COMPLETE STREET DESIGN: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

John Pulliam PE and Frederik Venter PE

APWA Monterey Bay Chapter

November 13, 2013

ASSHTO

“Transportation engineers know that the entire system works more efficiently when we build streets, bridges, and highways that can accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians in the safest way possible,” AASHTO Director John Horsley said in a statement.

NACTO Urban Street Design Guide

“The Street Design Guide goes much further, giving engineering guidance on everything from crosswalks (zebra-striped, please, for greater visibility) to parklets (go ahead, usurp a few parking spots!) and from contra-flow bus lanes (bicycles optional) to slow zones (speed humps, tables, and cushions” The NACTO guides are a “kind of permission slip for people to innovate”

A Complete Street

Challenge: documenting design exceptions

With apologies – I may or may not be able to attend today’s call (sick kid duty). A couple of thoughts though:

1. To pull off a context sensitive solution, I think we should advance our thinking far enough that we can identify the contexts that exist in San Jose (or at least introduce a couple of examples so they get how this works). We can use a map or photos (or combination) to show that we have thought about this. Otherwise they might wrongly think we are suggesting that a cycle track is a universal recommendation (losing sight that it is specific to a particular context). This also allows us to emphasize our local knowledge. A single slide or board can accomplish this as an introduction to our Figure 7 discussion.

2. While we seem to be going the context sensitive route we should discuss how a layered network approach might fit in (our competitors might suggest this route). Not that this is a bad thing – just something to consider.

3. In order to emphasize our design capabilities, we could slightly change the discussion to “sustainable streets” (make the pitch an up-sell) which are both “complete” and “green” then we introduce some of the cool green design work Colvin and others have done. We need to take every opportunity to emphasize that this is not an academic exercise – that we plan, design, and construct (oversee) Complete (or Sustainable) Streets.

4. We might want to consider framing our discussion with the following questions. We can use these as both universal discussion questions and to frame up the benefits of our Figure 7 (so we would specifically discuss how our Figure 7 for a specific context accomplishes these things).

a. Is this Complete (functions and users)? b. Is this Context Sensitive? c. Does this work (operations, safety, etc.) d. Is this Constructible and Cost Effective? (retrofit) e. Is this Green? (storm water, etc.) f. Does this reflect community values (local residents, business owners, political realities,

consistent with other plans, etc.)?

A Complete Street Must Be:

– Context Sensitive

– Functional and Safe

– Sustainable (LID)

– Constructible

– Maintainable and Operable

– Reflect Community Values

Designing and Constructing Complete Streets

Challenge: no big street trees in median without crash barrier

From Curb Extensions to Bus-bulbs

Challenge: no standard for curb extensions

Transit - BRT Stations

Bus bulbs and bike lanes

Alternative Bicycle Parking Locations

Sidewalk Zones and Lighting

Parker Avenue (Rodeo, CA)

Parker Avenue

• Old Highway 40 run through downtown Rodeo

• Constructed in 1920’s, linked SF to Delaware

• I-80 opens and bypasses town, leaving a high-speed, 4-lane road through the middle of town

Parker Avenue

Parker Avenue

Parker Avenue

• Existing conditions

– Wide roadway / excessive cross slope

– Dangerous for pedestrians to cross / high speeds

– No bike facilities

– Not walkable

– Lack of community

Parker Avenue • Reconstruction project included:

– New roadway with landscaped medians, bike lanes, and parking

– New sidewalks with pedestrian bulb-outs, including colored concrete, landscaping, trees, and street furniture

– Decorative pedestrian lights between 1st and 4th Streets – New signalized pedestrian crossing at post office/Lefty

Gomez field. – New signal at 7th Street – Safety street lights along entire project – Improved street drainage – ADA-compliant access through-out project – New signals at 2nd and 4th Street intersections

Parker Avenue

• Challenges faced in design:

– Conforming to existing frontage improvements

– Meeting ADA

– Lowering the roadway

– Construction in a downtown environment

• Conforming to existing frontage improvements, positive drainage, ADA

Parker Avenue

Dougherty Road Improvements

It is Fun to Walk!

ALLISON AVENUE - A COMPLETE/GREEN STREET

ALLISON AVENUE - A COMPLETE/GREEN STREET

Permeable Concrete Pour, Curing & Test

Parkway Landscaping & Irrigation

ALLISON AVENUE - A COMPLETE/GREEN STREET

END

Mission Avenue - Oceanside