Traffic Commission Meeting

URBANA TRAFFIC COMMISSION Approved February 5, 2020 1 2 3 DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 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 City Engineer 13 Rich Surles, Deputy Chief of Police 14 15 MEMBERS ABSENT: 16 17 None 18 19 OTHERS PRESENT: 20 21 Shannon Beranek, Civil Engineer 22 Myrna Webber 23 Carol Mitten, City Administrator/Interim Public Works Director 24 25 The meeting began at 4:00 p.m. 26 27 Approval of Minutes: 28 Craig Shonkwiler moved to approve the minutes of the August 7, 2019 meeting. Rich Surles seconded 29 the motion. The Commission voted 3-0 to approve the minutes of the October meeting. 30 31 Additions to the agenda: 32 There were no additions to the agenda. 33 34 Public Input 35 Those wishing to provide input did so as items were discussed. 36 37 Unfinished Business 38 There was no unfinished business. 39 40 Chair Jakobsson moved to rearrange the agenda so Item #4 could be heard first since there was a 41 citizen present who wished to speak to the matter. 42 43 Deputy Chief Surles seconded the motion. 44 45 The motion was approved 3-0.  Traffic Commission Minutes October 2019 Page 2 1 New Business 2 3 Item #1- Discussion of traffic control on Cyprus Pointe at Stillwater Landing. 4 Myrna Webber spoke as a community association manager of the Stillwater Homeowners’ Association. 5 Ms. Webber stated that motorists were uncertain about right-of-way when approaching the intersection 6 of Cyprus Pointe and Stillwater Landing. She mentioned that there were no stop signs at the 7 intersection. 8 9 Mr. Shonkwiler mentioned that sometimes the City waited to install traffic control at minor 10 intersections in new subdivisions. He said that when a subdivision was being developed, there were 11 unknown variables that might determine traffic volumes so for low volume intersections, the City waits 12 until patterns were apparent before installing signage. He stated that staff observed the three-way 13 intersection and determined Stillwater Landing was the main road and Cyprus Pointe was the less 14 important road. He added that there had been no reported crashes at the intersection. He explained 15 that the City used the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) to determine the 16 appropriate signage for traffic control. He referred to Section 2B.04 of the manual, which stated that 17 “[a]n intersection of a less important road with a main road where application of the normal right-of- 18 way rule would not be expected to provide reasonable compliance with the law,” would warrant the 19 installation of a stop sign for northbound Cyprus Pointe at Stillwater Landing. 20 21 Mr. Shonkwiler moved to install a stop sign for northbound traffic on Cyprus Pointe at Stillwater 22 Landing. 23 24 Deputy Chief Surles seconded the motion. 25 26 The motion was approved 3-0. 27 28 The item will go to the Committee of the Whole for consideration. Mr. Shonkwiler said that if the 29 Committee of the Whole moved the item on, the recommendation would be heard by the City Council 30 the following week. He added that if City Council approved the ordinance, the signs could be installed 31 before winter. 32 33 Item #2- Discussion of traffic control at Busey Avenue and Main Street. 34 Chair Jakobsson stated that he requested Items #2 and #3 be reviewed by staff and asked that both be 35 discussed together. 36 37 Mr. Shonkwiler explained that the intersection of Busey Avenue and Main Street was located in a 38 predominantly residential neighborhood. He stressed that it was important to adhere to the MUTCD 39 manual to provide uniform expectations for traffic control. He stated that the warrants established in 40 the MUTCD were used for guidance when determining the installation of stop signs and performing 41 speed studies. He described the current traffic control where there were stop signs on Busey Avenue at 42 Main Street. 43 44 Shannon Beranek explained that staff set up Miovision to provide traffic counts and traffic tubes to 45 record traffic speeds at the intersection. Regarding traffic volumes, she reported that the traffic counts 46 supported the current traffic control configuration. She said that the traffic volumes at the intersection  Traffic Commission Minutes October 2019 Page 3 1 of Main Street and Busey Avenue were too low to meet the MUTCD warrant established for traffic 2 volumes. She said that the volume on Main Street did not meet the warrants for the installation of a 3 four-way stop at Main Street and Busey Avenue. She reported that there were three crashes at the 4 intersection, but none of the crashes could have been avoided with the addition of stop signs on Main 5 Street. Ms. Beranek said there were sufficiently large gaps between cars on Main Street to allow traffic 6 on Busey Avenue to cross the street. Regarding traffic speeds, she noted that there were some 7 motorists exceeding the speed limit, but the mean traffic speed was 25 miles per hour, which was below 8 the legal speed limit of 30 miles per hour. She said that warrants could be met by combining the 9 number of pedestrians with the vehicle counts, but the numbers still did not meet warrants for 10 additional stop signs at the intersection. She said that staff also looked at the number of crashes. 11 12 Mr. Shonkwiler reviewed the criteria in the MUTCD that were used to determine when stop signs were 13 to be installed. 1) The intersection met the criteria for the installation of traffic signals. If so, stop signs 14 could be added until the signals were installed. 2) Five or more crashes occurred within a twelve-month 15 period that could have been remedied with the installation of stop signs. 