3. Pleasant
Park Area Traffic Management Study Étude de
gestion de la circulation locale du chemin pleasant park |
That Council:
1.
Approve
the revised Pleasant Park Area Traffic Management Study recommendations, as
indicated in Document 2, subject to stimulus funding availability for
constructing the proposed new sidewalk along Pleasant Park Road.
2.
Should
stimulus funding for the new sidewalk not be available, approve the initial
Pleasant Park Area Traffic Management Study recommendations, as indicated in
Document 3.
3. Approve that the implementation of the
recommended intersection narrowings and mid-block narrowings be in accordance
with the process set out in the Area Traffic Management Guidelines and funding
approval as part of future Capital Budget considerations.
4. Direct
staff to report back to the Transportation Committee, via an IPD, with a review
of the efficacy of the measures to facilitate safe crossing of Pleasant Park to
the transitway one year after construction of the sidewalk.
Que le Conseil :
1.
approuve
les recommandations révisées de l’Étude de gestion de la circulation locale du
chemin Pleasant Park, telles qu’indiquées dans le Document 2, sous réserve de
la disponibilité de fonds de relance permettant la construction du trottoir
proposé le long du chemin Pleasant Park.
2.
En
cas d’indisponibilité de fonds de relance pour la construction d’un nouveau
trottoir, d’approuver les recommandations initiales de l’Étude de gestion de la
circulation locale du chemin Pleasant Park, telles qu’indiquées dans le
Document 3.
3. approuve que la mise en œuvre des
avancées de trottoirs à l’intersection et à mi-pâté soit conforme au processus
décrit dans les lignes directrices de gestion de la circulation locale et à
l’approbation de financement, dans le cadre de l’examen à venir du budget
d’immobilisation.
4. demande
au personnel de faire rapport au Comité des transports par l’entremise d’une
Information distribuée auparavant, un an après la construction du trottoir, sur
l’efficacité des mesures mises en place pour favoriser la traversée en toute
sécurité du chemin Pleasant Park vers le Transitway.
Documentation
1. City Manager’s report, Infrastructure
Services and Community Sustainability dated 01 June 2009 (ACS2009-ICS-PGM-0077).
2. Extract
of Draft Minute, 17 June 2009.
Report to/Rapport au:
Transportation Committee
and Council / et au Conseil
01 June 2009 / le 01 juin 2009
Submitted by/Soumis par: Nancy Schepers, Deputy City
Manager/Directrice municipale adjointe,
Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability/Services
d’infrastructure et Viabilité des collectivités
Contact/Personne
ressource: Vivi Chi, Manager/Gestionnaire,
Transportation Planning/Planification des transports, Planning and Growth
Management/Urbanisme et Gestion de la croissance
(613)
580-2424 x 21877, Vivi.Chi@ottawa.ca
Alta Vista (18) |
Ref N°:ACS2009-ICS-PGM-0077 |
SUBJECT: |
PLEASANT PARK AREA TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT STUDY |
|
|
OBJET: |
étude de gestion de la
circulation locale du chemin pleasant park |
REPORT
RECOMMENDATIONS
That Transportation Committee recommend that
Council:
1. Approve
the revised Pleasant Park Area Traffic Management Study recommendations, as
indicated in Document 2, subject to stimulus funding availability for
constructing the proposed new sidewalk along Pleasant Park Road.
2. Should
stimulus funding for the new sidewalk not be available, approve the initial
Pleasant Park Area Traffic Management Study recommendations, as indicated in
Document 3.
3. Approve
that the implementation of the recommended intersection narrowings and
mid-block narrowings be in accordance with the process set out in the Area
Traffic Management Guidelines and funding approval as part of future Capital
Budget considerations.
Que le
Comité des transports recommande au Conseil :
1. D’approuver
les recommandations révisées de l’Étude de gestion de la circulation locale du
chemin Pleasant Park, telles qu’indiquées dans le Document 2, sous réserve de
la disponibilité de fonds de relance permettant la construction du trottoir
proposé le long du chemin Pleasant Park.
2. En
cas d’indisponibilité de fonds de relance pour la construction d’un nouveau
trottoir, d’approuver les recommandations initiales de l’Étude de gestion de la
circulation locale du chemin Pleasant Park, telles qu’indiquées dans le
Document 3.
