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Item 26 Staff Report Consider Report on Traffic Congestion in the Downtown AreaDATE: TO: FROM: SUBJECT: MEETING DATE: 08/02/99 ITEM NO. 2 (D COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT July 23, 1999 MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL TOWN MANAGER CONSIDER REPORT ON TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA RECOMMENDATION: Consider report on traffic congestion in the downtown area. BACKGROUND: Occasionally, there are incidents on State Highway 17 that cause southbound freeway traffic through Town to either slow significantly, or stop altogether. When this occurs, some motorists, in a vain attempt to bypass the back-up on the freeway, detour through the downtown area intending to re-enter the freeway from South Santa Cruz Avenue. This causes traffic in the downtown area to become gridlocked. Council has requested that staff review and report on this matter. DISCUSSION: Prior to the 1957 construction of State Highway 17, traffic from the Santa Clara Valley heading over the mountains to Santa Cruz converged in Los Gatos, eventually traveling on Santa Cruz Highway. Traffic entered Town on San Jose - Los Gatos Road (known today as Los Gatos Boulevard), Los Gatos -Saratoga Avenue, or Winchester Boulevard. All traffic eventually passed through W. Main Street and S. Santa Cruz Avenue before continuing south. With the construction of Highway 17, traffic southbound from Campbell, San Jose, and other parts of the Valley bypassed the downtown area of Los Gatos. To make way for the highway, Los Gatos Creek was diverted from its original course east of Los Gatos High School and some houses were razed. As when it was first opened, Highway 17 today has only two southbound lanes between Los Gatos and Scotts Valley. With the phenomenal growth of the Santa Clara Valley, the number of vehicles traveling in and through Los Gatos and other West Valley communities has dramatically increased. While the two southbound lanes of the highway may have been sufficient in 1957, daily commute traffic slows through Town and through the mountains. Any incident, from a stalled vehicle that closes one lane of traffic, to major traffic collisions, fires, landslides or other natural events that close all lanes, severely affects traffic and causes a back-up on Highway 17. Of course, the closer the incident is to Town, the greater and more immediate the effect. 741 Larry J. Todd Chief of Police Reviewed by: 0 W Attorney Revised: 7/28/99 4:02 PM Reformatted: 7/14/99 PAGE 2 MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL SUBJECT: ACCEPT REPORT ON TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA July 23, 1999 Santa Cruz -bound traffic enters Los Gatos from Blossom Hill Road, Shannon Road, Bascom Avenue, Winchester Boulevard, Saratoga -Los Gatos Road, State Highway 85, and State Highway 17. All southbound traffic must pass through or by the area of S. Santa Cruz Avenue and Highway 17. These motorists pass through the area from virtually every city in the Santa Clara Valley and beyond. Some of them work in Town; some are even Town employees. The California Department of Transportation estimates that the average daily traffic through this area is 63,000 vehicles, with 5,200 passing through at its peak (the peak hour is not identified). When traffic backs up, cars entering the highway on S. Santa Cruz Avenue stack up, as do cars entering from Los Gatos - Saratoga Avenue. With the influx of cars from all directions, traffic quickly becomes gridlocked as motorists await their turn to enter the congested highway. Upon facing slow or stopped traffic on southbound Highway 17, some motorists exit the freeway, try to bypass the congestion by driving south on Town streets, and then re-enter the freeway at either S. Santa Cruz Avenue or Los Gatos -Saratoga Avenue. This causes a sudden and significant increase in traffic on Town streets in the downtown area, resulting in congestion on Los Gatos Boulevard, University Avenue, N. Santa Cruz Avenue, Los Gatos -Saratoga Avenue, and E. Main Street. In extreme cases, back-ups on Highway 17 can extend considerably north, even to Camden and Hamilton Avenues in the City of Campbell. When this happens, traffic attempting to enter Highway 17 from Lark Avenue, or merging from Highway 85, also stacks up. Motorists normally entering Highway 17 from these routes may also attempt to bypass traffic by driving on Town streets to enter the freeway further south. These vehicles, combined with those traveling through town along the other major thoroughfares, further add to our already congested downtown roadways. Aside from creating angry motorists with short tempers, businesses in the downtown area are undoubtedly negatively impacted; residents fmd it difficult and frustrating to get to or from their homes; and public safety vehicles are delayed in their response to emergency calls for service. While this later issue has never resulted in further injury to persons in need of emergency medical treatment or a delayed response to an actual fire situation, the real potential exists that a delayed response of emergency vehicles because of this traffic congestion could have negative consequences. Staff has identified the following options the Town may pursue to address