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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPACKET Transportation Advisory Board 2016-8-17 Transportation Advisory Board Agenda August 17th, 2016 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM Rooms 202 & 203 Estes Park Town Hall 170 MacGregor Ave Current Members: Stan Black (03/31/17) Kimberly Campbell (03/31/18) Ann Finley (03/31/17) Amy Hamrick (03/31/19) Belle Morris (03/31/17) Gregg Rounds (03/31/18) Gordon Slack (03/31/19) Tom Street (03/31/19) Ken Zornes (03/31/19) Public Comment Approval of July Meeting Minutes Shuttle Committee Updates Project Updates Project Updates TAB Initiatives  Trails Master Plan  Downtown Loop Recommendation to Trustees  Downtown Parking Strategy Other Business Adjourn Chair Kimberly Campbell Sandy Osterman Director Greg Muhonen Manager Kevin Ash Chair Kimberly Campbell Trustee Liaison Holcomb / Director Muhonen Chair Kimberly Campbell The mission of the Town of Estes Park Transportation Advisory Board is to advise the Board of Trustees and the Public Works staff on Local and Regional Comprehensive Transportation Planning Policies; Maintenance, Operation and Expansion Programs; and Transportation Capital Projects. Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, July 20, 2016 Minutes of a Regular meeting of the Transportation Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held in the Rooms 202 & 203 of Town Hall, in said Town of Estes Park on the 20th day of July, 2016. Present: Kimberly Campbell Ann Finley Gordon Slack Ken Zornes Tom Street Stan Black Belle Morris Gregg Rounds Amy Hamrick Also Present: Greg Muhonen, Director of Public Works Megan Van Hoozer, Public Works Administrative Assistant Kevin Ash, Engineering Manager Absent: Bob Holcomb, Town Board Liaison Chair Campbell called the meeting to order at 12:05 p.m. GENERAL DISCUSSION It was moved and seconded to approve the June meeting minutes and the motion passed unanimously. PROJECT UPDATES, Greg Muhonen, Public Works Director Barnes Dance – The Town’s Traffic Consultant, Fred, came to make adjustments to pedestrian timing at the intersection of Elkhorn & Moraine. He increased the pedestrian traffic timing allowing 6 additional seconds which was taken from the vehicle traffic. The lights were coordinated to 116 seconds at all intersections to help flow and the ‘Right Turn on Green Only’ sign was removed to relief NB traffic congestion/back -ups. Member Slack experienced green lights all the way down Elkhorn this morning! Shuttle run comparison hand-out compared 2015 & 2016. It appeared to show a 3 second increase between 2015 & 2016, however the data needs some adjusting to use same timeframe each year. 2016 seemed to have more recorded data, which effected the measurement. Updates will be made to chart once the remaining information is received by Fred. Chair Campbell suggested that the shuttles go west only down Elkhorn and loop up to Wonderview to make their round-trip rather than driving the downtown route to help their times. Director Muhonen agreed that was an interesting idea. BARNES DANCE: CSO’s need to consistently announce that you can cross diagonally to ensure everyone knows due to those that aren’t up by the pole that shows the Transportation Advisory Board – July 20th, 2016 – Page 2 directional crosswalk sign. The idea was mentioned to have music playing during the Barnes Dance. Public Works is hiring Larimer County Traffic Engineer to perform a feasibility study regarding taking control over CDOT lights/signage/striping. This will allow more flexibility in managing the roads within town without having to clear all decisions through CDOT and will allow more timely response to residents. CDOT will be refreshing highway paint in August. Public Works received a request to add bicycle sensitive signs – providing for a 3-foot allowance between the car and the bicycle. MUTCD provides for allowed signs – the approved signs are a bike symbol/share the road. Greg has sent a request to CDOT for this signage on all three highways. TAB does not support the standard sign. Member Morris says it’s too mild. The Board will agree to a custom sign and propose to initiate the first of these signs on Dry Gulch Road. Director Muhonen invited TAB to submit requests for signs on specified streets to work with the coalition. LOOP: Director Muhonen invited everyone to please come to the LOOP public hearing tonight. Attendance and comments are needed on both sides of issue. On Tuesday, July 19, 2016, two citizens came to the LOOP Q/A session. Both citizens were strongly opposed to the LOOP, however after 30-45 minutes of discussion, they felt they had more opportunity to hear the facts about certain aspects of the LOOP project to which they were previously opposed. Greg was very appreciative for the commentary and that he was able to shed light on the factual base of the proposal. DRY GULCH: Contractor is currently working on Phase 2 of this project. There is a local detour through neighborhoods. At this time there