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A Presentation By Sylvia Glazer, Director Of Public Works, And Jonathan Vogt, City Engineer/Deputy Director Of Public Works, Providing An Update On The 13th Avenue And Hollywood Boulevard Traffic Calming And Livability Efforts.
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Staff Recommends: Approval of the Attached Presentation
Explanation:
In August 2003, the Hollywood Lakes neighborhood began its involvement in the development of the scope of work for the Florida Department of Transportation's Hollywood Boulevard roadway improvements project between Young Circle and the Intracoastal Waterway. A neighborhood consensus was obtained to provide calming, safety and beautification of the boulevard through the implementation of landscape medians with openings at alternating avenues. Over 700 surveys were distributed by the Hollywood Lakes Section Civic Association (HLSCA) in early 2004 with 120 responses received to assist the HLSCA in establishing this consensus. These desired neighborhood design elements were shared with FDOT for review and consideration. The project scope was then developed further by FDOT and additional funding was secured through Federal Safety dollars to expand the original 3R project scope to provide for the median safety improvements. FDOT procured their consultant and began design work in March of 2006. During the design process, the FDOT shared the design plans with the association/residents at regular intervals throughout design development via public hearings and community meetings on April 10, 2007, April 30, 2008, and September 9, 2008. The design presented by FDOT at the public hearings included the restricted directional access at the alternating avenues with permissible left turns and u-turn capability. The crash history as a result of unprotected direct crossings was the significant reason for FDOT's funding of the safety median, and these safety considerations would not have been addressed if north-south crossings at these intersections remained.
In conjunction with FDOT's project design, the Hollywood Lakes Section Civic Association also requested that the City consider traffic calming on North and South 13th Avenue. The City performed the prerequisite studies and implemented speed table installations along the corridor between Johnson Street and Washington Street where acceptance by affected residents was garnered. These installations were completed in November, 2008.
Construction of the Florida Department of Transportation's median safety improvements and access management changes along the Hollywood Boulevard corridor began April 30, 2009, and during its implementation, a group of residents residing in the Lakes neighborhood voiced concerns in January of 2010 regarding the traffic conditions along the 13th Avenue corridor. The traffic conditions at the time were being influenced by the construction activities of FDOT's roadway improvement project, and staff had agreed to review the before and after traffic volumes to determine the impacts of the FDOT project on 13th Avenue, once the work had been completed. The project was completed in June of 2010 and the after traffic data was obtained by FDOT in August 2010. Thereafter, the City hired an independent consultant, Kimley Horn Associates, to review the access management improvements, the volume data and the 13th Avenue corridor impacts, and provide a report outlining their findings.
This report was completed on January 27, 2011 and shared with the resident group by e-mail on February 9, followed by a meeting on February 17, 2011 providing for a detailed overview of the findings, suggested calming and safety improvements for consideration, and an opportunity for feedback from the resident group. The findings indicated that the 13th Avenue did receive increased traffic, but the corridor remained at an appropriate level of service of LOS C for a residential collector. 13th Avenue has been serving the community as a residential collector since 1976 when the community supported traffic signal was installed at the intersection with Hollywood Boulevard. Suggested improvements in the report consisted of i) additional speed tables along the corridor where staff had been unsuccessful in attaining support from adjacent homeowners together with ii) the implementation of missing sidewalk links to create a continuous sidewalk network along 13th Avenue for safer pedestrian travel. Feedback from the group consisted of i) a request for heightened and strict police enforcement; ii) a request for additional speed limit signs iii) mixed responses to additional speed tables; iv) a request to consider a trial directional closure of Hollywood Boulevard at 13th Avenue similar to the other odd avenues while maintaining the signalized pedestrian crossing; v) review of the neighborhood for other possible closures to discourage cut-thru traffic.
