CC 2024-10-22_11a Active Transportation Plan Progress Report_PPArroyo Grande: Active Transportation Plan
City Council Study Session
October 22, 2024
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Agenda
Project Update
Open Discussion
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Project Overview
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Planning Team
Brian Pedrotti, Community Development Director
Andrew Perez, Planning Manager
Shannon Sweeney, City Engineer
Natalie Riddering, Planning & Engineering Permit Technician
Joe Punsalan, Principal
Jacob Leon, Project Manager
Marina Varano, Assistant Project Manager
Morgen Ruby, Senior Planner
Michelle Matson, Transportation Engineer
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What is an Active Transportation Plan?
Develop improvements for:
Walking
Bicycling
Rolling (scooters, skateboards, wheelchairs)
Taking transit
Driving or ridesharing
Major steps include:
Identify gaps in the active transportation network
Assess collision data
Conduct field work to assess existing infrastructure
Engage with community members and stakeholders
Develop and prioritize recommendations
Provide guidance on implementation
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Examples of Active Transportation Infrastructure
Crosswalks and curb ramps
Enhanced crossings
Transit stops
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Examples of Active Transportation Infrastructure
Bike Lanes
Bike Route Markings and Signage
Enhanced Bike Striping
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Examples of Active Transportation Infrastructure
Transit shelters and trash bins
Pedestrian-scale lighting
Tree canopy
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Study Area Map
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Collision Data
Collision data from Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS)
2012-2022
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Existing & Planned Bikeways
From Circulation Element Update
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Level of Traffic Stress
Highlights streets and their associated comfort level based on existing conditions
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Community Engagement
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Community Engagement
Overview
Online Survey: December 1 - April 30 (101 Completed)
Online Comment Map
Pop Up Booths:
Harvest Festival, September 30, 2023
Farmers Market, April 20, 2024
Harvest Festival, September 28, 2024
Community Workshops:
Existing Conditions Workshop, December 13, 2023
Draft Recommendations Workshop, September 26, 2024
Stakeholder Working Group Meetings: 4 of 5 Completed
General Plan Update: Ongoing
How has the community participated in the planning process?
Engaging the community was essential to developing a strong Active Transportation Plan, so we conducted a year-long community engagement process to truly understand the needs and priorities
of Arroyo Grande residents and stakeholders.
To engage a wide range of the community, we used several different methods that invited people to participate at varying levels of effort and commitment.
For example, we launched an online survey from December 2023 to April 2024.
In addition to that, we knew it was important to meet people where they are already at, so we held two pop-up booths – one at the Harvest Festival last year, one at the Farmers Market,
and our last one is this Saturday at the Harvest Festival once again. Residents were able to learn about the ATP and share their ideas a casual setting.
We also held community workshops. Our first one was an Existing Conditions Workshop designed to understand the current strengths, needs, and opportunities for active transportation in
Arroyo Grande.
The second one is where we are right now where we get to present draft recommendations and invite you all to weigh in.
We have been holding stakeholder working group meetings on a regular basis to collect specific and ongoing feedback from representatives from local agencies, community organizations,
and businesses. Some of our members are even here tonight! Thank you for being here.
Additionally, our project website has an online comment map where people can drop location-specific comments for us to review.
And we also are integrating community engagement collected during the City’s General Plan Update process.
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Connecting with the Community
Thank you, Arroyo Grande residents!
Taken together, the input collected over the past year, as well as what we hear from you all tonight and at the Harvest Festival on Saturday, was used to guide the development of the
draft active transportation recommendations you will see tonight.
All of this was done wth the goal of developing a community-driven plan that represents what Arroyo Grande truly needs in the way of Active Transportation infrastructure and programs.
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Key Outreach Takeaways
What were the overarching themes?
Residents, visitors, and stakeholders see the value of safe and efficient active transportation facilities.
Desire for complete sidewalks, a connected system of bicycle facilities, and safe walking and bicycling routes to schools, parks, the Village, the Library, and commercial corridors,
such as Grande Avenue.
Corridors mentioned most by community engagement participants were Grand Avenue, W. Branch Street, E. Branch Street, Halcyon Road, Fair Oaks Avenue, and Oak Park Boulevard.
Taken together, the input collected over the past year, as well as what we hear from you all tonight and at the Harvest Festival on Saturday, was used to guide the development of the
draft active transportation recommendations you will see tonight.
All of this was done wth the goal of developing a community-driven plan that represents what Arroyo Grande truly needs in the way of Active Transportation infrastructure and programs.
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Draft Active Transportation Recommendations
Now we will provide an overview of the draft active transportation recommendations before setting you free to review and add comments to them.
The process to create the draft recommendations was based on a review of:
existing pedestrian amenities and bicycle facilities,
network gaps
connectivity to schools, parks, activity centers, and other destinations,
community and stakeholder input,
And existing road width, and lane striping, including on-street parking
After we developed the draft recommendations, we compared our network to previously proposed facilities in the City’s Circulation Element of the General Plan and SLOCOG’s Regional Transportation
Plan. These comparisons allowed us to vet each recommendation and seek opportunities to upgrade previously proposed recommendations or to remove recommendations that are no longer make
sense or are no longer feasible.
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Types of Bikeways
Examples of existing and proposed bikeways
Class I Multi-use Path
Class II Bicycle Lane
Class III Bike Route
Class IV Separated Bikeway
Before I explain our recommendations for the bike network, I wanted to give you a crash course in the bike facility terminology used by planning professionals.
To start, we have Class I multi-use paths, which are off-street protected paths. Think of the Bob Jones Trail.
Class II bicycle lanes, which are your standard on street bicycle lanes. These offer cyclists their own designated lane, but offer no physical protection.
