SUBJECT: Fairwood Neighborhood Traffic Calming – Information Only

REPORT IN BRIEF

Traffic in the Fairwood area of Sunnyvale has been raised as a community issue for many years.  Most recently, a Fairwood Neighborhood Traffic Study was considered by Council at its May 21, 2002 meeting (RTC 02-184 Attachment A).  At that time the Council took action to direct staff to fully fund a new roadway connection and traffic signal at Lawrence Expressway and Wildwood Avenue.  This project was subsequently removed from the City’s capital budget during FY 2003/2004 budget deliberations as one means of addressing a budget shortfall. At the August 26, 2003 City Council meeting, the City Council approved a motion to place the Fairwood Neighborhood Traffic Study on a future Council agenda for reconsideration. On September 16, 2003, Council directed that this issue be re-opened for consideration of traffic calming in the neighborhood. 

Staff has conducted a neighborhood outreach effort and examined traffic data in an effort to identify “interim” traffic calming improvements in the area that are warranted and have significant community support.  These improvements would precede a Lawrence/Wildwood road realignment and traffic signal project.  Staff has also coordinated with the City of Santa Clara and County of Santa Clara on several actions to address traffic issues, and pursued priority programming for outside funding for the Lawrence/Wildwood realignment project. At this time, staff is recommending implementation of Phase I traffic calming measures on Blazingwood Drive as an additional interim measure to address documented traffic problems in the neighborhood.

BACKGROUND

The 2002 Fairwood Neighborhood Traffic Study comprehensively examined traffic circulation in the neighborhood bounded by Lawrence Expressway, Highway 101, the Adobe Wells Mobile Home Park, and, across Calabazas Creek, the City of Santa Clara.  This neighborhood has been the subject of concerns about non-neighborhood cut-through traffic for many years.  The Fairwood Study quantified the nature of traffic issues using the City’s traffic calming criteria as well as other traffic operations standards, such as intersection level of service and average collision rates. 

The perceived issues are that Fairwood area streets and intersections are subject to non-neighborhood oriented traffic using Wildwood Avenue to access commercial uses in the City of Santa Clara.  The Fairwood Neighborhood Traffic Study quantified that non-neighborhood traffic uses one street, Blazingwood Drive, at levels greater than considered suitable by the City’s traffic calming criteria.  The Study also found that non-neighborhood traffic contributes to higher than average collision rates at the Blazingwood/Sandia intersection, and partially contributes to over-saturation of the northbound Lawrence Expressway/Lakehaven-Sandia left turn movement.

As early as 1983, the City considered a re-alignment of Wildwood Avenue and construction of a new traffic signal at Lawrence Expressway and Wildwood Avenue as a means to address neighborhood traffic issues.  A traffic signal would improve access to Wildwood Avenue by allowing westbound Wildwood traffic to access southbound Lawrence Expressway, and southbound Lawrence Expressway movements to reach eastbound Wildwood Avenue. 

Up until the recent Fairwood Study, supporting studies for the traffic signal were based on traffic projections and focused on Lawrence Expressway operations.  The Fairwood Study focused on quantifying the nature of actual traffic issues, and examining the effects of a set of solutions that addressed perceived as well as actual traffic problems.  The Study concluded that a traffic signal would provide partial relief to cut through traffic problems on Blazingwood Avenue and the turn lane capacity problem at Lawrence Expressway/Lakehaven-Sandia.  Cost of the project is estimated to be $3.6 million.  The study also explored controlled access on Wildwood Avenue at the City limits at a cost of $50,000 to $350,000, and implementation of “hard” traffic calming measures on Blazingwood Avenue and other neighborhood streets at a cost of $100,000 to $350,000.  These solutions also provided differing measures of relief.  Other less effective measures were also explored

In May 2002, the City Council acted to support roadway realignment and traffic signal construction. However, in June 2003, as a result of the unprecedented budget crisis which has affected all City operations, the Council reconsidered capital project priorities.  Only projects with critical life safety, infrastructure maintenance or other mandated purposes, or earmarked outside funding were retained in the FY 2003/2004 Ten Year Capital Project Budget.  The Lawrence/Wildwood project was removed from the capital budget. However, the project was included in the County of Santa Clara’s long range plan for the expressway system at the behest of the City, and remains in that Plan as a long range priority.  

