanaraman Shankari, Committee Member Valerie Fenwick, Committee Member Theron Tock, and Chair Greg Unangst 3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC Bruce England, from Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning, provided a comment that some bike sensors are not working and requested that the system is looked into. 4. MINUTES APPROVAL 4.1 Approve Meeting Minutes Attachments: B/PAC Minutes 02-26-2020 Approve the minutes from the B/PAC meeting on February 26, 2020. Yes: 5- Vice Chair Adamic, Committee Member Shankari, Committee Member Fenwick, Committee Member Tock, and Chair Unangst 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 6. NEW BUSINESS 6.1 Update on COVID-19 Emergency Response and B/PAC Inputs on Next Steps for Community Resiliency City of Mountain View Page 1 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes June 24, 2020 Committee Attachments: Memo ATT 1 - Response to SVBC letter Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga provided an update on numerous efforts in the City’s response to COVID-19. She highlighted Castro Summer StrEATS, the pedestrian recall phasing, the #TogetherMV donation portal, and noted that members of the public can receive a community briefing by texting mvcovid to 2228. The City is also participating in regional testing, contact tracing, and the Commute-Free Work task force. Finally, the mayor mentioned two potential projects to encourage safe walking and riding including California Street pilot protected bikeway (21-40) and Latham Street bike boulevard treatments. Two members of the public commended the City’s efforts on Castro Street. One noted that it would have been better if resiliency efforts like this had included B/PAC input. Other public comments included a request for more locations be considered for pedestrian recall phasing, and additional bike parking near entry points to Castro Summer StrEATS. Also, a member of the public noted that a teenage bicyclist was recently hit by a motorist at Central/Moffett intersection, and requested that the City consider quick fixes to provide safe access to Downtown from Moffett/Central intersection. Committee members provided the following input for the Resiliency Plan: • Members strongly supported Castro Summer StrEATS. One member suggested the City consider how to deal with bicycles along Castro (such as by providing a bike path down the center, banning riding, or allowing riding only in off-peak dining hours). • Members also strongly support pedestrian recall phasing and requested the City consider more intersection for pedestrian recall or touchless pedestrian buttons. • The committee commented that active transportation projects and programs are important for helping neighbors to know and support each other during a crisis. They also highlighted the importance of active transportation as the economy reopens, when people are uncomfortable taking transit and traffic becomes heavier and faster. Key corridors for active transportation efforts include: California Street, Latham Street, Middlefield Road, and Stevens Creek Trail. • Members suggested that the City consider reducing traffic speeds in neighborhoods as part of the effort to encourage active transportation. • They also suggested that the City consider changing signal timing to shorten cycle length to evening phasing when there is little traffic. • Members noted that they had observed high vehicle speeds and red light running (such as along Middlefield and near Highway 101) and recommended increased speed enforcement. • Members also requested additional bicycle parking. • One member also requested additional safe parking locations. 6.2 Comprehensive Modal Plan Update: Bicycle Level of Traffic Stress and Pedestrian Quality of Service Analysis Attachments: Memo ATT 1 - Mountain View PQOS ATT 2 - Mountain View BLTS Transportation Manager Ria Hutabarat Lo presented information on the Citywide analysis of bicycle level of traffic stress (LTS) and pedestrian quality of service (QOS) as part of the Comprehensive Modal Plan. City of Mountain View Page 2 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes June 24, 2020 Committee Public comments: Bruce England from Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning highlighted the poor pedestrian quality of service in the vicinity of Whisman station as well as concerns with sidewalk obstructions, narrow sidewalks and shade, which were not included in the Citywide analysis. Ron Wolf, a member of the public requested better nomenclature for types of cyclists. He also requested that the City prioritize children’s safety and access to schools and stations. April Webster, a local member of Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, recommended that Bicycle LTS incorporate information on destinations in a similar manner to Pedestrian QOS. Committee comments: Committee members commended the analysis