Bryker Woods, Pemberton Heights, and 31st Street HOA Traffic Calming Project

Traffic calming plan defeated

This evening we received the following email from the city:

Dear Working Group Members: 

I am sending out the official results of the voting process for the traffic calming plan developed for the Brykerwoods / Pemberton Heights Neighborhood.

The ballots have been counted, and the results are:

Yes = 314 (58%)
No  =  232 (42%)

The traffic calming guidelines say that of the ballots received by the City, at least 60% have to be in favor of implementing the plan in order for the plan to be implemented.  Since the minimum 60% approval rating was not obtained, the traffic calming plan will not be implemented.

I would like to thank all of you for participating in the Traffic Calming Process.

Alan C. Hughes, P.E.
Supervising Engineer
Traffic Engineering Division
Transportation Department
City of Austin, Texas

Outcome of Cherrywood Traffic Calming Project

Back before our project got under way, the city carried out a traffic calming project for the Cherrywood neighborhood.   The city measured the volume and 85% speed for each street in Cherrywood.   The data is
here and here.

In the spreadsheets, NB, SB, EB, and WB denote traffic flowing northbound, southbound, eastbound, and westbound, respectively.

Outcome of August 19 meeting

The traffic calming working group met again last night.  We made final changes to the traffic calming plan and submitted it to the city for the final, official vote.

Stop signs

Of the nine stop sign requests we submitted on July 22, the city approved the following:

• 31st & Wabash
• Ethridge & Jefferson
• 4-way @ Wooldridge & Gaston

The city approved replacing the yield sign at 34th & 35th with a stop sign.

The city agreed to replace the yield sign at Gaston & Claire with a stop sign.  End result is that eastbound traffic on Claire will have to stop before entering Gaston.

All other stop sign requests were rejected.

Curb improvements

The city agreed to the curb improvement at 29th and Wooldridge.  The other two curb improvements were rejected.

Modifications to plan

We voted to make the following changes to the most recent draft plan:

• Add one speed cushion on Westover between Jefferson and Harris.  Although they were already in the draft plan, we also verified, via a vote, that we wanted one speed cushion on Mohle between Glenview & Harris and one speed cushion on 30th between Jefferson and Harris.
  
• Add a curb improvement at 29th and Wooldridge (as mentioned above)
• In lieu of more extensive curb reconfiguration, address speed issues at Claire/Wooldridge by moving stop sign to more visible location, and "squaring" the intersection via addition of "buttons", striping, small curb island or similarly cost effective measures.
• Add two solar-powered, flashing, fixed-position speed signs on Harris between Wathen and Windsor, one facing south, the other facing north. Preference is to install these on public property, e.g. the triangle at Windsor & Harris.  Where that is not possible, the city will not install a sign in someone's yard without the approval of the property owner.  (If none of the property owners agree, the signs will not be installed at all.)

Vote-invariant actions

The city will convert the project area's existing speed humps (four on Jefferson and one on Northwood) to speed cushions regardless of whether the official vote passes or fails.

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Clickable map of recent stop sign approvals and traffic calming plan after the August 19 meeting.  Click on each icon and shaded street for a description

View Larger Map

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Submission to city

We voted to submit the plan to the city for the official city vote.

Remaining process

The city will need 3-4 weeks to prepare the ballot.  The TC reps will each receive a review copy of the ballot.  While the contents of the plan will not be subject to change, we will meet once more, however briefly, to address any concerns about the ballot's map or verbiage.  Meeting schedule TBD.

Next working group meeting: August 19

The next working group meeting is set for Tuesday, August 19, at 6:30 pm.

Location:  Senior Activity Center
Address:  North Lamar at W. 29th Street (S.E. corner, on Shoal Creek Blvd.)
Room:  Arts and Crafts Room
Time:  6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

Outcome of July 22 working group meeting

The traffic calming working group had a lengthy meeting Tuesday night.  We received some citizen input, heard some news from the city, and made significant changes to the traffic calming plan.

Citizen Input

A Jarratt resident spoke in favor of a semi-diverter that would prevent drivers from entering the neighborhood at Jarratt and Windsor.  His primary concern was that speed cushions on Hartford would divert northbound traffic onto Jarratt.

A Leigh resident spoke against the Jarratt semi-diverter, expressing (among other things) concern that a Jarratt semi-diverter would send more traffic down Leigh.

A resident spoke against speed cushions near the intersection of Ethridge and Harris.

A resident spoke in support of a traffic circle at Gaston and Wooldridge.

News from the city

The city approved all-way stop signs at the following intersections:

• 33rd and Kerby
• Harris and Gaston
• Wooldridge and Hardouin
• Wooldridge and Westover
• Gaston and Shoal Creek

These should be installed within four weeks.

They also approved replacing the yield signs at Wooldridge and Gaston with stop signs.  The stop signs will continue to face Wooldridge, so Wooldridge (not Gaston) traffic will be forced to stop.

City also said they can flip the direction of the two-way stops at the following intersections:

• Oakmont and 32nd
• Oakmont and 34th

The draft plan called for curb changes (squaring-off) at a number of intersections, e.g. 29th/Wooldridge and Northwood/Wooldridge.  City said it would cost $900K (if contractors do it) or $450K (if the city does it) to make all those curb changes.  That's much too expensive, so the city said "no" to the entire bucket of curb changes.  The prices were not itemized.

Changes to draft plan

The results from the draft plan survey suggested two obvious changes: eliminating the Gaston semi-diverter and reducing the number of speed cushions.