Class III shared bicycle routes, which are roadways where bicyclists share the lane with vehicles. These are marked by signage or symbol markings on the lane.
And Class IV separated bikeways, which are on-street bicycle lanes with vertical protection,, such as bollards, parked cars, planters, etc. The photo here is an example from Downtown
SLO.
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Existing Bike Facilities
Class I Multi-use Paths: 0.8 miles
Class II Bicycle Lanes: 14.6 miles
Class III Bicycle Routes: 0.1 miles
Total: 15.5 miles
Here you can see a map of the existing bike facilities in Arroyo Grande, which include:
Less than a mile (0.8) of Class I multi-use paths
14.6 miles of Class 2 bicycle lanes
And 0.1 miles of Class 3 shared bike routes
For a total of 15.5 miles of existing bicycle facilities
You can see here that while there are Class II bike lanes on many of the major corridors, the bike network is disconnected and doesn’t offer much separation or protection from motor
vehicles.
Knowing this and hearing the need from community members, we set out to build upon the existing bike facilities by proposing interconnected network of bike facilities that offer separation
from motor vehicles, where feasible.
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Existing & Proposed Bike Network
Class I Multi-use Paths: 7.6 miles
Class II Bicycle Lanes: 19.4 miles
Class III Bicycle Routes: 11.5 miles
Class IV Separated Bikeways: 10.5 miles
Total: 49 miles
This map shows the existing and proposed bike network, which you can see offers a wider range of facilities with meaningful connections to key destinations, like schools, parks, the
library, and shopping areas.
Existing bike facilities are solid lines and proposed facilities are dashed lines.
The map shows 33.5 miles of proposed facilities as a combination of Class I multi-use paths, Class II bike lanes, Class III bike routes, and Class IV separated bikeways.
If fully implemented, Arroyo Grande would have a future bike network with 49 miles of facilities.
As funding becomes available, the City can use the Active Transportation Plan as a guide for future infrastructure and improvement projects.
Knowing where and what type of bike facilities are needed will help the City apply for and secure funding for implementation.
As a reminder, this is a planning document that will guide implementation over the next decade or so.
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Proposed: Class I 6.8 Class II 4.8 Class III 11.4 Class IV 10.5
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Prioritizing Proposed Bike Facilities
As you saw, the ATP is proposing over 30 miles of new bike facilities, which will take time and funding to come to fruition.
Knowing that the City will need to allocate funding to the highest need and highest impact projects, we ran a prioritization process that ranked each project by priority.
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Prioritization Criteria Overview
We asked stakeholders and City staff to provide feedback on prioritization criteria
Each bike project was given a score based on the criteria shown on screen, so the project was essentially evaluated based on its proximity to schools, parks, households with no vehicle,
commercial land uses, transit stops, collision history, child density, senior density, population density, disadvantaged communities, income level.
The bike project was also given a score based on whether it would close an existing gap, provide separation from motor vehicles, or advance a previous planning project.
We asked our stakeholder working group and City staff to provide feedback on prioritization criteria and their associated weights in the analysis.
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Project Ranking Results
What are the results of the prioritization process?
HIGH PRIORITY PROJECTS
Grand Avenue
Elm Street
Fair Oaks Avenue
E. Branch Avenue
Oak Park Boulevard
Alder Street/Cameron Court
Farroll Avenue
W. Branch Street
Soto Park (Class I that cuts through park)
Ash Street
Halcyon Road*
*Halcyon Road is already being redesigned as part of the Halcyon Road Complete Streets Project, so the ATP will defer to those City adopted plans.
The priorization process ranked all 49 bike projects in order of priority.
Here are the top 10 projects, which we felt was well-aligned with the gut feelings we had about the importance of different corridors in Arroyo Grande.
The prioritization process backs up what we know to be true by offering a data-driven, unbiased analysis.
The City used the prioritization results to identify the top 3 corridors that will receive high-level conceptual drawings in the Active Transporation Plan, which you’ll see a sneak peak
of tonight.
Additionally, the City will continue to use the prioritization results to apply for grant funding and implement high-priority projects.
And with that, I will pass it back to Jacob to go over pedestrian and ADA recommendations.
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Types of Pedestrian & ADA Treatments
Crosswalks and Curb Ramps
Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB)
Pedestrian-scale Lighting
Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon (PHB)
LED Stop Sign
Curb Extensions
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Draft Pedestrian Projects
Proposed pedestrian recommendations
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Safe Routes to School
Harloe Elementary
Ocean View Elementary
Fairgrove Elementary
Paulding Middle
Arroyo Grande High School
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Planning-Level Designs
Three projects received planning-level design recommendations.
Project 1: Grand Avenue
From Oak Park Boulevard to Branch Street
Proposed Class IV bikeways and various pedestrian improvements
Project 3: Elm Street
From Linda Drive to Southern City Limits
Proposed Class III bike route, Class IV bikeways, and various pedestrian improvements
Project 2: Fair Oaks Avenue
From Elm Street to Orchard Street
City staff will explore segment between Valley Blvd. and Traffic Way more thoroughly as part of future development projects and/or the General Plan update.
Proposed Class IV bikeways, and various pedestrian improvements
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Three Projects
Where are the three selected projects located?
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Planning-Level Designs
Three projects received planning-level design recommendations.
SAMPLE: Project 2: Elm Street
DRAFT
DRAFT
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Next Steps
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Looking Ahead
Finalize Draft Active Transportation Plan
Final Stakeholder Working Group Meeting (Nov 2024)
Planning Commission Presentation (Dec 2024)
City Council Adoption (Jan 2025)
Project Closeout (Feb 2025)
Next steps in the planning process
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Thank you!
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