Traffic Commission Meeting

URBANA TRAFFIC COMMISSION 1 2 3 DATE: Tuesday, January 3, 2019 4 TIME: 4:00 P.M. 5 PLACE: Urbana Public Works Department, 706 South Glover Avenue 6 7 APPROVED MINUTES 8 9 MEMBERS PRESENT: 10 11 Eric Jakobsson, City Council Member, Ward 2, Chair 12 Craig Shonkwiler, Interim Co-City Engineer 13 Bob Fitzgerald, Interim Deputy Chief 14 15 MEMBERS ABSENT: 16 17 None 18 19 OTHERS PRESENT: 20 21 Shannon Beranek, Civil Engineer, City of Urbana 22 John Collins, Operations Manager, City of Urbana 23 Stacey DeLorenzo, University of Illinois, Facilities and Services 24 Annie Adams, 1004 South Wabash Avenue 25 Moseka Mokonzi, 1302 South Abercorn Street 26 27 The meeting began at 4:00 p.m. 28 29 Approval of Minutes: 30 31 Bob Fitzgerald moved to approve the minutes of the December 4, 2018 meeting. Craig Shonkwiler 32 seconded the motion. The Commission voted 3-0 to approve the minutes of the December meeting. 33 34 Additions to the agenda: 35 36 There were no additions to the agenda. 37 38 Public Input 39 40 Those wishing to provide input did so as items were discussed. Approved April 3, 2019  Traffic Commission Minutes January 2019 Page 2 1 Unfinished Business 2 3 There was no unfinished business. 4 5 New Business 6 7 Item #1- Discussion of traffic control at 505 South Mathews Avenue. 8 9 Shannon Beranek noted deficiencies observed by staff at 505 South Mathews Avenue. Specifically, Ms. 10 Beranek stated that the visibility and pavement markings at the location were poor. She elaborated 11 stating that the stop bar, temporary signage and bicycle lane were difficult for southbound traffic to see. 12 Based upon staff observations and budget limitations, Ms. Beranek recommended the elimination of 13 the bicycle crossing and suggested expanding the current pedestrian crosswalk to accommodate 14 bicyclists within the pedestrian crosswalk. She said that the bicycle crossing to the south was scheduled 15 for improvements as part of the Urbana Bicycle Master Plan so bicyclists would have adequate areas for 16 crossing Mathews Avenue. Another suggestion presented by Ms. Beranek was the painting of 17 bumpouts on Mathews Avenue to increase visibility for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists as they 18 approach the crossing. Lastly, Ms. Beranek recommended relocating a parking stall to provide more 19 visibility for all users. She said that by moving the stall, an additional space could be added. 20 21 Annie Adams asked if permit parking was a consideration to reduce the number of trips on the streets. 22 23 Mr. Shonkwiler said that the City had jurisdiction over Mathews Avenue. He explained that each stall 24 provided approximately $2,000 annual revenue for the City. He added that the revenue generated from 25 meters on Mathews Avenue supported the entire parking system for the City. He mentioned that the 26 University Transportation Master Plan reflected the University’s interest in using Mathews Avenue as 27 an automated transit corridor in the future. 28 29 Stacey DeLorenzo agreed that the on-street parking was too valuable to restrict. She said that the 30 concept for a transit corridor on Mathews Avenue was dropped as a viable option in subsequent 31 versions of the transportation plan. 32 33 Mr. Shonkwiler stated that the issue on Mathews Avenue was a legitimate concern and he thanked Ms. 34 Adams for bringing the concern to the attention of City staff. He said that staff found a low-cost 35 solution to improve and enhance the safety of the crossing. 36 37 Ms. DeLorenzo asked if motorists might start using the crosswalk area as a waiting area for people. 38 39 Mr. Shonkwiler said that if a situation occurred where vehicles were parking at the location of the 40 crosswalk, parking restrictions could be considered. 41 42 Ms. DeLorenzo said that University of Illinois’ service vehicles parked in that area when working in 43 areas near Mathews Avenue since parking spaces were difficult to find. She asked if the taper in the 44 design for the bumpout could be eliminated to create a larger crosswalk area since that area was 45 frequently used as a parking area for Facilities and Services staff working in that area. She added that 46 the U of I was planning to update the jurisdictional matrix for infrastructure maintenance once the Approved April 3, 2019  Traffic Commission Minutes January 2019 Page 3 1 major projects were completed. She asked if the City of Urbana and the University of Illinois could 2 work on a project to improve the corridor for all users after other major projects within the campus 3 were completed. 4 5 Mr. Shonkwiler asked Ms. DeLorenzo if implementing the improvement on Mathews Avenue in the 6 spring would be acceptable. 7 8 Ms. DeLorenzo stated that she did not see any problem with the improvements to the crossing. 