body,date,page,text,path
TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,1,"Transportation Commission
November 28, 2012
Item 4A
Action
Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes:
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Commissioner Jesus Vargas called the Transportation Commission to order at 7:04 p.m.
1.
Roll Call
Roll was called and the following was recorded:
Members Present:
Thomas G. Bertken
Christopher Miley (Vice Chair)
Sandy Wong
Jesus Vargas (Chair)
Eric Schatmeier
Members Absent:
Michele Bellows
Staff Present:
Gail Payne, Transportation Coordinator
2.
Agenda Changes
Commissioner Vargas made a motion to add an item before item 8 ""Adjournment"" that discussed
the next meeting.
Commissioner Bertken seconded the motion. The motion was approved 4-0.
3.
Announcements / Public Comments
Matthew Fitzgerald announced that Alameda Bicycle opened for operation in 1969 and his
family took over in 1987. His family business is a good small business, which contributes to the
community. If anyone has any questions, please contact him at Alameda Bicycle Sales, Repairs,
and Rentals at (510) 522-0070 or pay a visit at 1522 Park Street Alameda, CA.
Commissioner Vargas acknowledged that Alameda Transportation Engineer Obaid Khan was
departing and he wanted to thank him for his services.
Page 1 of 10",TransportationCommission/2012-09-26.pdf
TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,2,"4.
Consent Calendar
4.A.
Draft Meeting Minutes - July 25, 2012
Commissioner Vargas asked the Commission to make comments to the July 25 minutes.
Commissioner Bertken made a motion to approve the July 25, 2012 minutes. Commissioner
Schatmeier seconded the motion. The motion was approved 4-0.
4.B.
2012 Transportation Expenditure Plan Fact Sheet
Commissioner Vargas reviewed the 2012 Transportation Expenditure Plan Fact Sheet. He
acknowledged that it would be a good thing to vote the right way for Measure B1.
5.
New Business
5.A. Traffic Control and Contingency Plan during Construction for I-880/29th Ave./23rd Ave.
Interchange Improvement Project in Oakland
Virendra Patel from Alameda Public Works introduced Garrett Gritz from RBF Consulting who
presented an update on the project.
Commissioner Vargas opened the floor to public comment.
Jim Strehlow, Alameda resident and local employee, explained that he was okay with everything
else about the project except at 23rd Avenue where the lanes should be four or five lanes. His
main concern was that the project is under funded and it is not the right size for the needs of
Alameda. He said the entirety of the project would increase greenhouse gas emissions since there
are three lanes instead of four lanes on 23rd Avenue. The three lanes would cause backups and,
according to the project, there would be an additional 10 percent of traffic in Alameda after the
project is completed. This project, therefore, should not proceed and Alameda should file suit to
require that the project be properly funded.
Commissioner Schatmeier asked about phase II of the project. He wanted to find out about the
impact on transit service from Park Street to the Fruitvale BART Station, especially since the
project would close the corridor for up to a year. He asked Mr. Gritz if they discussed
contingency plans regarding the routing with AC Transit.
Garrett Gritz explained that they had conversations with AC Transit and the agency has
commented throughout the entire process. They have the stage construction plans and are in the
process of developing additional actions that the consultants can do. He mentioned that the key
piece to the project is to hire the contractor and then to complete their construction schedule.
Once the schedule is known, they can give more details.
Commissioner Bertken felt that the whole program for taking care of traffic during construction
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TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,3,"is well thought out and impressive.
Commissioner Wong asked about the triangle potion near the 7-11 convenience store and Nikko's
Cafe where the signal light would be. She wanted to know how the traffic signal would impact
vehicles driving over the Park Street Bridge and specifically traffic feeding into 29th Avenue to
the roundabout and around the Park Street Bridge.
Garrett Gritz said the existing conditions at Ford Street is a stop sign. This movement would not
allow vehicles to turn left here. Also, under the proposal, this intersection would be signalized
and would have crosswalks and pedestrian signal phases. Moreover, there would be durations
where vehicles coming off the bridge would want to turn left that currently have a free movement
that would get a red light and stop. He noted that the most challenging part of the intersection is
the pedestrian movement, which ends up taking up a lot of time. To combat the problem, they
would implement a refuge area, which would allow the green time to be reduced for the
pedestrian crossing.