3. D’approuver
que la mise en œuvre des avancées de trottoirs à l’intersection et à mi-pâté
soit conforme au processus décrit dans les lignes directrices de gestion de la
circulation locale et à l’approbation de financement, dans le cadre de l’examen
à venir du budget d’immobilisation.
BACKGROUND
The City received a petition for a traffic
study signed by a contingent of local residents living on Pleasant Park
Road. Their request for a traffic study
was prioritized against all similar requests and, as a result of this process,
an area traffic study was undertaken.
The initial recommendations of the Pleasant Park Road Area Traffic
Management study included both intersection and mid-block roadway
narrowings. Not included in these
recommendations, however, was a request for a controlled pedestrian crossing
(i.e. signals or stop controls) on Pleasant Park Road between Alta Vista Drive
and Riverside Drive. Existing vehicular
and pedestrian conditions do not meet the minimum warrants for a controlled
crossing.
The approval of the Pleasant Park Road Area Traffic Management study
recommendations was initially intended to proceed under the delegated authority
process approved by Council. Given the
community’s concerns regarding the need for a controlled pedestrian crossing,
the Ward Councillor, Councillor Hume, has lifted delegated authority, and asked
staff to prepare a report to Transportation Committee for their consideration.
DISCUSSION
Study
Process and Initial Recommendations
Pleasant Park Road is classified as
a collector roadway in the City’s Official Plan, and is a two-lane, two-way
road approximately 11 metres wide, with a sidewalk on the south side. Parking is generally permitted along both
sides of the road. Peak hour traffic
volumes in the study area range between 400 and 500 vehicles, with heavy
vehicles accounting for three to four per cent of the totals. These volumes are consistent with nearby
roads with a similar classification; an example being Kilborn Avenue to the south,
having peak hour volumes between 500 and 600 vehicles. The speed limit for Pleasant Park Road is 50
km/h. Motor vehicle speeds recorded
during the study indicated that 85th percentile speeds were
approximately 10 km/h higher than the 50 km/h speed limit.
Pleasant Park Road fulfils its
collector function by providing access to area residents from surrounding local
roads to the higher order major collector and arterial roads. While the high level of service provided by
Pleasant Park Road is considered a positive characteristic of the community
when viewed in isolation, it has, in recent times, become a concern for some
area residents, particularly those who front directly onto this collector
road. Area residents suggested that
traffic volumes, traffic speeds, and the use of the street by non-local
traffic, has increased to the point that some area residents now perceive the
level and type of traffic to be a safety hazard and detrimental to the quality
of the local environment they expect within the community.
The purpose of the ATM study was to
address the concerns raised by area residents with regard to speeding,
aggressive driving practices, and conditions for pedestrians crossing Pleasant
Park Road. Consistent with the ATM
Guidelines approach, a number of alternatives were considered and evaluated
over the course of the study. These
measures included centre medians, speed humps, and a variety of roadway
narrowings. A number of service
providers expressed concerns over the effect that speed humps could have on
their passengers, clients and equipment.
As the result of input from agencies such as OC Transpo, and Emergency
Services, a series of road narrowings were initially recommended through the
ATM study process over the more aggressive vertical measures.
A number of the concerns that were
raised over the course of the study were related to pedestrians having to cross
Pleasant Park Road in order to access the Transitway station. Since the Pleasant Park Transitway station
has only two access towers (stairs/elevators), one to access each of the
northbound and southbound buses, local Transitway users are required to cross
Pleasant Park Road without the benefit of a controlled crossing location at
least once at the beginning or end of a round trip.
The initial ATM study recommendations
included eight intersection and mid-block roadway narrowings on the subject
section of Pleasant Park Road (see Document 3). These measures were developed through the process described in
the City Council approved Area Traffic Management Guidelines and were intended
to emphasize to drivers the residential nature of the street.
The
estimated cost of construction of these intersection narrowings and mid-block
narrowings, as a stand-alone project, is $70,000. If approved, these narrowings would be placed on the waiting list
of approved ATM measures for future implementation. Funding for the implementation of Area Traffic Management
measures is subject to annual budget deliberations, and either funded as an
Area Traffic Management project through the Strategic Initiatives funding
envelope within the Capital Budget, or included as part of a future roadway
reconstruction project. Currently the
list of approved ATM measures on the implementation waiting list is approximately
$7 million.