is no signing/striping at the roundabout by Gray Hawk. Public Works will handle getting this done. BIG HORN SIGNAGE: A request was received to add a 20 MPH speed limit sign on Big Horn Drive. The traffic/pedestrian/bicycle situation is dangerous without proper signage. VISITOR CENTER: Due to the continual situation wherein guests are parking along the Drop-Off / Pick-Up area in front of the Visitor Center, rather than install ‘No Parking’ signs, Public Works will paint the curbing red to indicate it’s a no parking zone. Transportation Advisory Board – July 20th, 2016 – Page 3 PARKING STRUCTURE: This project is still pending approval from FTA. There will be a one-on-one conversation with the head of the planning group. The Regional Director stated South Side IS eligible and they’re very close to making a decision for categorical exclusion. Director Muhonen will call appropriate superiors to ensure a decision is ready to be made. Per CDOT, since the Town of Estes Park hasn’t utilized the allocated funding, they’ve been put on an inactive list for future grant applications. Additionally, if the Town has not broken ground by October 1, 2016, provided funding will be lost. Currently pushing for a new delivery method, CM/GC. The Town has proposed this method to CDOT – they said “Maybe” and provided a manual. There needs to be a project kick-off meeting to present to CDOT why this method should be used. They typically require the Design/Bid/Build method but this would exceed the allotted time for needed funding. There will be a meeting with CDOT on 7/28/16 to discuss. FTA isn’t very excited about it so Director Muhonen has requested Town Administrator Lancaster make necessary contact. DMB (Dynamic Message Board): Director Muhonen believes the best place to put the DMB is on 36 between Community Drive and 4th Street. Director Muhonen has submitted applications for two additional DMB’s. PROJECT UPDATES, Kevin Ash, Engineering Manager 2016 STIP work has been completed and looks good. DRY GULCH: The schedule is strong and all is going well. The contractor is thinking of tearing out the bypass road to eliminate continued use despite the barrels. Chair Campbell will be scheduling a meeting with RMNP. TAB suggested waiting until after September for the new RMNP Superintendent, Darla, to get her feet wet in her new role. Member Morris suggested Director Muhonen involve RMNP in all LOOP discussions. He will touch base with interim leads. TAB INITIATIVES Chair Campbell asked Director Muhonen how the TAB initiatives were received by the trustees. Director Muhonen stated that all trustees are on board for finding solutions to the parking problem and are supportive of a Transportation Master Plan. There needs to be a guiding document to start in 2017 or 2018 (start with Hwy 7 per discussion with Alison Chilcott). The question was posed whether or not Community Development Transportation Advisory Board – July 20th, 2016 – Page 4 should come to the meeting for land use requirements. Director Muhonen clarified that transportation leads land use, but that proper communication coordination will be necessary. PAID PARKING: The memo has evolved since last month and is not quite ready for a true vote. It has been deemed too big a proposal to ask trustees to approve paid parking. There is not yet enough initial buy-in. There needs to be training for the new trustees and mayor on the background information for paid parking. Once researched vendors are narrowed down, the information will be collected and disseminated to trustees. Chair Campbell proposed to have TAB do legwork to solicit vendors to supplement/help to locate vendors for paid parking. Different studies have been conducted. Director Muhonen had high praise for the write-up. As he learned from the LOOP project, early & effective citizen involvement (right now 50/50) is required. It is critical to begin the discussion in an open, receptive way and allow opportunity for buy-in and full understanding of the parking problem in town. It would be a good start to ask the community to provide their ideas for solutions. There are currently 3 phases: paid parking, employee parking and a parking expansion plan. It is important to engage residents in smaller groups to show we’re listening. Make it a discussion. Need to include expansion piece within the deliverable (working on it at a minimum). Can paid parking contribute to parking expansion?? The TAB and Town will work together to determine proper public process, including neighborhood meetings and small group data gatherings. The initiative to be led by a consultant will be for paid parking as well as employee parking. Public outreach will be led by TAB once appropriate strategies have been determined. Member Hamrick wants to state, once again, that when the draft implementation strategy refers to downtown employee parking, it appears to point to downtown businesses as being a large part of the problem. OTHER BUSINESS With no other business to discuss, Chair Campbell adjourned the meeting at 2:04 pm.