As a result of the meeting, staff placed a work order request to Broward County on February 19, and the placement of four additional speed limit signs was completed in April, 2011. The Police Department utilized the SMART trailer in the corridor to remind drivers of the 25mph speed limit along the corridor. Staff was successful over time to obtain support from the directly affected homeowners for two additional speed tables along 13th Avenue. Further, staff obtained support from FDOT to install a trial directional closure at 13th Avenue conditioned on FDOT receiving the trial closure request from the City in writing and also receiving community support of the request. Staff concentrated on the trial directional closure at 13th Avenue and was hesitant in pursuing additional closure options with the Association due to the possible impacts on the neighborhood as a whole. Where one closure relieves traffic for certain residents, the impact is transferred to others. With the understanding from FDOT that community support would be needed to implement the trial closure, the Mayor utilized the opportunity during his address to the Hollywood Lakes Section Civic Association at their well attended March 8 community meeting to provide an update on 13th Avenue. The trial closure possibility was raised for their consideration and was received with a noticeably negative response from the over 150 attendees. This indicated that there existed differences in opinions within the larger community which could make consensus difficult. Working with the Lakes Civic Association, staff then prepared and distributed a neighborhood survey on May 13, 2011 to 866 affected homeowners to obtain consensus on whether or not the trial closure should be implemented. A tabulation of the 358 surveys that were returned indicated that 70% of the responses were not in support of the temporary trial closure. Since the survey did not garner positive support, the trial project was shelved on June 30, 2011.
In January of 2012, the Broward Metropolitan Planning Council (MPO) kicked off the Hollywood/Pines Congestion Management and Livability Planning Study and staff utilized the opportunity to include the 13th Avenue corridor concerns in the study parameters. Due to the City's persistence, funding was earmarked in the final study to consider projects which would relieve congestion on 13th Avenue. Additionally, a grant for safety and mobility was awarded to the City to implement sidewalks on both sides of 13th Avenue from Washington Street to Johnson Street. This sidewalk project is scheduled to begin in January of 2015.
Additionally, throughout 2012 and 2013, staff continued to pursue other internal neighborhood solutions with the community such as one-way internal street configurations, and restricting turning movements through medians and signage. These ideas only moved the traffic issues to other streets, were not palatable to the neighborhood as a whole, and of which community consensus was unattainable. City staff then turned its focus back to the Hollywood Boulevard corridor to look for solutions that would return vehicular crossing points along the corridor to increase driver options to choose routes other than 13th Avenue. The objective being to re-establish the past traffic volume distribution that existed prior to the implementation of FDOT's safety median project.
In September of 2013, Public Works staff began developing a conceptual plan for the construction of round-a-bouts on Hollywood Boulevard at the intersections of 13th Avenue and 14th Avenue. Staff shared the conceptual plan with the FDOT on December 10, 2013 which resulted in FDOT requesting further data and traffic analysis to determine its feasibility and ultimately, design approval. Prior to initiating funding and a work order to a consultant, it was necessary to obtain initial feedback from the impacted community. The conceptual plan had been shared with the Lakes Civic Association leadership and a small collaborative of concerned 13th Avenue residents, but had not been fully vetted with the community and more particularly the 14th Avenue residents. This conceptual plan together with a presentation on the function and benefits of round-a-bouts was shared with the community at the Lakes Civic Association meeting on February 11, 2014. Letters to 14th Avenue residents were also individually mailed inviting them to the meeting. Although any plan which adjusts traffic will not be favored by the impacted, the majority of the group that night received the project favorably. Funding authorization was approved to move forward with the additional traffic analysis and the Consultant work Authorization with ATEC was approved on March 4, 2014. As a result of feedback from the FDOT, staff expanded the analysis to include alternative design configurations for placement of round-a-bouts; i.e. 11th Avenue and 15th Avenue while maintaining the signal controlled intersection at 13th Avenue, and a 11th, 13th, and 15th three circle configration. On May 13, Public Works met with FDOT to discuss the data and analysis results together with all design concepts with the purpose of obtaining approval to develop a selected concept into permit plans once community support was attained for one of the concepts. FDOT was supportive of all designs, with each having their individual merits. After review of all the factors, staff placed its recommendation behind the three circle configuration, but remains open to any round-a-bout configuration that would attain consensus by the community.
On July 10, 2014, staff brought the round-a-bout concepts to the Lakes community to share the benefits of round-a-bouts to determine if consensus for their implementation could be garnered. 89 people filled out survey cards with 47 in favor of round-a-bouts at 11th, 13th and 15th Avenues on the Boulevard; 37 not in favor; and 5 unsure. Although favorable consensus was garnered, concerns regarding funding, emergency evacuation and the effect on the barrier island traffic were raised. As a result, Commissioner Asseff requested that the public outreach be expanded to attain additional public input and opinions from the Lakes and Beach areas and that a Joint Lakes/Beach Civic Association meeting be held in October of 2014.