During the course of the study,
staff responded to requests for a controlled pedestrian crossing of Pleasant
Park Road by undertaking a number of assessments:
A supplementary review was requested
by senior staff in order to reconsider all opportunities for improving
pedestrian access to and from the local Transitway station and bus stops. A number of scenarios were considered in
order to determine whether they were operationally feasible, even though they
were not technically warranted. Through
this review, staff confirmed that providing a signalized crossing in the
vicinity of the Transitway station was both technically unwarranted and
prohibitively expensive due to the requirement for pre-emption equipment tied
into the operation of the at-grade railroad crossing. Also, multi-way stop controls on Pleasant Park Road near the
at-grade railway crossing would not be permitted by the railway authority, due
to safety concerns over the potential for vehicle queues to extend across the
railway. The most feasible option for
facilitating pedestrian crossings was determined to be an option that included
a new sidewalk on the north side of Pleasant Park Road between Alta Vista Drive
and Rodney Crescent, and multi-way stop controls on Pleasant Park Road at
Cavendish Road.
At
the time the Pleasant Park Road Study was being undertaken, there was no
funding source available for constructing the additional sidewalk on Pleasant
Park Road, since there was already a sidewalk on one side of this collector
road. This additional sidewalk did not
qualify for funding under any of the existing sidewalk funding programs. As well, the Area Traffic Management
program, the program through which this study was undertaken, was seen to have
limited funding available for funding the estimated $203,000 required to
construct this new sidewalk. As a
result, the sidewalk and multi-way stop controls option was not included in the
initial Pleasant Park Study recommendations that were presented to the public
through the ATM study process.
Recent Opportunity for Funding
Sidewalk Through Federal Economic Stimulus Package
As part of its 2009 Budget, the
federal government announced an economic stimulus package that provides
significant infrastructure funding opportunities for municipalities across
Canada. On 8 April 2009, City Council
approved a City of Ottawa Priority List of Ready-To-Go Infrastructure Projects,
which included $3 million being requested for sidewalk funding, with a further
report intended to be brought to Committee, prior to the end of Q2 2009, to
identify which specific sidewalk locations can be completed (see Corporate
Services and Economic Development Report 40, Document 1, Appendix A). On 5 June
2009, the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada announced a funding
commitment and partnering with the City on multiple infrastructure projects,
which includes $3 million for sidewalks.
This recently announced economic
stimulus package presents an opportunity for funding a sidewalk along Pleasant
Park Road that was not previously available.
Staff is recommending the Pleasant Park Road sidewalk be included in the
list of sidewalk locations on the City of Ottawa Priority List of Ready-To-Go
Infrastructure Projects. As a result of
this opportunity, revised Pleasant Park Road Area Traffic Management Study
recommendations are being brought forward to Committee for consideration, which
now includes a sidewalk and multi-way stop controls, as described in Document
2.
The revised recommendations of the
Pleasant Park Road Area Traffic Management study, subject to stimulus funding
availability for constructing the new Pleasant Park Road sidewalk, now include
the following:
Of note, constructing the sidewalk
within the existing pavement area, as opposed to within the boulevard, would
achieve the same traffic calming effect intended with the narrowings that were
previously recommended and also minimize the disruption to properties located
along the north side of Pleasant Park Road.
CONSULTATION
Public consultation has not been undertaken
regarding the revised recommendations (a sidewalk along the north side of
Pleasant Park Road, between Alta Vista Drive and Rodney Crescent, and all-way
stop controls at the Cavendish Road intersection), as these were not considered
a feasible option until the recently announced federal government economic
stimulus package. In light of this, notices
of these revised recommendations being considered at Transportation Committee
will be hand delivered to all households along Pleasant Park Road, in advance
of the Committee meeting.
Consultations for the Area Traffic Management
Study for Pleasant Park Road between Alta Vista Drive and Riverside Drive
included the following:
28 June 2005 - Initial information
session with a group of local residents
This information session served to
introduce interested residents to the Area Traffic Management process, and to
generate feedback on their concerns related to traffic on the subject section
of Pleasant Park Road. This session was
not a formal Public Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting; however, participants
were advised that a PAC would be created as part of this localized traffic
study.
21 March 2006 - Public Advisory
Committee (PAC) #1
Primary purpose was to review the
information that was going to be presented at the upcoming POH meeting, and
identify any missing information. In
addition, since there were new people attending this PAC meeting, the study
process was reviewed and study expectations were discussed. This meeting outlined the process that the
study would follow, reviewed the types of issues that had been raised to date,
raised additional issues to be considered, and touched on potential
solutions.
