Traffic

Notes from Traffic Subcommittee Meeting

March 9, 2007

Hosts: Mary Ann Brewin, Steve Martinot

Attending; Fred Dodsworth, David Dempster, Patricia McCoy

Report by David Dempster.

Discussion

Concerns about various intersections and blocks adjacent to or near

the proposed North Shattuck Plaza project (which is bounded by

Shattuck Ave, Vine St., and Rose St).

Rose St. between the light at Henry St & Shattuck Place (west end)

and Oxford St (east end):

slow traffic often occurs in this area at commute times, and on

weekends. The access to and egress from the Longs Drugs parking lot

appears to contribute greatly to the problem of slow traffic in this

area.

If cars on Rose St (from either the westbound or eastbound

directions) try to turn into the Longs Drugs parking lot, other cars

are very often backed up while the accessing car is either waiting

for a car to pull out of a stall in the L.D. lot (typical for

eastbound traffic) or waiting for traffic in the opposite direction

to clear so that a turn can be made (typical for westbound traffic).

This is particularly true on weekends and presents difficulties in

moving traffic efficiently through the area.

Suggestions: eliminate two (actually it would have to be four)

parking spaces on the north side of Rose Street opposite the entry to

L.D. parking lot. This would allow westbound Rose Street traffic to

go around a car making the turn from westbound Rose Street into Longs

Drugs parking lot.

Require traffic exiting Longs Drugs parking lot to turn right onto

eastbound Rose Street. This would have the effect of reducing the

number of times traffic from the Longs Drugs parking lot is backed up

because a car exiting the lot is trying to turn left onto westbound

Rose Street (frequent on weekends and at commute times). Cars exiting

the L.D. parking lot on a left turn often have to wait for eastbound

Rose Street traffic to clear in order to make the left turn.

Also:

-- Create one large central driveway into longs parking lot for both

entry and exit.

-- Move or underground telephone/utilities poles in front of Longs

driveway as they now block visibility especially when looking west

while exiting parking lot.

2)Recent proposals for reconfiguration of Shattuck Ave concurrent

with the NSP proposal would affect the two blocks of Rose St between

the stoplight at Henry/Shattuck Place and Walnut Street by

eliminating the southbound lane of Shattuck Ave between Rose St and

Shattuck Place. This would force traffic intended for southbound

travel to use the stoplight at Rose St, Henry St/Shattuck Place, turn

south on Shattuck Place (which borders the Safeway parking lot) in

order to go southbound on Shattuck Ave below Rose St. This would not

only force such traffic to go through a light and wait for opposing

traffic to clear, it would also cause westbound traffic to back up

behind cars waiting to make that left hand turn and cause lengthier

delays and lengthier travel time in the area.

If this were to happen (closing of small roads as above) both a left

turn lane and green turning arrows would be necessary at Rose and

Shattuck Place/Henry.

Concerns: delayed response time for emergency vehicles (paramedics,

fire, police). How will the NSP project help this situation? A

recently proposed reconfiguration of the area did nothing to help

traffic flow. In fact, one feature of a recent proposal for street

reconfiguration closed southbound Shattuck access between Rose Street

and Shattuck Place.

Vine Street at Shattuck Avenue

westbound Vine Street traffic sometimes will swing around the corner

at Shattuck Ave in a rush to get to an open parking stall in front of

Black Oak Books or Saul's Deli. The potential for a serious

pedestrian injury or a fatality is significantly higher when

westbound Vine Street drivers behave this way.

Eastbound Vine Street drivers (above Shattuck Ave) have also been

known to swing into the westbound lane in order to go around other

eastbound drivers waiting for a parking spot. This poses a threat to

cyclists in the westbound lane of Vine Street.

Concern was expressed that serious injury or a fatality might occur

at this intersection, because of these observed behaviors. An

instance was cited of a pregnant woman having been killed by a driver

at the intersection of Shattuck and Vine while crossing Shattuck Ave.

It was suggested that bulb-outs placed on both sides of Vine Street

immediately east of Shattuck Ave will allow pedestrians to be more

prominently placed in the view of Vine Street drivers both eastbound

and westbound while remaining in the relatively safe haven of the

sidewalk. Such bulb-out placement may then have the effect of

encouraging drivers to slow down because they will be more likely to

see pedestrians waiting to cross the intersection. Bulb-outs on both

sides of Shattuck Ave immediately south of Vine Street were also

advocated for similar reasons.

Bulb outs would also give pedestrians less distance to go

crossing Shattuck.

Reconfiguration of Shattuck Avenue between Shattuck Place and Rose Street

It is of essential importance that northbound Shattuck Avenue remains

open to emergency vehicle access (paramedics, fire, and police) to

neighborhoods north and east of this location. Any reconfiguration

that closes or slows traffic on this small stretch of northbound

Shattuck Ave will result in unacceptable delays in response time.

A suggested configuration including an exit lane for northbound

Shattuck Ave that would roughly parallel the curve of the major lanes

of traffic as Shattuck Ave becomes Shattuck Place and then becomes

the natural extension of northbound Shattuck Avenue as it travels

north of Rose Street. This would have the effect of shifting the

northbound Shattuck Avenue lane further west than its current

location, thus potentially opening up plaza space.

Relative to this suggestion, concern was expressed that this would

create a new hazard for collisions at the point that the northbound

exit lane meets the southbound Shattuck Ave lane at the north side of

Shattuck Place.

Rose Street at Spruce Street

This 4-way intersection is regulated by a three-way stop with only

the eastbound direction of Rose St. having no stop sign. Very often

eastbound Rose Street rivers unfamiliar with the area will very

nearly come to a stop at this intersection or come to a complete

stop, in spite of there being no such restriction. This problem is

particularly prevalent on weekends, when the number of people

unfamiliar with the intersection is greater, probably because they

are traveling to places like Tilden Park. As a consequence, drivers

familiar with the intersection who happen to be behind drivers who

slow down will often sound their horn to get the driver in front of

them to move. Residents in the area report that they frequently hear

car horns throughout the daylight hours of the weekend.

Southbound Spruce Street traffic will most often turn right onto

westbound Rose Street. Very often drivers will not come to a complete

stop, but will slow enough only to verify that there is no westbound

Rose traffic and no northbound Spruce Street traffic turning into the

westbound Rose Street lane. There have been instances of near misses

with pedestrians and cyclists on southbound Spruce who slow down even

less and very nearly run into cars making the turn from southbound

Spruce Street onto westbound Rose Street.

Other southbound Spruce Street traffic will try to hurry across the

intersection at Rose Street to continue on southbound Spruce Street.

This can result in near misses with eastbound Rose Street traffic and

might also result in a near miss with a pedestrian crossing Spruce

Street on the south side of Rose Street because the southbound Spruce

Street driver has failed to notice a pedestrian crossing the

intersection.

The pavement on Spruce Street immediately south of Rose Street has

been marked for bulb-outs on both the west and east sides. This may

have the effect of encouraging southbound Spruce Street traffic to

turn right onto westbound Rose Street, as it may give the appearance

of being a road closed to through traffic. It is hoped that this will

result in a calmer Spruce Street south of Rose Street, but that is

yet to be seen.

Also mentioned were the Rose street and M.L.King jr. intersection

needing a passing lane on the right to go around cars waiting to turn

left (or a left turn lane, again with turning arrows).

Cedar at the oxford intersection also needs turning arrows on cedar

for turning onto oxford both going west and east.,

We expressed interest in having a Berkeley traffic engineer come

talk to us, the committee and the whole of loccna at some point, to

answer our questions and explain city decisions about traffic in this

area.