The following document contains policy direction on this issue:

Land Use and Transportation Element N1.5, Support a roadway system that protects internal residential areas from City-wide and regional traffic.

Land Use and Transportation Element C3.7: Pursue local, state and federal transportation funding sources to finance City transportation capital improvement projects consistent with City priorities.  

DISCUSSION

At Council’s direction, staff has conducted a neighborhood outreach effort to identify feasible and effective traffic calming improvements in the Fairwood area. As mentioned previously, a range of improvement alternatives were explored in the Fairwood Study. While most of the technical information and some neighborhood outreach on traffic calming was done as part of the 2002 Fairwood Study, formal consensus building and polling of the affected neighborhood in the context of evaluating traffic calming measures was not part of the scope of that project.  Staff has now completed this effort.

Four public meetings were held to gather input on traffic measures of interest to residents, and to present detailed alternatives.  Meeting attendance was generally poor despite coordination with the Lakewood Village Neighborhood Association, extensive mailings, and door to door outreach on Blazingwood Drive.  At this time, staff concludes that a specific set of Phase I traffic calming measures on Blazingwood Drive are the most effective means to address traffic issues in the interim before a Lawrence/Wildwood project is constructed.  Staff did not find strong neighborhood support or consensus for any “hard construction” calming alternatives such as speed humps, road diversions, or controlled access.  

Staff will move ahead with implementation of traffic calming on Blazingwood Drive according to the attached plan (Attachment B.)  Blazingwood Drive is the one location identified in the neighborhood with traffic conditions that exceed City standards for traffic calming.  The plan addresses observed conditions and resident concerns regarding excessive non-neighborhood traffic, high speeds, and truck traffic.  The plan includes raised markers at intersections, high visibility crosswalks, signs, and shoulder striping.  This work can be accomplished within existing operating budgets. 

Staff has pursued other actions in addition to development of the proposed traffic calming plan.  Staff worked with the City of Santa Clara to implement a signing and striping plan in the Mercado Santa Clara area to direct drivers to use Great America Parkway to exit the facility.  This included the construction of a “U-turn” pocket at Mission College Drive.  Staff also worked with the County of Santa Clara to review side street traffic controls at Lawrence Expressway intersections that resulted in upgrading Yield control to Stop control at Lawrence/Bridgewood, and placement of speed limit signage at Lawrence/Sandia.  The County has also replaced the HOV facility on Lawrence Expressway with mixed-flow lanes, which improves the capacity at the Lawrence/Sandia intersection and helps reduce turn lane back ups that are perceived to be caused by non-neighborhood Wildwood Avenue traffic.  The City has also successfully advocated for a high priority for the Lawrence/Wildwood project in the Valley Transportation Plan 2030, which places the project within the funding allocation realm of this long range plan.  

FISCAL IMPACT

There is no fiscal impact with the staff recommendations, as the cost of implementing Blazingwood Drive traffic calming will be absorbed within the Department of Public Works - Transportation Operations operating budget. 

PUBLIC CONTACT

Public contact was made through postings of the City Council agenda on the City’s official notice board, posting of the agenda and report on the City’s web page, publication of the Council agenda in the San Jose Mercury News, and the availability of the report in the Library and the City Clerk’s Office.

RECOMMENDATION

This item is for information only.

Reviewed by:


Marvin A. Rose, Director of Public Works
Prepared by: Jack Witthaus, Transportation and Traffic Manager

Approved by:

Amy Chan

City Manager

ATTACHMENTS

A.  RTC 02-184 Fairwood Neighborhood Traffic Study dated May 21, 2002

B.  Blazingwood Drive Traffic Calming Plan (279kb .pdf file)