Given that the city approved a handful more stop signs, one strategy was to eliminate all speed cushions and instead push the city to install as many stop signs as necessary to calm our traffic. Right now, the city seems more flexible about stop sign placement than they were six months ago, when we first started the traffic calming project.  In January, the city said none of our intersections qualified for additional stop signs.  In the past few months, not only has the city approved the stop signs mentioned above, but they have installed new stop signs at Westover/Harris, 32nd/Harris, and 34th/Jefferson.   Nonetheless, the working group decided it was unrealistic to rely solely on stop signs; although several of the neighborhood's requests have been accepted, several have also been rejected.  The working group also decided speed cushions were more appropriate than stop signs on Northwood and 29th, where traffic volume is higher and most of those street's residents have already voted their acceptance of speed cushions in multiple surveys.

Here is what we ultimately decided (see the map below):

• Drop all proposed (Gaston) and requested (Jarratt) semi-diverters
• Drop all speed cushions except for the following:
  • Northwood between MoPac and Wooldridge.
  • 29th between Jefferson and Lamar.
  • Wooldridge between 29th and Northwood
  • Shoal Creek from 34th to 31st
  • 31st from Shoal Creek to Lamar
  • Mohle (only one speed cushion between Jefferson and Harris)
  • 30th (only one speed cushion between Kerby and Harris)
• Add speed cushions at the dog park, i.e. on the 2600 and 2700 blocks of Shoal Creek, i.e. south of the formerly proposed Gaston semi-diverter
• Request pricing for the following curb changes, in the following decreasing priority:
  • 29th at Wooldridge
  • Claire & Wooldridge
  • 34th at 35th
• Request stop signs at the following intersections:
  • Wabash & 31st
  • Jefferson & 32nd
  • Jefferson & Ethridge
  • Jefferson & Preston
  • Westover & Kerby
  • Claire & Wooldridge
  • Jefferson & 30th
  • 29th and Wooldridge
  • 34th and 35th

If the Westover & Kerby stop sign is rejected, we will also add a single speed cushion on Westover between Jefferson and Harris.

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Clickable map of recent stop sign requests and draft plan after the July 22 meeting.  Click on each icon and shaded street for a description.

View Larger Map

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Next steps

The working group will meet again once the city has responded to our additional stop sign requests and the three curb improvement areas.  Since the city representatives at the meeting are not responsible for that work, they were unable to commit to a date.  We hope to have an answer within a week or two. 

We do not plan to perform any more neighborhood-wide surveys.  Once we believe the plan is ready, we will submit it to the city for an official vote.  

Neighborhood rejects draft plan

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the survey and return their response. 

Based on the survey responses, the neighborhood would not approve the draft traffic calming plan.  Here are the numbers.  Out of 289 votes, 129 were in in favor of the plan and 160 were opposed.  Some of the major objections to the draft plan were the Gaston semi-diverter (52 votes), all speed cushions (32), too many speed cushions (28), and the absence of a semi-diverter on Jarratt (24). 

The working group will meet again tonight, Tuesday July 22, to decide how to proceed.

Summary of July 9 open house

Approximately sixty people attended last night's open house.   Some had specific questions about items in the draft plan.  Many also had procedural questions, e.g.

• Why did the city select our area for a traffic calming project?  Short answer: lots of traffic complaints from the neighborhood, and we were highest according to the city's ranking system based on traffic speed and traffic volume.  See section IV of the project guidelines (it's just a few paragraphs) and the traffic speed/volume measurements.
• How were working group members selected?  Answer: the city mailed an meeting announcement to everyone in the neighborhood in December 2007.  The people who showed up elected the representatives.
• Who established the rules for the project?  Answer: the city established the rules.  The working group is not empowered to change them. 
• Can those rules be changed?  The rules were established by people who answer to elected officials.  Anyone can lobby elected officials to change rules.
• Would it be more effective to attack  our traffic issues in a way that is not constrained by the rules that traffic calming projects must follow? 

The majority of attendees were from Pemberton Heights, with a smaller number from Bryker Woods.  A majority of the attendees were opposed to the plan.  Some were opposed to the entire plan, while others said they would approve the plan if specific items were removed.

The deadline for returning your surveys is July 17.  If you have not already done so, please read the survey and respond to any of the area representatives listed on your survey form.  If you oppose the plan, please be as specific as possible regarding which items you oppose.

See speed cushions for yourself

You can find speed cushions, just like the ones the city would use in our plan, around the 1800 block of 38 1/2 Street between Cherrywood and Airport, east of IH-35.  There are two kinds of speed cushion installations there:  a set of three cushions, and a pair cushions separated by a concrete island. The city would use the set-of-three cushions in our project, not the pair separated by the concrete island. 

If you are concerned about what it is like to drive over this type of speed cushions, we recommend that you visit the 1800 block of 38 1/2 Street and try them for yourself.

How many speed cushions?

Unfortunately, the draft survey map does not specify how many speed cushions will be installed on each street.  This has resulted in some confusion.  Some readers have assumed that each ‘dash’ on the map represents a speed cushion location.  Please note that is NOT the case.   The ‘dashes’ on the map are intended only to indicate the streets on which speed cushions would be located under the draft plan.  The city recommends that speed cushions be placed 200’-400’ apart.  For example, a standard application would yield 2-3 locations for speed cushions in the two-block stretch of Northwood between Jefferson and Harris.

Open House, July 9, Howson Library

Pemberton  Heights Neighborhood Association and Bryker Woods Neighborhood Association will host an open house on July 9, 6:30 - 8:30pm, at Howson Library, to allow the neighborhood to meet with traffic calming representatives to discuss the draft traffic calming plan.

This will be an informal meeting.  Rather than a traditional presentation followed by Q & A, we will post blown-up copies of the survey map on the walls and answer anything you ask.   You do not need to arrive 6:30 sharp; drop by any time between 6:30 and 8:30pm.

We will also have a ballot box for filled-out surveys.

Howson Library is at 2500 Exposition.