5.10. SR 09-07-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Gates Avenue/Freeport Avenue August 30, 2004 Page 2 As you can see from these traffic counts and as I am sure we are all aware, the traffic volumes have continued to grow on east Main Street and Gates Avenue. The one anomaly in the list above of 1995 with the spike up to 7,000 daily trips on Gates Avenue may have been a result of some activities on other parts of the transportation system encouraging motorists to find alternate routes. We have done a visual survey of the residential properties along Gates Avenue and prepared the attached exhibit which shows for each residential property, the approximate number of parking spaces on the property outside of the garage, and also indicates the closest on-street parking available given the three-lane configuration with no parking on Gates Avenue. I have had discussions with Police Chief Jeff Beahen regarding the issue of parking along Gates Avenue. Jeff's statements to me, and I believe he has discussed this with some Councilmembers previously, is that given the collector status and associated traffic volumes on Gates Avenue, Jeff is not in favor of allowing parking and creating what he considers to be an unsafe "choker" two-block segment, regardless of the striping configuration. He went on to indicate that he believes the three-lane striping configuration is a much safer environment in the commercial areas further north, due to the fact that left turns out of the various driveways do not have to contend with two lanes of through-traffic and can actually use the center left turn lane as a place of refuge, if necessary. I have had my traffic engineer re-analyze the options for continuing a three-lane striping configuration but allowing parking on the southern end of Gates Avenue. My traffic engineer's concern is that to eliminate the three-lane configuration coming south on Freeport Avenue prior to the residential area, to go back to a two-lane configuration with parking along the residential properties will likely violate driver's expectations and may lead to an unsafe situation with motorists not sure of how to drive on the combined roadway of Gates Avenue and Freeport Avenue. We also looked at the option of maintaining the three- lane configuration but moving it further to the east or west to allow a parking lane on one side of Gates Avenue. The concern with this option is that in any kind of snow condition or dark, rainy weather where the roadway stripes are difficult or impossible to see, the driver's expectations would be that the striping configuration is centered in the roadway, so there will be times where the motoring public would not know how to drive a non-centered striped roadway. We believe that this could also create an unsafe situation. In conclusion, it is staff's recommendation that the three-lane configuration as is currently striped on Gates Avenue/Freeport Avenue should remain in place. We would further recommend that if the City Council feels that parking along Gates Avenue needs to be restored, the roadway should be re-striped to its old configuration with two lanes at the south end on Gates Avenue with parking, transitioning to a four-lane configuration on Freeport Avenue through the commercial area. I will be in attendance at your September 7, 2004 City Council meeting to answer questions and discuss this issue further. Sincerely, ~~ Terry J. Maurer, P.E. S:\PLANNING\Terry Maurer\08 3004 Gates-Freepolt,doc