traffic problems related to Highway 17: 1. Temporarily close the on -ramp from southbound S. Santa Cruz Avenue to southbound Highway 17 This would prevent cars from entering the freeway from S. Santa Cruz Avenue, but would necessitate comprehensive notification of motorists if attempts to bypass traffic are to be prevented. Such notification would require posting signs along all of the routes into the area (Highway 85, Highway 17, Blossom Hill Road, Shannon Road, Winchester Boulevard, N. Santa Cruz Avenue, University Avenue, E. Main Street, Los Gatos - Saratoga Avenue). Without signs alerting drivers to the temporary closure, they will proceed toward S. Santa Cruz Avenue. The signs, however, should not be displayed or activated until the decision to temporarily close the on -ramp is made. Permanently displaying the signs would lessen their impact, as motorists would soon come to ignore the signs as familiar pieces of the landscape. This means that a minimum of nine signs must be activated/displayed by on -duty personnel. Staffmg limitations and travel time to each of the locations would severely reduce the effectiveness of those signs, and many hundreds, if not thousands, would pass notification points before the signs were displayed. Even then, many motorists would not pay attention to or would deliberately ignore such signs and warnings. The Town may elect to acquire a low -watt radio station to notify motorists about the ramp closure. The radio station would have a broadcast range of up to 3 to 5 miles, and would continually play a tape broadcasting information about the ramp closure. Radio station cost estimates start at $10,000. In addition, there will PAGE 3 MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL SUBJECT: ACCEPT REPORT ON TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA July 23, 1999 always be a time delay before the message is broadcast. There first must be a recognition that a situation has occurred that would require a message to be aired on the radio. While a generic message can be developed that can provide initial general information, updates and more specific information will take time to record and broadcast. However, there is no guarantee that motorists will turn to the radio station in lieu of listening to music stations, or tape or cd players in their cars. Should the Town temporarily close the on -ramp, traffic control personnel, most likely on -duty police officers, would have to beposted at key points. At least one officer would be assigned to the intersection of S. Santa Cruz Avenue south of Wood Road to block the on -ramp. Another officer would be posted at S. Santa Cruz Avenue and W. Main Street to divert traffic eastbound on W. Main Street (failure to do so would merely enable vehicles to drive to the dead-end created by the ramp closure; clearing the dead-end would involve directing a large number of cars into the residential areas of Broadway and W. Main Street). The officers would have to remain on traffic control duty for the duration of the incident, until traffic clears and the on -ramp is re- opened. Stationing two officers at fixed posts would affect the Department's ability to respond to calls for service and other traffic -related matters. Finally, closing the on -ramp at S. Santa Cruz Avenue would mean rerouting traffic to the nearest on -ramps, at Los Gatos -Saratoga Avenue, creating a large "traffic loop." This would cause a severe back-up on E. Main Street, virtually isolating Town Hall, the Library, and the Police Department, and on University Avenue, isolating the Corporation Yard. It would be impractical to station police officers at the intersections of Los Gatos -Saratoga and N. Santa Cruz Avenues, and at Los Gatos -Saratoga and University Avenues to keep motorists who intend to use southbound Highway 17 from entering that traffic loop. The officers would have a difficult time distinguishing southbound commute motorists from residents, hotel patrons, and shoppers who wanted to get to Downtown businesses. And, stationing two more officers at fixed traffic points for the duration of the traffic problem would virtually deplete police resources. Staff does not believe that this option is viable and does not recommend that Council adopt a policy embracing the temporary closure of the S. Santa Cruz Avenue on -ramp when traffic becomes congested. 2. Permanently close the on -ramp from southbound S. Santa Cruz Avenue to southbound Highway 17 If the on -ramp is permanently closed, motorists will become accustomed to entering the freeway at Los Gatos - Saratoga Avenue. In the event traffic on Highway 17 is significantly slowed, or stopped, drivers will not automatically enter the downtown area south of Los Gatos -Saratoga Avenue to gain entry to the freeway. Caltrans estimates that the average daily traffic through the intersection at Los Gatos -Saratoga and N. Santa Cruz Avenues is 24,400 vehicles, with 2,450 vehicles traveling through the intersection at its peak hour (again, the hour of the day is not identified). The portion of those vehicles that proceed southbound on N. Santa Cruz to the S. Santa Cruz on -ramp would no longer do so. This would increase congestion on eastbound Los Gatos - Saratoga Avenue, southbound N. Santa Cruz and University Avenues north of Los Gatos -Saratoga