The Traffic & Safety Commission met on March 27 to review many street striping projects around the city. The meeting was quite long and can be viewed on the City of Albany site, and there are some pretty interesting project proposals throughout. I've cut out the relevant parts which can be viewed below (only 21 minutes cut from almost 4 hours).
Here are some key notes from the meeting regarding our street:
This step was the "65% Plans." The next step is the presentation of the "95% Plans," which are just about the final design. That will be the last meeting before the City begins implementing the plans. After the changes have been made, we should make sure the City does a followup speed study to see if the changes made a measurable difference.
The last segment was a discussion about the island at Peralta and Posen. For now, reflectors will be added to increase awareness at night for drivers. No design plans were introduced, and we probably won't see much until after they are put in already.
Also introduced during the meeting, although it will not be implemented, was an idea for redesigning of this intersection. No official file has been made available yet, but below is a screenshot (fuzzy, sorry).
- The stop sign at Francis on Peralta southbound was a mistake. There will NOT be a stop sign as part of these plans.
- The curb on Peralta just above Francis will be marked red for no parking to help people turning off Francis to see traffic coming from the left.
- The center yellow line will remain a solid double yellow line all the way, including the 900 block
- At the top of the hill, just south of the Manor Way crosswalk, a bike lane transition area will shift the yellow line as a bike lane on one side ends and the other side begins.
- The traffic lanes in both directions will be narrower.
- The bike lane will transition to sharrows (in both directions) just south of the Manor Way crosswalk. The center of all sharrows will be 12 feet away from the curb. The designer said that "it's not going to feel like an abrupt transition. I think that in combination with all the additional striping that's out there is going to have a pretty good traffic calming effect."
- A white solid line will be painted on the street at the edge of the parking zone the entire street. Where there are bike lanes, this will serve as the right side of these lanes.
- On the uphill portions of the 900 block of Peralta (between Marin and Sonoma both ways), "15 MPH" will be painted on the street.
- No crosswalk is planned for Francis and Peralta, though it could be reconsidered in the future.
- The intersection of Sonoma and Peralta will not be changed, though it was mentioned during the public comment portion that many riders and drivers roll through this intersection frequently. Additional enforcement was encouraged.
This step was the "65% Plans." The next step is the presentation of the "95% Plans," which are just about the final design. That will be the last meeting before the City begins implementing the plans. After the changes have been made, we should make sure the City does a followup speed study to see if the changes made a measurable difference.
The last segment was a discussion about the island at Peralta and Posen. For now, reflectors will be added to increase awareness at night for drivers. No design plans were introduced, and we probably won't see much until after they are put in already.
Also introduced during the meeting, although it will not be implemented, was an idea for redesigning of this intersection. No official file has been made available yet, but below is a screenshot (fuzzy, sorry).