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CC 2015-06-23_11b Temporary Ramp Closure_BriscoMEMORANDUM TO: CITY COUNCIL FROM: TERESA MCCLISH, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MATT HORN, CITY ENGINEER SUBJECT: CONSIDERATION OF TEMPORARY RAMP CLOSURE FOR THE BRISCO ROAD-HALCYON ROAD/HIGHWAY 101 PROJECT DATE: JUNE 23, 2015 RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended the City Council provide direction to staff regarding developing a work plan with Caltrans for a temporary ramp closure for the Brisco Road-Halcyon Road/Highway 101 project once the project report is complete. IMPACT ON FINANCIAL AND PERSONNEL RESOURCES: The Capital Improvement Program budget includes a total of $587,238 for the Brisco Interchange project design phase and has $465,846 funds remaining. Continued dedication of staff resources will also be required. The project is identified as a priority in the Critical Needs Action Plan. Consultant services are funded from the Transportation Facilities Development Impact Fee Fund. BACKGROUND: The project history is summarized below: • In 2001, a Project Study Report-Project Development Support (PSR-PDS) was completed to develop alternatives to improve operation of the Brisco Road- Halcyon Road/U.S. 101 Interchange. The project moved from the PSR-PDS phase to the Project Approval and Environmental Determination (PA&ED). During PA&ED development, additional alternatives were identified and analyzed. • Alternatives were presented to the City Council at the August 12, 2008 meeting. The City Council selected an alternative and directed staff and the City Council Subcommittee to pursue approval and funding through the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) and Caltrans. In May of 2009, the City Council approved Contract Amendment No. 4 with Wood Rodgers, Inc. for preparation of the design exception fact sheets for the Brisco Road-Halcyon Road/U.S. 101 PA&ED in the amount of $17,500. Additionally, the Council authorized the Mayor to send a letter to Caltrans regarding opposition to requests for further analysis and urging support for the City's preferred alternative. Item 11.b. - Page 1 CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERATION OF TEMPORARY RAMP CLOSURE FOR THE BRISCO ROAD- HALCYON ROAD/HIGHWAY 101 PROJECT JUNE 23, 2015 PAGE 2 • In August 2009, Caltrans and the City were at an impasse, each agency preferred different project design alternatives and believed other design alternatives were not viable. Planning Company Associates, that was later renamed Point C, LLC, was contracted to assist in determining a design solution to the Brisco impasse and develop strategies to achieve project approval. • On May 11, 2010, the Council approved Contract Amendment No. 5 with Wood Rodgers to include alternative 3B that placed ramps at Old Ranch Road and continue an update of environmental studies and the PA&ED project. However, it was subsequently determined that this alternative had a fatal flaw due to the grade separation between U.S. 101 and Old Ranch Road. • On October 26, 2010, the Council approved Alternative 4 to be included in the PA&ED. Alternative 4 involves moving the Brisco northbound on-ramp and off- ramp to Rodeo Drive. Additionally, the Council approved the preparation of supporting information and design exception fact sheets to provide the public an opportunity to comment at the Traffic Commission and neighborhood meetings. • The Traffic Commission considered the project alternatives on January 10, 2011 and a well attended neighborhood meeting was held on February 24, 2011. Project accomplishments include completion of the Purpose and Need document, established performance criteria and the traffic analysis with concurrence from Caltrans District 5 Traffic Operations. • In April 2011, the Council approved Amendment No. 6 with Wood Rodgers to update environmental studies and continue preparation of the PA&ED documents. Caltrans reviews required more revisions and effort than was anticipated for Amendment No. 6. • Draft funding recommendations for the project were approved at the February, 2012 San Luis Obispo Council of Governments Board of Directors meeting. • In March 2012, the California Transportation Commission programmed $5.6 million in construction funding for the project. • In May 2012, the Council approved Amendment No. 7 with Wood Rodgers for an additional not to exceed amount of $103,820 in order to complete all technical studies and prepare final design exception fact sheets. • In April 2013, the City Council Brisco Interchange Subcommittee, staff and consultants met with Caltrans staff and learned that additional design and amended technical studies were necessary for approval of design exception fact sheets. Item 11.b. - Page 2 CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERATION OF TEMPORARY RAMP CLOSURE FOR THE BRISCO ROAD- HALCYON ROAD/HIGHWAY 101 PROJECT JUNE 23, 2015 PAGE 3 • In December 2013, Caltrans, Consultants and staff met in Sacramento to review comparison interchanges, and geometries for Alternative 4 and what would be needed for approval of design exceptions. The result of the meeting was the identification of Alternative 4C. However, additional information to reduce design speed on West Branch, as well as to develop an alternative intersection treatment was determined necessary to finalize feasibility. • In March 2014, the City Council approved a revised intersection treatment for Alternative 4C to include a roundabout (RAB) and consultant contracts to complete necessary studies. • During 2014, consultants prepared conceptual geometries and design standards compliance documents for Alternative 4 with a signalized intersection and with a roundabout. This included an independent peer review by Kittelson and Associates for the preliminary RAB design as requested by Caltrans District 5. Additionally, a revised Advance Planning Study for the structure to carry the planned on-ramp over Brisco Road in Alternative 4 was revised and the Preliminary Drainage Report was updated and the Stormwater Data Report prepared. Finally, several technical studies were revised including the Natural Environment Study, the Jurisdictional Waters Assessment, the Conceptual Habitat Mitigation and Monitoring Plan, the Archaeological Survey Report, the Historic Property Survey Report and Historical Resources Evaluation Report, the