On Tuesday, October 21, 2014, Vice Mayor Asseff hosted a Town Hall Meeting to discuss options for the Hollywood Boulevard corridor between Young Circle and the Intracoastal. A presentation was made to the residents by the City Engineer with an overview of the corridor's history, an update of events that took place since the July 24, 2014 public meeting and the options that came about.
Since the July 24, 2014 public meeting, additional discussion with FDOT took place and staff continued to address concerns that residents have with the round-a-bouts in the area. As a result, the following options were presented at the Town Hall Meeting:
Option 1 - Keep the current Hollywood Boulevard configuration, leave as-is.
Option 2 - Install round-a-bouts on Hollywood Boulevard at 11th, 13th and 15th.
Option 3 - Open up medians at 11th and 15th to allow for thru traffic across Hollywood Boulevard.
Option 4 - Implement safety improvements.
Round-a-bouts proposed for Option 2 are the larger, modern round-a-bouts. The cost of the round-a-bouts and the continued future maintenance was a concern to the community. Emergency evacuation was also a concern with this option. Round-a-bouts will slow the evacuation process down but can be mitigated with an emergency evacuation plan. An emergency evacuation plan developed with the Police's Traffic Sergeant was presented at the meeting which provided the emergency routing options. Round-a-bouts remain a viable option, however it is a major project which would take three years to implement and $1million dollars to construct.
Option 3 involves removal of the channelization islands at 11th Avenue and 15th Avenue. This alternative was confirmed as an option from discussion with FDOT on October 8, 2014. Removing the islands will allow for thru traffic to cross Hollywood Boulevard, but does not allow for a signalized pedestrian and bike crossing because the pedestrian and bicycle volumes cannot meet warrants. City staff has reservations in supporting this option due to the increased safety risk to the public since the reason for closure was due to past accident history. Due to FDOT's openness to this option, staff decided to bring forward this recent information of opening the two avenues from FDOT as an option for consideration. However, staff cannot recommend its implementation due to the safety risk as staff is not comfortable with this risk to our residents and drivers along the corridor. For this option to be implemented, FDOT requires community support and a letter from the City requesting removal, and as a condition of approval, FDOT would review the operation after a year to verify no safety concerns have developed.
As for the last option, Option 4, the safety improvements proposed are a traffic circle at Tyler Street and 13th Avenue, speed indicator flasher signs in the 13th Avenue area, sidewalk connectivity on 13th Avenue between Washington Street and Johnson Street, and increased police enforcement. Red light camera installations were suggested, but the community overwhelming voiced their opposition to this consideration. As you may recall, the sidewalk connectivity is an approved grant funded project and is being implemented beginning in January, 2015. These safety improvements are expected to reduce crash incidents at the Tyler Street and 13th Avenue intersection and prevent people from speeding to make the green light at the Hollywood Boulevard traffic signal. Pedestrian and bicyclist safety will improve as a result of the traffic calming and the proposed sidewalk connectivity. These safety improvements can be implemented whether round-a-bouts are approved or not.
Cards were distributed at the meeting to residents to select the option(s) they desired. Residents at the meeting also had an opportunity to make their selection with a show of hands. A count of 51 was in favor of Option 1 to keep the current Hollywood Boulevard configuration, a count of 8 was in favor of Option 2 for the round-a-bouts, and a count of 21 was in favor of Option 3 for the medians removal and everyone in general were in favor of the safety improvements. The actual card count was similar in results. Of the cards received 34 were in favor of Option 1 for no change, 14 were in favor of Option 2 for round-a-bouts, 24 were in favor of Option 3 for the median removal and 9 were in favor of the safety improvements.
Staff is presenting the options and results from the public meetings held to the City Commission for direction on which option or variation of options should be pursued.
Recommended for inclusion on the agenda by:
Wazir Ishmael, Ph. D., City Manager
Lorie Mertens-Black, Interim Assistant City Manager
Sylvia Glazer, Director, Public Works
Jonathan Vogt, City Engineer/Deputy Director