3) The volume on the side 16 street was significant enough that vehicles were unable to cross the major street. He confirmed the 17 results of the study indicating that none of the criteria was met. 18 19 Item #3- Discussion of traffic speeds on Main Street between Lincoln Avenue and Coler 20 Avenue. 21 Mr. Shonkwiler discussed the results of the speed study conducted on Main Street between Lincoln 22 Avenue and Coler Avenue. He explained that traffic tubes were located on Main Street between 23 Lincoln Avenue and Busey Avenue and between Busey Avenue and Coler Avenue to count traffic, 24 classify the types of vehicles and monitor traffic speeds. He said that traffic speeds were higher for 25 westbound traffic than for eastbound traffic. He stated that the speed for the 85th percentile was 32.4 26 miles per hour with 28% of motorists exceeding the speed limit. (He noted that speeding would be a 27 concern if 50% or more of the motorists exceeded the speed limit or the 85th percentile was five or 28 more miles per hour above the posted speed limit.) He clarified that there were no speed limit signs 29 posted at the locations, but that the signage would not slow traffic. He said that if the Commission felt 30 that Strategic Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) detail was needed, he could ask the Police 31 Department to use STEP for enforcement, he did not believe it was needed. 32 33 Deputy Chief Surles commented that some motorists use Main Street to avoid Springfield Avenue and 34 Lincoln Avenue. He suggested asking beat officers to provide additional patrol in the area. He said 35 that the presence of officers could remind motorists that they should travel the posted speeds. 36 37 Chair Jakobsson said that once the Gather development was completed, traffic on Busey Avenue would 38 most likely increase significantly. He asked why a four-way stop was installed at Fairview Avenue and 39 Busey Avenue, but not at Main Street and Busey Avenue. 40 41 Mr. Shonkwiler stated that each intersection was unique. He said that he did not have specific 42 information about the stop sign study for the Fairview Avenue and Busey Avenue intersection. He 43 mentioned that there could have been reasons other than the number of vehicles that determined 44 traffic control at that intersection. He said City Council rarely approved traffic control measures that 45 went against the guidelines of the MUTCD. Mr. Shonkwiler suggested that the speed study be used as 46 a baseline for traffic counts and that the intersection could be revisited after the construction of the  Traffic Commission Minutes October 2019 Page 4 1 Gather development was complete. He said that the current speed study was worthwhile for 2 establishing baseline information. 3 4 Deputy Chief Surles asked Mr. Jakobsson if there was a specific time of day when traffic was speeding. 5 6 Chair Jakobsson said that he did not notice a particular time of day. He said that he did not feel 7 comfortable driving northbound on Busey Avenue to turn onto Main Street so he travelled on 8 Stoughton Street to avoid that intersection. 9 10 Ms. Beranek asked if there was a visibility concern at the intersection of Busey Avenue and Main Street. 11 12 Chair Jakobsson commented that he did not notice a specific time of day when speeding was occurring. 13 When travelling northbound on Busey Avenue, he did not feel that he could adequately see traffic on 14 Main Street to make a left turn. He asked if parking could be moved in a similar manner as was done 15 on Springfield Avenue at Busey Avenue. 16 17 Mr. Shonkwiler explained that parking situation on Springfield Avenue and Busey Avenue was different 18 from at Busey Avenue and Main Street. He said that he would ask Ms. Beranek to check the visibility 19 triangle. 20 21 Craig Shonkwiler moved to take no action regarding traffic control at Busey Avenue and Main Street. 22 23 Rich Surles seconded the motion. 24 25 The motion was approved 3-0. 26 27 Mr. Shonkwiler said that problems with visibility were noticed when many crashes occurred. He 28 mentioned that crashes resulting from visibility issues were not occurring at this location. He requested 29 that Engineering review traffic counts and speeds once the Gather development has been completed. 30 31 Deputy Chief Surles moved to direct beat cars to monitor traffic speeds for westbound traffic on Main 32 Street between Lincoln Avenue and Busey Avenue. He added that the presence of officers might result 33 in a reduction in speeds. 34 35 Mr. Shonkwiler seconded the motion. 36 37 The motion was approved 3-0. 38 39 Item #4- Discussion of traffic speeds on George Huff Drive between Race Street and 40 Colorado Avenue. 41 Mr. Shonkwiler reviewed a request from a resident living on George Huff Drive who was concerned 42 about speeding. He reported that tubes were installed between Race Street and Burlison Drive and 43 Burlison Drive and Vine Street to monitor traffic speeds. In summary, the result of the speed study 44 showed that there was not a speeding problem on George Huff Drive. 45 46 Craig Shonkwiler moved that no action be taken.  Traffic Commission Minutes October 2019 Page 5 1 2 Rich Surles seconded the motion. 3 4 The motion was approved 3-0. 5 6 Adjournment 7 With no other business at hand, the meeting adjourned at 4:24 p.m. 8 9 The next scheduled Traffic Commission meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 6, 2019, at 10 4:00 p.m. at the Urbana Public Works Department, 706 Glover Avenue, second floor conference room. 11 12 Respectfully submitted, 13 Barbara Stiehl, Recording Secretary