Commissioner Wong asked about the type of signals proposed on 29th Avenue. She mentioned
that in terms of the bridge being up and potential traffic exiting on 29th Avenue versus 23rd
Avenue what is the potential backup and study of the back up.
Garrett Gritz explained that all of the signals on the 23rd Avenue corridor are interconnected and
equipped with wiring to allow AC Transit to be able to have the capability when the technology
comes to trigger the lights with signal actuation. He mentioned that AC Transit does not have
enough resources to equip all AC Transit buses with that technology and AC Transit is in the
process of eventually receiving green prioritization. Additionally, they are coordinating with
Alameda Public Works on the rail project, which was one of the mitigation measures. They also
plan to have communications under the Estuary between Alameda and Oakland.
Commissioner Wong asked about the Ford Street and 29th Avenue intersection and what studies
were conducted on Alameda's side. She inquired about the study because occasionally when the
bridge goes down and depending on the time of day vehicles driving over the Park Street Bridge
could wait up to 15 minutes because it is backed up to Central Avenue. She wondered whether
the signal timing could be extended on the Alameda side so vehicles could get on the on-ramp
SB I-880 without having to wait.
Garrett Gritz replied that the signalization at Ford Street and 29th Avenue would not impact that
condition because when the bridge goes up the vehicles cannot come through there. So, the
intersection would not be impacted. Thus, it is more about when the bridge comes down and
when vehicles are approaching I-880.
Commissioner Wong replied that she was referring to after the bridge goes down and the
potential traffic impact.
Garrett Gritz explained that when the intersection becomes signalized there will be an increase
delay regardless of whether bridge is up or not.
Page 3 of 10",TransportationCommission/2012-09-26.pdf
TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,4,"Commissioner Wong asked when they remove the 29th Avenue overcrossing, would southbound
I-880 be accessible.
Garrett Gritz explained that during the day it would be open. However, there would be some
nighttime closures and they would realign the on-ramp to accommodate the construction and that
would happen late at night. Furthermore, there would be a period of time that they would close
the freeway in both directions, but not at the same time.
Commissioner Vargas asked Garrett Gritz whether the County of Alameda was included in the
coordination list and whether he could talk about any coordination with potential bridge
improvements that might happen during the construction to alleviate any concerns that
Commissioner Wong had.
Garrett Gritz explained the County does have a retrofit project schedule during the four-year
construction period and they have participated in the coordination meetings. The seismic project
along with several others are all part of the traffic management plan.
Commissioner Vargas referred to Jim Strehlow's comments about the funding and whether that
impacted the side of the structures and if there were any comments on the Environmental Impact
Report on air quality impacts in terms of the traffic perspective in Alameda.
Garrett Gritz explained that the environmental document was circulated in early 2010 and they
had a meeting at the Alameda Transportation Commission to let the public know that the
document was circulating. Regarding the greenhouse gas emissions, the project is an operational
and safety improvement project. Thus, the implementation of the project would decrease the
travel time for northbound I-880, which would increase travel flow for northbound I-880 and
decrease greenhouse gas emissions. He exclaimed that all funding is in place (a total of $75
million) because they maintained a specific project schedule and the project is schedule driven.
He has personally been working on the project for several years and he has let the public know
about what they are trying to accomplish.
Commissioner Vargas asked Alameda staff if they had a public awareness campaign in place to
promote awareness of the construction changes and various detours.
Garrett Gritz replied Staff Khan was instrumental in implementing the contingency plan. The
contingency plan is set up where there is a committee that meets at least a once a month and the
members include a representative from the City of Alameda, City of Oakland, and Caltrans
Traffic Management Plan Coordinator. Caltrans administers the contract and Staff Khan
advocated a mechanism to where everyone can communicate. So, any member of the committee
would be able to call a meeting whether in person or by conference call and the meeting would
have to happen within 12 hours. Additionally, the Caltrans Public Information Officer is required
to attend public meetings and would answer questions from the community directed towards
Caltrans. Ultimately, Staff Khan accomplished a lot in order to make sure communication was
there and the document was circulated amongst the agencies (Alameda, Caltrans and Oakland).
Commissioner Bertken felt Commissioner Vargas was talking about putting together a public
Page 4 of 10",TransportationCommission/2012-09-26.pdf
TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,5,"information program, meaning a detailed program about what is going to happen with the
project. This program would include how project representatives reach out to the community and
media so that the public is up to speed on the project.