28 March 2006 - Public Open House
(POH) #1
Attendance included 10
individuals including one university newspaper reporter. A series of boards were displayed which
conveyed the traffic data that had been gathered to date. This information included historic traffic
volumes, traffic speeds, heavy vehicle volumes, pedestrian crossing volumes,
and collision statistics.
27 June 2006 – PAC #2
Discussions
centered on the list of issues/concerns that had been generated by PAC#1, and
POH#1. A plan of the study area was
tabled. This plan included a scenario
with six narrowings. In addition a
four-page handout containing alternative options for curb extensions, mid-block
narrowings and median islands was distributed to the PAC members for discussion
purposes. There was a desire on the
part of the group for more comprehensive comments regarding the issues/concerns
that have been raised and documented to date.
18 January 2007 – PAC #3
Discussions
centered on the revised list of issues and concerns and the corresponding
information provided by various City staff to address/explain these
issues. The types of issues responded
to in this information package included: signalized pedestrian crossing warrants,
level railway crossing history, pedestrian access to the Transitway, on-street
parking, speed zoning policy, truck traffic volumes, and traffic signal
timing. The group also discussed the
POH#1.
1 February 2007 – POH #2
Attendance included 17
individuals. Nine comment sheets were
submitted: four supported the plan, two did not support the plan, and three had
other comments. A series of boards were
displayed which conveyed the updated traffic data that had been gathered to
date. In addition, the recommended
scenario was displayed for review and comment by those in attendance.
LEGAL/RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
There are no Legal/Risk Management impediments
to the implementation of this Report's recommendations.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no immediate financial implications
to approving the recommendations of this report. Implementation will be subject to project prioritization and
funding availability within the Federal Economic Stimulus Package or determined
through Capital Budget deliberations in future years.
Document 1 Location
Plan – Pleasant Park Road Area Traffic Management Study
Document 2 Proposed
Roadway Modifications
Document 3 Initial
Recommendations of Pleasant Park Road Area Traffic Management Study
DISPOSITION
Once funding has been confirmed/approved, staff
will proceed with implementation of the approved measures.
INITIAL RECOMMENDATIONS OF PLEASANT PARK ROAD
Pleasant Park Area Traffic Management Study
étude de gestion de la circulation locale du chemin pleasant park
ACS2009-ICS-PGM-0077 Alta Vista (18)
The following public submissions were received and are held on file :
a. S. Sale, resident, e-mail dated 15 June 2009
b. R. Burns, resident, written submission dated 17 June 2009
Councillor Hume indicated
that residents are in support of what staff propose, but have some concerns on
the efficacy of the measures in regards to the safe crossing at the
Transitway. They preferred to be given
an opportunity to come back to the Committee after the measures are in place,
to indicate whether or not they are working and if not deemed to be sufficient,
to present a case for the installation of a traffic signal. He proposed that the item rise to Council,
with the direction that staff report back on the efficacy of the measures after
they are in place.
The following residents were
present and supported that which was proposed by Councillor Hume: Ron Burns, John Szczepaniak, Philippe Roy
and Michel Haddad.
The Committee supported the
request of the Ward Councillor and the following Motion was proposed:
Moved by C. Leadman
That
staff be directed to report back to the Transportation Committee, via an IPD,
with a review of the efficacy of the measures to facilitate safe crossing of
Pleasant Park to the transitway one year after construction of the sidewalk.
CARRIED
That Transportation Committee recommend that Council:
1. Approve the revised
Pleasant Park Area Traffic Management Study recommendations, as indicated in
Document 2, subject to stimulus funding availability for constructing the
proposed new sidewalk along Pleasant Park Road.
2. Should stimulus
funding for the new sidewalk not be available, approve the initial Pleasant
Park Area Traffic Management Study recommendations, as indicated in Document 3.
3. Approve that the
implementation of the recommended intersection narrowings and mid-block
narrowings be in accordance with the process set out in the Area Traffic
Management Guidelines and funding approval as part of future Capital Budget
considerations.
4. That staff
be directed to report back to the Transportation Committee, via an IPD, with a
review of the efficacy of the measures to facilitate safe crossing of Pleasant
Park to the transitway one year after construction of the sidewalk.
CARRIED, as amended