and indicated that findings on bikeable islands and of Stevens Creek Trail reflected their lived experience. One member recommended that the analysis be submitted for the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting. Committee members suggested the following refinements to the analysis or visualizations: • Overlay collisions on PQOS and BLTS maps; • Consider destinations and distance consistently between PQOS and BLTS; • For the BLTS methodology, consider reducing the effect of Class III facilities where treatments are minimal; • For BLTS, limit the total boost attributable to Class IV facilities; • Consider showing conditions along City borders such as San Antonio Road at Central Expressway; • Provide more granular analysis of BLTS such as more stressful merging conditions on arterials near Central Expressway and US 101; • Provide more granular analysis of PQOS such as sidewalk obstructions, narrow sidewalks and a lack of curb cuts (including using accessibility data from the PDD program); • Consider where bikeways (such as Stevens Creek Trail) are experiencing congestion; • Do not dismiss pedestrian collisions Downtown because of exposure; and • Note that interested but concerned cyclists will still cross facilities to different bikeable islands. Members also provided the following corrections: • Terminal Road is missing; • There are missing sidewalks on sections of Polaris, Wright and Gemini Avenues; • There is missing sidewalks on part of Willowgate; • Map 6 does not reflect existing Castro Street Class IV bikeway from Miramonte to El Camino; • Maps 20 and 24 are missing a trail to Shoreline Park from Amphitheater Parkway; • Rock Street paseo to Middlefield is missing from some maps; • Golf course routes should not be shown. Members also recommended prioritizing key destinations like routes to middle schools and high schools as needing high quality, low stress conditions. They also suggested undertaking pilot projects at barriers between islands, and considering how to link AskMV information to this work. 6.3 Draft Fiscal Year 2020-21 Work Plan City of Mountain View Page 3 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes June 24, 2020 Committee Attachments: Memo Public comments: Bruce England commented that B/PAC is invaluable for improving conditions and requested consideration of items listed in his email correspondence. Committee comments: One member requested that B/PAC be provided the opportunity to review the City’s personal delivery device (PDD) program. Two members requested that B/PAC be provided with more opportunities to review specific development projects such as in the San Antonio area. MOTION – Fenwick/Tock– Carried 5-0-0. B/PAC recommends the attached Work Plan with the following changes: • Replace item L, with B/PAC review PMP update (instead of Annual Review of PMP) • Add BPAC to review active transportation implications of pandemic including pedestrian recall phasing or touchless pedestrian push buttons • B/PAC review PDD program. Yes: 5- Vice Chair Adamic, Committee Member Shankari, Committee Member Fenwick, Committee Member Tock, and Chair Unangst 7. COMMITTEE/STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS, UPDATES, REQUESTS, AND COMMITTEE REPORTS 7.1. Staff Comments Staff have received numerous emails since the last meeting. The main topics have related to requests for touchless pedestrian push buttons and closure of Castro Street to motor vehicles. 7.2. Committee Comments VTA BPAC Report: Greg Unangst reported on the May 13 VTA BPAC, which was focused on Measure B. He also served during a very intense 10-day process on the Measure B ped/bike competitive grand program review committee. In total there were 39 applications. Mountain View did very well, with awards for three out of the four submitted projects. El Camino Real ped/bike improvements received the highest score ($4 million), and Bernardo Undercrossing received the highest dollar amount ($18 million). We will also receive $4.8 million for Stevens Creek Trail extension from Heatherstone to Remington, and Sunnyvale was awarded funds to extend the trail from Remington to Fremont. Shankari asked about publishing City GIS data to Open Street Map (OSM), which the City plans to do. She also requested that the City use OSM data to groundtruth GIS data. Valerie Fenwick noted that she had had problems with the AskMV system. She also asked staff to look into an apparently faulty pedestrian button at Middlefield and Farley. City of Mountain View Page 4 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes June 24, 2020 Committee Lada Adamic also had a problem with AskMV when using a mobile device. 8. SET DATE AND TIME FOR NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, August 26, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. 9. CALENDAR 10. ADJOURNMENT Greg Unangst adjourned the meeting at.9:25 p.m. City of Mountain View Page 5