Garrett Gritz said he would follow up and give more specifics in the near future. He also
mentioned that they have a public information meeting scheduled this year in Oakland and
Alameda and they have a public information meeting scheduled for February 2013 just as the
project goes out to bid to keep the public informed.
Commissioner Bertken made a motion to approve staff recommendations in addition to a public
information program.
Commissioner Schatmeier asked that the Commission include public transit in the contingency
plan.
Commissioner Bertken re-amended the motion to include public transit correspondence with AC
Transit in the Commission's comments in addition to a public information program.
Commissioner Schatmeier seconded the motion.
The motion was approved 4-0.
5.B.
AC Transit Line OX - Reconsider Opening to Local Riders
Staff Payne presented a summary of the report and recognized AC Transit staff - Linda Morris
and Wil Buller - at the meeting.
Linda Morris, AC Transit Transportation Planner, explained that AC Transit could analyze the
lines and implement a potential change in spring 2013 because they typically conduct service
changes quarterly. AC Transit staff is looking at Line 631 along with Line OX, to replicate the
Line OX on Bay Farm so that the Line 631 timing works better for the students. The agency
analyzed extending the last Line 631 trip, but making that four-minute connection typically will
not work. She emphasized that they want to re-route Line 631 to accommodate all the students
and reinstate the local service on Line OX while monitoring the service to avoid additional
issues.
Commissioner Vargas opened the floor to public comment.
Jon Spangler, Alameda resident and a League of American Cycling Instructor, explained that he
took the AC Transit Line 51A for meetings recently and he has taken a lot of Transbay rides. So,
based on that he felt the City is less well served out of economic necessity than what was offered
over 15 years ago. He felt one of the reasons was the capacity of the system as it exists is not in
line with current demand. Ultimately, he wanted AC Transit to look at increasing the capacity of
the system rather than shifting a bit of a bus line here and there. Additionally, once the service
change is implemented next spring, he hopes local riders would be allowed to board Line OX as
long as the local service is adequate. He also encouraged members of the Commission along with
Page 5 of 10",TransportationCommission/2012-09-26.pdf
TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,6,"AC Transit and Alameda City Council to talk about increasing transit service to the community.
Commissioner Schatmeier said that he lives on Bay Farm Island and was a regular user of Line
OX before the policy change. He mentioned that Line 21 was the underlying local service and
used to serve Bay Farm from Park Street every 15 minutes. However, a couple of years ago, AC
Transit cut the frequency in half. Yet, the Line OX service made the service cut more palatable
because it was available during peak periods. AC Transit made a 75 percent service cut without
input from the public - it is a significant service cut. Moreover, there are around 23 frequencies
of Line OX buses in combination of morning and afternoon and when referring to the memo
presented by staff, there were 41 student passengers and 12 local passengers. Ultimately, the 41
student passengers could be spread amongst those 23 buses, but what AC Transit is probably
telling us is that they are not spread out and are concentrated amongst a few buses in the
morning. Thus, it seemed to be a morning issue. He explained that one solution would be that
AC Transit rescind the policy for the afternoon and evening buses and possibly create an interim
step to restore local service in the evening. This step would require only one change to the
Clipper card in the evening after leaving the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco. The result
would lead to multiple uses for the line that potentially would attract additional riders. The riders
boarding in downtown Alameda towards Bay Farm in the afternoon/evening would be filling
vacated seats from Transbay riders. He advised that the Commission envision a complete
picture, which includes some of these possibilities beyond what the staff has recommended.
Commissioner Wong asked whether the first Line 631 was available to students at 6:52 am. She
explained that originally, there were a lot of students boarding Line OX and she wanted to know
which Line OX bus they were boarding since there were 7 am classes scheduled.
Commissioner Vargas mentioned that AC Transit staff should review the school's class schedule
to see what matches well for bus service. Furthermore, he mentioned that Commissioner
Schatmeier's concerns regarding the frequency of Line 21 and evening policy modifications for
Line OX were worth noting.
Commissioner Schatmeier stated his past conversations with Cory Lavigne concluded that
restoring the local Line OX policy in the afternoon would be feasible. He asked Mr. Lavigne if
the policy restoration would have to wait until the next driver sign up and Mr. Lavigne stated that
this change would not require coordination with the quarterly service changes. Since he could not
confirm or deny that conclusion, he asked AC Transit staff to relay the message to Mr. Lavigne's
successor.
