For many years, residents of the neighborhood located in the area bounded by State College Boulevard, Lambert Road and Cliffwood Avenue have voiced concerns about speeding and cut-thru traffic through the neighborhood, in particular on Cliffwood Avenue.
In November 2018, the Traffic Committee approved a pilot program of temporary traffic diverters at the intersections of Cliffwood & State College and Cashew & Lambert to collect data while restricting thru traffic at those intersections. After neighboring communities expressed concern with the temporary diverters, the Traffic Committee terminated the pilot program and the diverters were removed. At the March 19, 2019 City Council Meeting, City Council approved the formation of a Working Group to participate in a comprehensive traffic study to include the original neighborhood south of State College, as well as the neighborhoods north of State College and west of Cliffwood Avenue. The main objective of the Working Group was to identify the key traffic issues and provide feedback on proposed traffic solutions that would benefit the entire area.
At the January 21, 2020 City Council Meeting, City Council approved a Professional Services Agreement with the City Traffic Engineer’s consulting firm, Linscott, Law and Greenspan, to prepare a Comprehensive Neighborhood Traffic Calming Study. The study effort was to include support to the Working Group, investigation of traffic concerns, the development of traffic calming recommendations and an implementation plan for consideration of the Traffic Committee and City Council.
Staff and the City Traffic Engineer met with the Working Group four times over the past year and a half. With the feedback and comments from the Working Group, the City Traffic Engineer developed 13 Traffic Recommendations to address the concerns raised from the group. Concerns raised by the group primarily included cut-through traffic, speed and large trucks using Cliffwood. The group also stated safety concerns on State College Boulevard and on Balsa due to speeding.
The following are the proposed 13 Traffic Recommendations. Graphic representations are included in the attached powerpoint presentation and as part of the Draft attached report.
Recommendation #1: Cliffwood Avenue & Lambert Road
Prohibition of the northbound through movement from the commercial area south of Lambert into the residential neighborhood to the north through signage, markings, and traffic signal modifications. This change would not create a physical barrier to northbound through traffic at Cliffwood, but it should significantly reduce commute and commercial traffic using Cliffwood as a cut-thru from Lambert to State College.
Recommendation #2: Cliffwood Avenue between Lambert Road & State College Boulevard
Add/replace missing street trees, add one new speed hump, and implement minor signage and marking changes. The addition of a speed hump in between the two existing speed humps could improve the effectiveness of the speed humps and discourage commercial and through traffic. The addition of nine new trees will narrow the visual appearance of the street, creating a more neighborhood character of the street.
Recommendation #3: Cliffwood Avenue & State College Boulevard
Install an eastbound “no right-turn” prohibition effective between the hours of 7am and 10am and modernize the traffic signal to provide a “speed control” function during off-peak hours along State College. The right-turn turn prohibition is being recommended to address motorists using Cliffwood to circulate through the neighborhood in the morning with no destination in the neighborhood. The recommended “speed control” operation is designed to reduce traffic speeds on State College by introducing a red light to slow traffic traveling over the speed limit. Traffic traveling in accordance with the speed limit on State College would be rewarded with a green light without having to stop.
Recommendation #4: Cashew Avenue & Lambert Road
Remove the eastbound left-turn pocket, replace it with a two-way left turn lane, and install an eastbound no left-turn prohibition effective between the hours of 7am and 10am to address motorists using the Cashew to Balsa path between Lambert and State College as a cut-through.
Recommendation #5: Balsa Avenue & State College Boulevard
Upgrade the traffic signal at this intersection to provide an eastbound protected left-turn arrow to address an elevated collision rate. It was also recommended to modernize the traffic signal to provide the same “speed control” operation off-peak as recommended at State College and Cliffwood, so that the two signals can work together in calming traffic speeds along State College.
Recommendation #6: Balsa Avenue between State College Boulevard & Carmichael Drive
Add two speed humps with associated signs and markings along Balsa between State College and Carmichael Drive to slow traffic speeds.
