AgdaPkt 2016-11-07 Joint SA PFA - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Page 21 OBJECTIVE 7: Monitor the number of vehicles traveling on alternate routes to determine if drivers are diverting trips from the Farm Hill Boulevard corridor to alternate routes. Why: The purpose of the project was to modify the roadway design to increase safety and improve driver compliance with the speed limit, not to shift vehicles to other routes. Measurement: Traffic volumes were collected on the corridor and on parallel routes to help evaluate whether drivers have shifted driving patterns in response to the pilot project. Locations for data collection were proposed by City staff and then refined by community input during development of the evaluation plan. The two metrics used to assess diversion are average daily traffic volumes (the number of vehicles travelled on a road over 24 hours) and peak hour traffic volumes (the number of vehicles travelled during the busiest hour in the morning and evening). Peak hours typically occur between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM in the morning and between 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM in the afternoon/evening. Each peak hour for the Farm Hill Boulevard/Jefferson Avenue corridor was identified by selecting the hour in which the traffic volumes for the three project count locations were highest. Peak hour volumes for all other streets are reported for the same hour to capture how traffic might have shifted routes. Traffic volumes were collected by traffic data consultants using tube counters installed across each roadway for a period of three midweek days. The reported data is the average of those three days. Outcomes: Average Daily Traffic Volume Table 19 shows the average daily traffic volumes on selected roadways in the study area. For trips to and from I‐280, Edgewood Road and Woodside Road are the closest and most direct alternatives to driving on Farm Hill Boulevard. Traffic volumes along the pilot project corridor increased between May 2015 and May 2016 – ranging from 1 to 11 percent. Traffic on Woodside Road and Edgewood Road also increased, by 12 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Other streets that were identified as potential cut‐through routes saw increases in volume of 15 to 29 percent. The volume increases to all roadways, on the pilot project route and on potential diversion routes, is typical of the increase in traffic volumes observed along I-280. Volumes along I-280 at the SR-92 interchange in both directions, as reported from Caltrans Performance Measurement System (PeMS), showed an annual increase in volumes by approximately 20 percent over the past four years. More specifically, between May 2015 and May 2016, the volumes along I-280 increased by six percent, but it should be noted that between April 2015 and April 2016 the volumes increased by approximately 25 percent. This highlights the increase in volumes in the region, not necessarily due to the changes on Farm Hill Boulevard. 8.A. - Page 32