Avenue, and northbound N. Santa Cruz and University Avenues south of Los Gatos -Saratoga Avenue as cars entering the freeway would not be spread out between the two ramps. Permanently closing the S. Santa Cruz on -ramp is very controversial. In addition to the many motorists who commute through town to the Santa Cruz Mountains and further south, there are many people who work in town, including some Town employees, who rely on that ramp for easy access to Highway 17. Many patrons of Downtown businesses use that ramp to return to their homes south of Los Gatos. While the wishes of non- residents should not necessarily be of paramount concern in the decision whether or not to close the ramp, the desires of Town residents and business owners should be considered. /� PAGE 4 MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL SUBJECT: ACCEPT REPORT ON TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA July 23, 1999 3. Take no action Major incidents that bring traffic to substantial gridlock occur relatively infrequently. Even at a rate of one per month, this means that out of 365 days per year, there are 343 days when traffic on southbound Highway 17 does not substantially affect the downtown area. During those 12 times when traffic becomes a severe problem, it invariably clears without police intervention, and rarely lasts more than a few hours. The Police Department has not experienced any appreciable increases in crime or traffic collisions when traffic is gridlocked. Further, with the availability of three motorcycle officers, the ability of the Police Department to respond to incidents in heavy traffic has been greatly enhanced. CONCLUSION: Staff believes that options 2 and 3 are the only viable alternatives for dealing with this issue. Neither are perfect solutions. Staff recommends if Council wishes to further explore option 2, that the Chamber of Commerce attempt to determine a consensus opinion of business owners in the downtown area and that, once that has been achieved, a future public hearing be scheduled to allow residents to express their opinions. ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT: This is not a project defined under CEQA, and no further action is required. FISCAL IMPACT: None Attachments: None Distribution: None Town Council Minutes August 2, 1999 Redevelopment Agency Los Gatos, California HEARINGS CONTINUED MOBILE HOME PARK CONVERSION/WOODLAND AVENUE 484/CONT. Motion by Mr. Attaway, seconded by Mr. Blanton, to establish a Town funded house finding program for the mobile home park renters, and authorize the Town Manager to hire a professional mediator to meet with the park owners and the mobile home owners to determine reasonable costs of relocation. Mrs. Lubeck asked that the following comments be considered in the negotiations: Land value is predominately determined by zoning, and both mobile home parks in Los Gatos are zoned for park use and nothing else, therefore their worth and value are only set by the values of owning a mobile home park; Whatever happens concerning the closure of Los Gatos Mobile Home Park is not president setting on the Bonnie View Park and if Bonnie View decides to close it will have its own individual concerns and issues to deal with; In the relocation study survey certain mobile home parks were given a $10,000 bump because of location in a specific park, but the area of relocation for appraisals would be Santa Clara County and rents for mobile home parks are equitable throughout the County. Carried unanimously. TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA (26.40) Mayor Hutchins stated that this was the time and place duly noted to consider report on traffic congestion in the downtown area. Council consensus to encourage Caltrans to work with the Town on downtown traffic impacts caused by freeway accidents and severe weather conditions. To study how to keep the traffic on the freeway and how to keep the motorists from cutting off highways 85 and 17 during traffic tie ups and using Winchester and Los Gatos Boulevard to cut through the downtown to access the Santa Cruz Avenue on ramp as a short cut around the freeway congestion. What are the impacts to residential neighborhoods and the business community? What would be in the overall best interest to the community? What other options are there to closing Santa Cruz on ramp? What type of signage could be used to keep the traffic on the freeway and off the streets of Los Gatos? REDEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE (R3.46) Council Consensus that staff prepare a resolution reducing the membership of the Redevelopment Advisory Committee to five members. One member appointed from the Redevelopment Agency will be a voting member. Mr. Blanton nominated Mrs. Lubeck to serve as the Agency's representative. It was also decided that business owners in the district may be considered for appointment. A PLACE FOR TEENS/GRANT FUNDING (09.19) Lee Fagot, 845 Lilac Way, spoke for A Place for Teens, and asked for additional funding of $5,000 which will help with garnering other grants for the center. This specific funding will be spent for after school tutoring. Council consensus to fund the tutoring program with a grant of $5,000 which will pay tutors on an hourly basis and fund some promotional elements. TC: D 11: MM080299 9