Linda Morris replied that originally the agency wanted to wait for the service change because it
is a big change and the agency wants to ensure that passengers are notified. Regarding
Commissioner Schatmeier's conversation with Mr. Lavigne, she would have to speak with the
operations department and Robert del Rosario, Mr. Lavigne's successor.
Commissioner Schatmeier assumed that Mr. Lavigne was uncomfortable with doing something
different in the morning than in the afternoon because it might be confusing to the public or
drivers. However, he seemed receptive because of the special nature of the case. Ultimately,
Commissioner Schatmeier did not want to wait until the spring to make the changes.
Page 6 of 10",TransportationCommission/2012-09-26.pdf
TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,7,"Commissioner Bertken asked for more detail from Commissioner Wong regarding students
attending 7 am classes. He then asked AC Transit staff if an additional Line 631 bus would be
needed to accommodate students attending 7 am classes and whether that was practical.
Commissioner Wong replied a 7 am class depends on the year in terms of the number of classes.
Currently, there are at least three 7 am classes of 35 students and not all of the students take the
bus, but there are quite a few that do.
Linda Morris replied that the passenger loads analyzed were not around 7 am, but the problem
was centered on students arriving before the 8 am bell time.
Commissioner Bertken said by looking at the provision to Line 631 schedule, arriving to school
by 7 am would not be an issue.
Linda Morris replied that they would have to look into that, but it may consist of additional
service.
Commissioner Bertken said potentially a number of riders would need to arrive by 7 am.
Linda Morris explained her point was that AC Transit's analysis found that there was an
overflow on Line OX around 7:30 am in order to reach school by 8 am.
Commissioner Bertken said that looking at the situation now, and since there are a number of
classes that begin at 7 am would it be possible for AC Transit to let students onto Line OX before
7:30 am.
Linda Morris explained that since they are looking at the entire line as a policy decision, she
would take the Commission's comments back to the agency and review and implement the final
decisions in the spring. Ultimately, they would not modify the policy on a trip-by-trip level.
Commissioner Schatmeier asked staff what are the next steps once the Commission makes a
recommendation.
Staff Payne replied the Commission's recommendation would be directed to AC Transit staff to
see how they would like to move forward.
Commissioner Schatmeier stated the goal of his motion was to recognize the growth potential of
ridership and to pursue a policy that meets everyone's needs.
Commissioner Schatmeier made a motion to include an interim period that would be worked out
by staff to explore restoring local service on the evening Line OX buses as quickly as possible in
addition to staff recommendations. Commissioner Miley seconded the motion. The motion was
approved 5-0.
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TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,8,"5.C.
AC Transit's Performance Initiative Grant - Line 51A
Staff Payne presented a summary of the report and asked AC Transit staff to make further
comments.
Commissioner Vargas asked AC Transit staff to discuss their role in the project.
Wil Buller explained that the way the entire project would be rolled out was that AC Transit
would oversee the development and the preliminary engineering and oversight through design.
Upon completion of design and Memorandum Of Understanding agreements, the cities
(Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda) would receive portions of the grant to complete construction
based upon the design plans. AC Transit's project manager would coordinate with each city with
construction management oversight, but it would be up to the cities to complete the construction,
procure a contractor and close out the improvements. Construction is expected in late 2014.
5.D. Quarterly Report on Activities Related to Transportation Policies and Plans
Staff Payne presented the following updates regarding the quarterly report on activities related to
transportation policies and plans:
Estuary Crossing Shuttle - The first year had an average of 150 boardings per day and the
beginning of the second year is averaging 220 boarding per day. The operation is now
running with a low-floor bus.
Shoreline Drive/Westline Drive Bikeway Project - The third community meeting will take
place on Thursday, October 18 and the meeting's results would be presented to the
Transportation Commission for action on Wednesday, November 28.
Park Street Streetscape Project - The project has been completed, and they have installed 6
additional bike racks, resulting in 30 total bicycle racks from Central Avenue to San Jose
Avenue.
TSM/TDM Plan - Staff is completing the Environmental Review.
Accessible pedestrian signals under the Pedestrian Plan - Staff received a new Freedom
Grant and there will be a public hearing for that on Monday, October 29 in combination
with the Commission on Disability Issues.
Safe Routes to School - Staff won the grant to improve the midblock crossing on Grand
Street at Wood School and more details will be provided later.
New Park Street Pedestrian Safety Improvement Program will be presented at the next
meeting.
