AgdaPkt 2003-03-24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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& 2 A-) REPORT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the City Manager March 24, 2003 Subject Request for Stop Signs on Fernside Street at Massachusetts Avenue/Woodside Drive Recommendation Adopt a resolution approving and authorizing the installation of stop signs on Fernside Street at its intersection with Massachusetts Avenue/Woodside Drive. Background In July 1998, Council approved reducing the speed limit on Fernside Street near Massachusetts Avenue from 30 miles per hour (mph) to 25 mph. In recent years, staff has received several individual requests for traffic calming measures on Fernside Street. Because Fernside Street has been designated as a primary emergency response route by the Fire Department, physical measures that could affect their response time, such as speed humps, speed tables, chicanes, and closure barriers, are considered inappropriate. Additionally, any changes to this portion of Fernside Street must also be approved by the Town of Woodside, which owns the westerly half of the roadway. To address the traffic speed concern, in March 2002, the City did install special speed control /awareness signs at strategic locations near each end of Fernside Street. However, last year, installation of stop signs on Fernside Street at Massachusetts Avenue was requested. As Massachusetts Avenue and Woodside Drive already have stop signs at this intersection, the proposed stop signs on Fernside Street (where a school pedestrian crosswalk is located) would make the intersection a 4 -way stop. The intersection meets the City of Redwood City's Local Street Stop Sign Warrants, based on traffic volumes. It has an average daily traffic volume between 1,000 and 4,000 vehicles per day on the busier street ( Fernside — 2,800), and over 900 vehicles per day on the less busy street (Massachusetts Avenue/Woodside Drive — 2,000). In addition, the minor street accounts for in excess of 30 percent of the traffic during an 8 -hour period in which traffic on all approaches averages 250 vehicles per hour. Therefore, the volume condition constitutes sufficient reason for concluding that stop controls are warranted. Accident experience at this location was also considered. The accident experience condition of the Local Street Stop Sign Warrants is three (3) accidents of types correctable by stop control within a 12 -month period (or two in 12 months for intersections within 800 feet of a school). Although no accidents were reported at the subject intersection in the three years between 1998 and 2000, two (2) intersection accidents were reported in 2001, and in the first half of 2002, there were three (3) broadside collisions at this location. This level of accident experience also meets the warrant condition supporting installation of a 4- way stop control.