9 10 Mr. Shonkwiler asked Assistant Chief Fitzgerald if the Police Department could issue tickets to 11 motorists who parked in the crosswalk. 12 13 Assistant Chief Fitzgerald said that tickets could be issued if the crosswalk was painted in yellow. 14 15 Mr. Shonkwiler said that they would look into how to mark the crosswalk since it is illegal to park in a 16 crosswalk. 17 18 Eric Jakobsson asked how many parking spaces would be lost if the crosswalk was increased in width. 19 20 Mr. Shonkwiler said that there would be no loss of parking spaces. He said that one parking stall would 21 be removed on the west side and an additional parking stall would be added to the east side. 22 23 Ms. Beranek stated that there were no recorded crashes at the location. 24 25 Mr. Shonkwiler explained that the design of the crosswalk would give the illusion of the street 26 narrowing and possibly slow vehicles travelling on Mathews Avenue. 27 28 Chair Jakobsson said that slowing motorists would be sufficient to reduce speeds without actually 29 decreasing the speed limit. 30 31 Craig Shonkwiler moved to approve the installation of improvements recommended by Ms. Beranek 32 with modifications to increase the area of the crosswalk. 33 34 John Collins clarified that the City would construct the midblock crosswalk and the University would 35 maintain the crosswalk. 36 37 Ms. DeLorenzo said that she would add the location to the maintenance list, but the update of the 38 maintenance matrix would not occur until the MCORE project was completed. 39 40 Mr. Shonkwiler stated that the City would be responsible for the design and installation of the 41 crosswalk and then turn over maintenance responsibilities to the University of Illinois. 42 43 Ms. DeLorenzo agreed that the maintenance responsibilities for the crosswalk would be added to the 44 University’s maintenance list. 45 46 Assistant Chief Fitzgerald seconded the motion. Approved April 3, 2019  Traffic Commission Minutes January 2019 Page 4 1 2 The motion passed 3-0. 3 4 A work order will be prepared to request the installation of the crosswalk. 5 6 Item #2- Discussion of parking restrictions at Abercorn Street and Rainbow View. 7 8 Ms. Beranek explained that a concern was submitted by a resident about vehicles parking along the east 9 and north sides of the curve connecting Abercorn Street and Rainbow View. She stated that even 10 though the speed limit was 30 miles per hour, the on-street parking and curve within the Savannah 11 Green subdivision would not permit one to drive safely at that speed. She said that during her 12 observations, she noticed one vehicle parked along the curve, but she added that most people did not 13 park in the curve. She mentioned that a fence located at 1205 South Abercorn Street limited visibility 14 for eastbound traffic as it approached the curve. She reported the occurrence of one crash within the 15 last six years. The crash was the result of the motorist’s foot sticking on the accelerator and not the 16 result of vehicles parking on the curve. Ms. Beranek demonstrated an example of the visibility 17 restrictions for motorists as they drove around parked vehicles on the curve. She said that the option 18 of reducing the speed was considered, but the restriction of parking along the east and north sides of 19 the curve would be the better solution to increase safety. 20 21 Mr. Collins mentioned that there were not many residents living in the area next to the curve. He 22 wondered if those parking within the curve were visitors. 23 24 Mr. Shonkwiler said the adjacent area was a drainage area. He expressed concern that as motorists 25 travel north approaching the curve, the motorists would drive into the lane for the opposing traffic and 26 be unseen by those approaching from the north. 27 28 Moseka Mokonzi said that as many as three cars park along the curve. She added that she lived near 29 the curve and had parked there, but if parking were to be restricted, she would park elsewhere. 30 31 Assistant Chief Fitzgerald moved to restrict parking along the east and north sides of the curve on 32 Abercorn Street and Rainbow View. 33 34 Mr. Shonkwiler seconded the motion. 35 36 The motion was approved 3-0. 37 38 This item will go the Council for consideration. 39 40 41 With no other business at hand, the meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m. 42 43 The next regularly scheduled Traffic Commission meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 44 at 4:00 p.m. at the Urbana Public Works Department, 706 Glover Avenue, second floor conference 45 room. 46 Approved April 3, 2019  Traffic Commission Minutes January 2019 Page 5 1 Respectfully submitted, 2 Barbara Stiehl, Recording Secretary Approved April 3, 2019