Noise Study, Visual Impact Assessment, Air Quality Study Report, Water Quality Assessment Report, Paleontological Evaluation Report. The Community Impact Assessment is in progress. The Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration has also been drafted. All of this work was required to complete the draft Project Report and Environmental Study. • In August 2014, an additional $1,000,000 was recommended by SLOCOG to the California Transportation Commission (CTC} for the construction phase of the project to increase the total grant funding to $6.6 million. • In September 2014, City staff met with the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) to go over the project schedule and verify that grant funding status was unchanged. • In November 2014, Design Exception Fact Sheets were submitted to Caltrans. • In January 2015, the Brisco Subcommittee met with Caltrans and SLOCOG officials. During the meeting Caltrans staff outlined remaining concerns with Alternative 4C. A Project Development Team (PDT) meeting was determined necessary to determine final alternatives that will go out for public review. Item 11.b. - Page 3 CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERATION OF TEMPORARY RAMP CLOSURE FOR THE BRISCO ROAD- HALCYON ROAD/HIGHWAY 101 PROJECT JUNE 23, 2015 PAGE4 • At City Council's meeting on March 10, 2015 Council authorized the continued inclusion of Alternate 1 and Alternative 4C RAB and removed from consideration the Alternative 4C Traffic Signal from Brisco Road -Halcyon Road/Highway 101 Interchange Improvement Project Approval and Environmental Determination (PA&ED) report. • On April 2, 2015 a series of project meetings were held that included a design review meeting with Caltrans, Brisco Subcommittee Meeting, and a Brisco Stakeholders Meeting to provide updated information concerning the project and obtain input. At the April 2, 2015 Design Review Meeting with Caltrans the meeting focused on Alternative 4C RAB in order to look at alternatives to improve sight distance for the northbound off-ramp. Based on Caltrans' input the design was revised. The main feature of the revised design is that it lowered the RAB approximately five feet in order to provide northbound off-ramp users vision of the entire RAB. This revised design was submitted to Caltrans on April 19, 2015. Caltrans reviewed this revised design and provided comments back to the City on May 20, 2015. In order to mitigate concerns regarding stopping sight distance on Alternative 4c RAB, the Caltrans design team and staff conducted a series of meetings to develop additional design detail. The revised design greatly enhanced sight stopping distance and final exhibits were transmitted to Caltrans on June 17, 2015. ANALYSIS OF ISSUES: Now that the final design details for the purposes of the project report have been worked out after an extensive period of meetings and submittals, the next step for the project is for the project designers to resubmit the final design exception fact sheets to Caltrans for review and anticipated approval. After this step is complete and Caltrans' approval is obtained, the project report and environmental review will be finalized and released for public review and input. The City Council has expressed an interest in temporarily closing the ramps at Brisco Road-Halcyon Road/U.S. 101 Interchange for the purposes of better defining benefits and impacts to traffic flow. The City conducted a two-week closure in 2007, at an approximate cost of $40,000. Developing a project plan is important to both define the scope of this work and to collect the appropriate data during the closure. Items that should be considered include: • Duration of ramp closure • Data collection during closure • The method of ramp closure • Obtaining public input during closure • Funding for the closure Item 11.b. - Page 4 CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERATION OF TEMPORARY RAMP CLOSURE FOR THE BRISCO ROAD- HALCYON ROAD/HIGHWAY 101 PROJECT JUNE 23, 2015 PAGE 5 Depending on our data needs, public outreach and input needs, and the ability to collaborate with Caltrans to complete this work, costs could vary. Staffs initial concept of the ramp closure would include: 1. Closing both the on and off ramps at Brisco Road and Highway 101. 2. Recommended closure period would likely be a minimum of two months during a timeframe in which school is in session. This would allow traffic enough time to normalize and revise traffic patterns. 3. Traffic data is recommended to be obtained two weeks prior to the closure, during the closure, and two weeks after the closure. Staff is anticipating collecting the data at the following locations: a. Grand Ave and Highway 101 off and on ramps b. Brisco Road between El Camino Real and West Brach Street both directions c. Camino Mercado and Highway 101 off and on ramps d. Oak Park at Highway 101 on ramp Staff will develop a project plan, gain concurrence with Caltrans for shared work items and make recommendations for City Council's review. A rough estimate of closure costs is provided below. Closure Cost Rough Estimate Public Notification CMS Notification $ 4,200 Press Release $ - Permitting Traffic Handling Plan $ 5,000 Encroachment Permit $500 Analysis Traffic Data $ 10,000 Traffic Analysis $ 5,000 Closure Traffic Handling Implementation $ 62,000 $ 86,700 ALTERNATIVES: The following alternatives are provided for the Council's consideration: • Direct Staff to prepare a work plan for the temporary ramp closure; • Do not direct staff to prepare a work plan for the temporary ramp closure; • Provide other direction to staff. Item 11.b. - Page 5 CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERATION OF TEMPORARY RAMP CLOSURE FOR THE BRISCO ROAD- HALCYON ROAD/HIGHWAY 101 PROJECT JUNE 23, 2015 PAGE 6 ADVANTAGES: Ramp closure will provide additional data to inform the project. DISADVANTAGES: Costs of the closure may be extensive. The impact in the project schedule is unknown. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: The environmental review for the temporary closure will be brought back with the work plan for Council consideration. PUBLIC NOTIFICATION AND COMMENTS: The Agenda was posted in front of City Hall on Thursday, June 18, 2015. The Agenda and staff report were posted on the City's website on Friday, June 19, 2015. No public comments were received. Item 11.b. - Page 6