Recommendation #7: Buttonwood Drive & Cliffwood Avenue
Complete the installation of the yellow centerline markings along Buttonwood in the vicinity of Cliffwood Avenue. This subtle change in pavement markings helps keep motorists on the right side of the road and helps to prevent cutting corners at higher speeds.
Recommendation #8: Apricot Avenue & Buttonwood Drive
Add all-way stop control and a second school crosswalk at this three-legged intersection. To support this change in traffic controls, the slow school crossing pavement markings would be eliminated, yellow centerlines extended, and limit lines installed.
Recommendation #9: Apricot Avenue & Laguna Canyon Way
Add a third yellow school crosswalk along the southern leg of the intersection, add white limit lines for the north and south legs, and upgrade all curb ramps to current standards. This recommendation is designed to increase the visibility of the crossings and stop controls and to add a little more order to the operation of the intersection.
Recommendations #10 – #13: New Pedestrian Crosswalks at Various Locations
The purpose of the proposed new crosswalks is to heighten motorist’s awareness when traveling on Lambert and on State College, so that they anticipate to encounter pedestrians crossing the side streets. New crosswalks will be added at the following locations:
- North leg of Lambert & Country Lane
- South leg of State College & Live Oak Street
- South leg of State College & Park Lane
- North leg of State College & Citrus Place
These recommendations were presented to the Working Group on June 29, 2020. There was general consensus to move forward with the traffic improvements on State College, Balsa, Buttonwood, and Apricot within the neighborhood north of State College. However, there was no general consensus in regards to the traffic issues and possible recommendations for the neighborhood south of State College.
On September 9, 2020, a virtual community meeting was held to provide the community with an update on the study effort and to present the proposed 13 Traffic Recommendations. The meeting had 41 participants, not including City staff panelist. Based on input received in writing and at the community meeting, an additional recommendation, labeled #2A, was developed to discourage truck traffic on Cliffwood Avenue. This new recommendation #2A is outlined below:
Recommendation #2A: Cliffwood Avenue Truck Control Measure
Additional Recommendation 2A, this measure would construct small 4-foot wide raised medians narrowing the entry onto Cliffwood at both Lambert and at State College. The medians would be designed to discourage truck traffic; however, by adding red zones adjacent to the medians to eliminate some parking, there would be sufficient width at both neighborhood entry points to accommodate emergency vehicles.
In an effort to solicit additional community input, staff mailed a survey to residents within the entire study area in October 2020 to gauge their level of support for the 13 original recommendations and recommendation #2A. Staff received over 128 responses. The survey resulted in the community being in favor of Traffic Recommendations #5 through #13. Traffic Recommendations #2A, #3 and #4 did not receive clear support. The detailed survey results are included in the appendices to the attached report and are also summarized in the attache powerpoint presentation.
At the November 19, 2020 Traffic Committee Meeting, staff presented a summary of the Working Group’s findings, Community survey results, and the proposed action plan. The Traffic Committee voted and recommended approval on all but Traffic Recommendations #2, #2A, #3 and #4, which affect the area south of State College the most. The Traffic Committee requested for an additional survey to the residents immediately adjacent to those proposed recommendations. The Traffic Committee also emphasized that Recommendation #5 be added to the Capital Improvement Program as soon as possible given its immediate need.
At the January 21, 2021 Traffic Committee Meeting, staff presented the results of the re-survey. The re-survey showed that the residents south of State College supported Traffic Recommendations #2, #3 and #4 and that #2A had mixed results. After discussion, the Traffic Committee recommended approval of Traffic Recommendations #2 and #3, approval of #4 modifying the scope to exclude the part-time left turn prohibition, and the discontinuation of #2A with an option to revisit this later as needed. The re-survey details are attached.
Based on the technical review and analysis, feedback from the Working Group, and community survey results, a four-phase Traffic Calming Action Plan has been developed for consideration by the Traffic Committee and the City Council. The phasing of the various plan components is primarily based on possible implementation strategies designed to take advantage of grants and other cost savings measures.