Countywide Transportation Projects will be reported after the November 2012 election.
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TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,9,"Traffic Calming Projects regarding the Fernside Boulevard Project - Staff scheduled a
meeting at Edison School on Thursday, September 27th at 7pm for the Fernside traffic
calming.
At the last meeting, the Commission approved a midblock crossing between Franklin
School and Franklin Park, and staff installed the crossing with help from Alameda Unified
School District staff.
Commissioner Schatmeier mentioned that he met with Staff Payne about the Shore Line project
to talk about the bus stop treatments along Shore Line Drive. He wanted Staff Payne to update
the Commission on any discussions between her and AC Transit staff.
Staff Payne replied that they do have a recommended plan along Shore Line and Westline Drives
because transit service exists between Grand Street and Willow Street. She has discussed with
AC Transit to eliminate the midblock stop eastbound towards Broadway because a safety issue
exists. AC Transit is fine to move the westbound bus stop on Shore Line Drive at Kitty Hawk
Road from the near side to the far side. Staff is recommending to not doing anything with the
westbound bus stop on Willow Street at Shore Line Drive. Additionally, there were some
challenges with distances between stops because they are taking away the eastbound midblock
stop, but since a safety issue exists, that would be the best way to proceed.
Commissioner Miley mentioned that since they were talking about safety issues with AC Transit,
he noticed that on Otis Drive at High Street, the bus has a noticeably tight turn and cars have to
reverse to get out of the way of the bus. So, he wanted to know if the City has looked into that
issue.
Staff Payne explained that she has noticed that herself and she would take that up with AC
Transit staff. Additionally, she explained that the Shore Line/Westline Drive update would be
brought before the public on October 18 and brought to the Transportation Commission meeting
in November.
6.
Staff Communications
7.
Announcements/ Public Comments
Jon Spangler stated that he is on the BART Bike Advisory Task Force and member of the East
Bay Bicycle Coalition. He has been involved in getting the bike pilot on board BART in the
month of August. At this time, there has not been a lot of news from BART since the pilot ended
on August 31. However, there was a meeting that afternoon to make sure BART continued an
evaluation to implement what they could from the pilot. They are looking at reconfiguring the
older cars that have a little windscreen inside the door that completely wipes out wheelchair and
bicycle access and looking at adding some flexibility in San Francisco during the blackout
periods because there is more room at Montgomery Station then Embarcadero Station in terms of
vertical access and platform size. Furthermore, BART is looking at 12th and 19th Street Stations
to allow bicycles on the platforms and avoid conflict with patrons. He explained that protocols
for pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboarders and strollers would need to be communicated with
Page 9 of 10",TransportationCommission/2012-09-26.pdf
TransportationCommission,2012-09-26,10,"everyone. He exclaimed that additional signage throughout the BART system including up above
the platform to let people know when the train was coming and letting people know the load
factor would be essential. Lastly, an evaluation on the pilot program would be presented to the
BART Board in November and he wanted the Commission to know that a lot of groups,
including bike advocacy groups, BART Accessibility and Bike Task Forces are working hard on
this issue.
Matthew Fitzgerald announced that he was in an accident while riding the AC Transit Line 75
and the incident will be reported on the news. He also mentioned the commission on disability
issues.
Commissioner Schatmeier commended Bike Alameda's Riding the Rails activity. He felt the trip
and historical presentations were very interesting and Bike Alameda used the activity as an
opportunity to promote Measure B1. Thus, they should be congratulated and recognized for the
effort.
Commissioner Miley stated that he recently learned that Staff Khan was leaving and he wanted to
thank him for his service. He also wanted to know if the City put out a job announcement.
Matthew Naclerio, Alameda Public Works Director, said that he is working with Human
Resources to make sure that this is a priority recruitment. The job announcement has not been
published yet.
Staff Payne explained that the Complete Street's Policy item initially proposed as a special
meeting in October should be presented in November. The Alameda County Transportation
Commission's Board will be adopting their Complete Street's Policy at the end of October. She
would rather dovetail off of what they have done and not have to repeat something at a later date.
Commissioner Schatmeier asked Staff Payne to include an update on the Line OX policy issue.
Staff Payne explained that she added an item for 5a that would include the public information
program with public transit added to the contingency plan for the I-880/29th Ave./23rd Ave.
Interchange Improvement Project.
8.
Adjournment
9:39 pm
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