HomeMy WebLinkAboutTRA_0908Transportation Department
TO: TRAFFIC REVIEW ADVISORY BOARD
FROM: CHRISTOPHER STRONG, TRANSPORTATION DIRECTOR
DATE: AUGUST 29, 2008
SUBJECT: MEETING NOTICE FOR SEPTEMBER 9, 2008
A meeting of the Traffic Review Advisory Board will be held on Tuesday, September 9,
2008 at 4:00 p.m. in room 404, City Hall.
The following items will be considered:
Approval of Minutes.
New Business
1. A Police Department request for no parking on Ripple Road, both sides, between
Washburn Street and the west city limits. [Current condition: no parking restrictions.]
2. A citizen request for the intersection of Bent Avenue and Wisconsin Street to be
designated as a four-way stop. [Current condition: two-way stop sign control on
Bent Avenue.]
3. A Council member request to remove the stop sign at Algoma Boulevard at its
intersection with Division Street. [Current condition: all-way stop control.]...AND...
a request to remove the stop sign at High Avenue at its intersection with Division
Street. [Current condition: all-way stop control].
Discussion Items
1. Pedestrian-activated flasher
Avenue and Congress Avenue.
at intersection of Arboretum Drive/Summit
Staff Items
1. One-way streets workshop.
2. A review of crash data at the intersection of Jackson Street and Smith
Avenue.
Agenda Items for the Neat Meeting
Adjournment
TRA AGENDA ITEMS 2 SEPTEMBER 2008
TRAFFIC REVIEW ADVISORY BOARD
SEPTEMBER 2008
AGENDA ITEMS
1. A REQUEST FOR NO PARKING ON RIPPLE ROAD, BOTH SIDES,
BETWEEN WASHBURN STREET AND THE WEST CITY LIMITS. (CURRENT
CONDITION: NO PARKING RESTRICTIONS.)
This request is from the Oshkosh Police Department.
This section of Ripple Road is a narrow rural road near the Ford Festival Grounds, which
hosts the annual Country USA music festival. Concert attendees will attempt to park on
Ripple Road during concerts, which could create a safety hazard for vehicles and
pedestrians. The Police Department has used temporary signing in recent years, which
usually gets destroyed during the event. Moreover, additional events at the Ford Festival
Grounds make it more appropriate to have permanent signage.
There are no businesses or residences in the area that rely on on-street parking; therefore,
this request should have no adverse impacts.
I recommend approval of this request.
2. A REQUEST FOR THE INTERSECTION OF BENT AVENUE AND
WISCONSIN STREET TO BE DESIGNATED AS A FOUR-WAY STOP.
(CURRENT CONDITION: TWO-WAY STOP SIGN CONTROL ON BENT
AVENUE.)
This request is from a citizen.
There is concern that vehicles are traveling at high speeds on Wisconsin Street which,
when compounded with concerns over visibility, may introduce some safety challenges.
The following warrants are used when considering all-way stop control:
a) Five or more reported crashes in a 12-month period that are susceptible to correction
by an all-way stop installation.
b) Traffic exceeds 300 vehicles per hour for at least eight (8) hours for the major street
approaches, traffic exceeds 200 vehicles per hour for at least eight (8) hours on the
minor street approaches, and traffic volumes are relatively equal in distribution.
c) Locations with limited ability to see conflicting traffic
TRA AGENDA ITEMS
SEPTEMBER 2008
I examined the crash history of this intersection (see Table 1 for summary statistics). Of
the crashes that occurred in 2006 and 2007, three were cases where a vehicle on Bent
Avenue ignored the stop sign, while the other one involved a driver who assumed that
Wisconsin Street also had a stop sign. None of the crashes indicated any problems with
sight distance at the intersection. My field investigation confirmed that, due in part to
current restrictions on on-street parking, the sight distance is adequate.
Table 1: Crash History at the Intersection of Bent Avenue and Wisconsin Street
Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Number of Crashes 2 3 1 0 1 3
Regarding the traffic volume warrant, both major (Wisconsin Street) and minor (Bent
Avenue) approaches failed to meet the minimum volume requirements for a single hour.
(The highest hourly traffic volumes on Wisconsin Street and Bent Avenue were 175 and
83, respectively.)
Speed data that we collected show that there is a speeding problem at the intersection. We
found that average speeds are about 5-6 mph in excess of the posted speed limit. The 85tH
percentile speed -the speed at which 85 percent of the vehicles travel slower - is about
9-10 mph in excess of the speed limit. However, the City has historically avoided the use
of stop signs for traffic calming purposes, since we believe that this tends to undermine
the respect of stop signs at locations where they are truly needed for safety reasons.
I recommend denial of this request.
3. A REQUEST TO REMOVE THE STOP SIGN AT ALGOMA BOULEVARD
AT ITS INTERSECTION WITH DIVISION STREET. (CURRENT CONDITION:
ALL-WAY STOP CONTROL.)...AND...A REQUEST TO REMOVE THE STOP
SIGN AT HIGH AVENUE AT ITS INTERSECTION WITH DIVISION STREET.
(CURRENT CONDITION: ALL-WAY STOP CONTROL.)
These requests are from a Common Council member.