The phasing of the improvements is proposed as follows:
PHASE 1
| Recommendation # |
Location |
Scope |
Cost |
| 3 |
Cliffwood & State College |
New Right Turn Restriction Sign |
$500 |
| 4 |
Cashew at Lambert |
Restripe Median to Convert to a Two-Way Left Turn Lane with no Limited Time Turn Restrictions |
$1,000 |
| 7 |
Buttonwood Drive |
New Yellow Centerline |
$500 |
| 8 |
Apricot & Buttonwood |
New Intersection Striping & Signage |
$4,500 |
| 10 |
Lambert & Country Lane |
New Crosswalk |
$2,500 |
| 11 |
State College & Live Oak |
New Crosswalk |
$500 |
| 12 |
State College & Park Lane |
New Crosswalk |
$500 |
| 13 |
State College & Citrus |
New Crosswalk |
$500 |
| |
|
TOTAL |
$10,500 |
PHASE 2
| Recommendation # |
Location |
Scope |
Cost |
| 2 |
Cliffwood Avenue
(Lambert to State College) |
New Street Trees, Additional Speed Humps, New Striping and Signage |
$12,000 |
| 6 |
Balsa Avenue (State College and Carmichael Dr) |
New Speed Humps, New Striping and Signage |
$10,000 |
| 9 |
Apricot & Laguna Canyon |
New ADA Ramps, New Striping and Signage |
$25,000 |
| |
|
TOTAL |
$47,000 |
PHASE 3
| Recommendation # |
Location |
Scope |
Cost |
| 1 |
Cliffwood & Lambert |
Prohibit NB Thru, Signal Modification, New Striping and Signage |
$15,000-$50,000* |
| |
|
TOTAL |
$15,000-$50,000* |
| *Cost based on grant approval. Lower cost is with grant, higher cost is without grant. |
PHASE 4
| Recommendation # |
Location |
Scope |
Cost |
| 3 |
Cliffwood & State College |
Signal Modification "Speed Control" |
$25,000-$75,000* |
| 5 |
Balsa & State College |
Add EB Protected Left and "Speed Control" |
$55,000-$125,000* |
| TOTAL |
$80,000-$200,000* |
| *Cost based on grant approval, lower cost is with grant, higher cost is without grant |
For reference purposes, attached is the Draft Traffic Calming Report for the Cliffwood Neighborhood which provides all of the backup information for the numerous meetings, survey results and project phasing. |
In the approved 2020-21 CIP Budget, CIP #7219 Traffic Calming Improvements and CIP #7313 City Sidewalk Replacement Program have sufficient Gas Tax funds to cover the cost of $57,500 for Phases 1 and 2. The improvements can be constructed and installed within three months after approval.
Phase 3 can be funded in two ways, with or without a grant. If the City was awarded a grant, it would only cost $15,000 for the City to pay the local match requirement. If the City was not awarded a grant, the full cost to construct the signal modifications would be $50,000. Fortunately, the City was recently awarded an OCTA grant for the Lambert Road Traffic Signal Synchronization Program (TSSP) to improve and synchronize the signals along Lambert Road within city limits. The grant has a local match requirement of approximately $285,000 which will come from Traffic Impact Fees. At the next quarterly budget adjustment, staff will add this Lambert TSSP project into the FY20-21 Capital Improvement Program. If Phase 3 is approved, the scope of work will be added to the Lambert Road TSSP project for an additional $15,000 of Traffic Impact Fees. The design and construction could start as early as April 2021 and completed by Winter 2021.
Phase 4 can be funded through a grant for a local match cost of $80,000 or without a grant of $200,000 for the full cost. Staff intends to submit a grant application in the next OCTA grant call in October 2021 for the projects in Phase 4 to supplement local funds. In the meantime, the project will be added to the upcoming CIP to assure that it will be programmed for design and construction as soon as possible. |