Each intersection currently operates under all-way stop control. The requests would
convert Algoma Boulevard and High Avenue to through streets across Division Street,
leaving stop sign control on Division Street. This could make some operational sense
since both Algoma Boulevard and High Avenue are designated in the city's
comprehensive plan as principal arterials.
I compared recently collected traffic volume data with the warrants for all-way stop
control provided in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (see discussion item
2). The hourly traffic volumes for each intersection are summarized in Table 2. In both
cases, the major street does not meet the traffic volume warrant. Traffic volumes may
increase in the fall when school is back in session, so this could change. It should be
noted that Algoma Boulevard and High Avenue each operate in one-way flow conditions,
TRA AGENDA ITEMS 4 SEPTEMBER 2008
which may make it easier for vehicles on the minor street (Division Street) to find gaps in
traffic.
Table 2: Summary of Traffic Volumes at Algoma/Division and Division/High
Intersections
Intersection verage ai y
Traffic (ADT)
Volume
AM Peak
Hour
PM Peak
Hour um er o rs
Meeting
Warrant
Algoma/Division
Major Street Algoma Boulevard 3,220 232 247 0
Minor Street Division Street 3,890 294 346 11
Division/High
Major Street High Avenue 3,890 267 290 0
Minor Street Division Street 3,410 251 278 12
There are other warrants that maybe considered in implementing all-way stop control,
such as safety history and sight distance challenges. The recent safety history of both
intersections is good, with an average of one or fewer accidents per year between 2002
and 2007. It is likely that the number and severity of crashes at each location would have
been higher without all-way stop control. Moreover, it should be noted that existing
buildings encroach within the sight triangle at each intersection.
Since the removal of the stop signs could have an adverse effect on safety at these
locations, I recommend denial of this request. If the Board recommends approving either
request, I'd recommend approving both requests to provide consistent operations on this
pair of one-way streets.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
1. PEDESTRIAN-ACTIVATED FLASHER AT INTERSECTION OF
ARBORETUM DRIVE/SUMMIT AVENUE AND CONGRESS AVENUE.
The Department recently implemented amanually-activated pedestrian flasher system for
Arboretum/Summit at its intersection with Congress. This system allows pedestrians and
bicycles who wish to cross Congress Avenue to activate a flashing amber light to
motorists in each direction. This system is intended to remind motorists of the state law
regarding the need to yield to pedestrians and bicyclists crossing a road. This tool has
been used on some higher-volume crosswalks elsewhere in the City. This particular
location is ahigh-volume crossing because it is part of the Wiouwash Trail.
I am interested in receiving feedback from the board about the system's effectiveness and
whether potential improvements may be needed.
TRA AGENDA ITEMS
STAFF ITEMS
1. ONE-WAY STREETS WORKSHOP
SEPTEMBER 2008
I was invited to give a workshop presentation on one-way streets at the August 26, 2008
council meeting. I have provided a copy of my PowerPoint slides, and plan to discuss the
council's instructions in this area.
2. A REVIEW OF CRASH DATA AT THE INTERSECTION OF JACKSON
STREET AND SMITH AVENUE.
This request is from a Common Council member.
The Common Council recently approved a design concept for Jackson Street north of
Murdock Avenue which will include raised medians. The analysis provided for the
council by city staff included a summary of crash statistics in the corridor (see Table 3).
It was noted that the intersection of Jackson Street and Smith Avenue was the location
with the highest frequency of accidents in the corridor. The Department was asked to
investigate crashes at this intersection to identify potential safety improvements.
Table 3: Crash History on Jackson Street, from Gruenwald to Bacon Avenues
Location Type 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total
Jackson, between Murdock &Gruenwald Mid-block 2 3 2 3 1 1 12
Jackson &Gruenwald Intersection 1 1 1 3 1 1 8
Jackson, between Gruenwald & Viola Mid-block 0 2 0 0 0 1 3
Jackson & Viola Intersection 0 1 0 1 0 2 4
Jackson, between Viola & Linwood Mid-block 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Jackson & Linwood Intersection 0 0 1 1 1 0 3
Jackson, between Linwood & Allen Mid-block 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Jackson & Allen Intersection 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jackson, between Allen & Smith Mid-block 2 2 4 2 3 1 14
Jackson & Smith Intersection 6 6 4 7 7 4 34
Jackson, between Smith & Bacon Mid-block 1 3 0 1 3 2 10
Jackson & Bacon Intersection 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jackson, north of Bacon Mid-block 2 0 0 2 2 0 6
My analysis focused on crash reports from 2005-07. In general, I did not see any
particular trend that could be easily remedied through engineering solutions. There were
numerous rear-end crashes near the intersection. Some of these crashes were due to the
trailing vehicle failing to observe the red signal, while others were related to an unseen
lead vehicle that was stopped while turning into a driveway. Three accidents were caused
by vehicles driving through a red light, while three others involved the failure of turning
vehicles to yield to oncoming traffic. One accident involved a struck bicyclist.
For the reference of board members, the city's preferred design alternative, as submitted
to the Wisconsin State Department of Transportation, is shown in the following two
pages. I believe that the installation of the medians will help to improve safety in and
near this intersection.
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