Desk Item
PREPARED BY: MATT MORLEY
Director of Parks and Public Works
Reviewed by: Town Manager, Town Attorney, and Finance Director
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 01/17/2017
ITEM NO: 11
DESK ITEM
DATE: JANUARY 17, 2017
TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
FROM: LAUREL PREVETTI, TOWN MANAGER
SUBJECT: CUT THROUGH TRAFFIC PROJECT 813-0229
A. PROVIDE DIRECTION ON NEXT STEPS TO ADDRESS SUMMER CUT
THROUGH TRAFFIC, INCLUDING DIRECTION FOR THE SUMMER OF 2017
AND POTENTIAL FUTURE CAPITAL PROJECTS.
B. APPROVE A BUDGET ADJUSTMENT AND THE APPROPRIATION OF
$9,908 FROM THE TRAFFIC IMPACT MITIGATION FUND TO THE CUT
THROUGH TRAFFIC PROJECT 813-0229.
C. AUTHORIZE THE TOWN MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH
W-TRANS FOR ENGINEERING CONSULTING SERVICES IN AN AMOUNT
NOT TO EXCEED $66,000.
REMARKS:
The following questions were received from Councilmembers and staff responses follow in italic
font:
1. Have there been, or are there now occurring, any conversations with Caltrans regarding
metering southbound onramps to Highway 17, including the Highway 85 and Highway 9
interchanges?
If not, why not?
If yes, what has been the result?
Caltrans is interested in metering freeway entrances along Highway 17. Some of that
infrastructure has been installed through a previous Caltrans effort (notably at Highway
9). In order to install metering, Caltrans often needs additional stacking lanes on the ramps
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REMARKS (cont’d):
to avoid impacting local roads. Because of the work involved, especially environmental
clearance and the need to remove trees to install stacking lanes, that effort stalled. Staff
has asked Caltrans to re-establish a project for metering lights but that has not occurred to
date.
2. Have there been continuing conversations with Caltrans regarding use of the electronic
signboard on southbound 17 in Campbell to provide real-time traffic information, such as
travel time from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz, similar to the way travel times are reported on
electronic signboards on northbound 17 to San Jose Airport, Milpitas, etc.?
Staff has had these discussions with Caltrans and decided against providing travel times on
these signs. The reason for this is that the signs can show freeway travel time, but are not
capable of showing travel times on local streets. By showing lengthy freeway travel times,
staff has concerns that cut through traffic will increase.
3. What level of participation does or will Los Gatos have in planning for Measure B spending -
in particular, interchange improvements at Highway 17?
Town staff is actively engaged in Measure B discussions. Programming of funds has not yet
occurred, but will be happening in the next several months. The only Los Gatos interchange
improvements specifically identified in Measure B are those at Highway 9. Several factors
will need to be considered from the Town’s perspective, including staff resources to advance
Town priorities, available revenue within Measure B to fund projects, and the competitive
nature of some funding areas (especially the Highways category, which is significantly
oversubscribed). Measure B projects will be an important discussion at the January 31
priority setting session as well as at the February 7 Council meeting where the topic is set to
be discussed in detail.
4. When does the Town anticipate beginning implementation of smart signals and signal
synchronization on Highway 9? Will that be in place prior to Memorial Day 2017?
Caltrans owns and operates the Highway 9 signals and works closely with the Town to set
timing. Staff had anticipated a project to upgrade Town signals with a combination of grant
funds (already awarded) and traffic impact fees from the development of the North
40. The latter funds are no longer available, so this project scope needs to be modified in
scope. The modified scope and project implementation will not be complete prior to
Memorial Day 2017.
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REMARKS (cont’d):
5. Please provide the total cost of the repavement of the 10 streets in the Almond Grove. And
please give me a general dollar figure on monies spent for pavement repair and
infrastructure improvement during the same period for the remainder of Los Gatos.
The total Almond Grove Street Rehabilitation project budget is approximately $17 million, a
portion of which has been spent for the Phase 1 project and design of the Phase 2
project. The Town spent $1.6 million on street resurfacing in FY 2016/ 2017. The estimated
need for street rehabilitation to maintain the current PCI of 67 is $2 million per year and to
increase the PCI to a 70 is $3 million per year.
6. On page 4 of the staff report, funding sources for a permanent closure of Wood Road
includes Traffic Impact Mitigation funds, CIP funds and potential Transportation Initiative
funding from Measure B.
a. Aren’t traffic impact mitigation funds supposed to be used somewhere near the project
that paid into it? For example, Jersey Mike’s fees would be used to address traffic that
Jersey Mike caused so it would be for infrastructure somewhere near the inte rsection of
Union Avenue and Los Gatos-Almaden Road. If this is correct, then what funds would be
available to pay for the Wood Road closure if it’s not from a project but from Highway
17 overflow?
Traffic impact mitigation fees can be used for any project Townwide that mitigates
traffic that results from growth through development. It does not need to be in the area
of the project, as long as there is a nexus for the proposed project to mitigating growth
related traffic.
b. If we were to use CIP funds, what CIP projects would not get funded? Because it would
benefit Almond Grove residents, can we defer paving Almond Grove streets to pay for
Wood Road closure?
The Council could choose to unfund current CIP projects or to allocate future CIP funding
to this project through the annual budget process. It is possible to defer paving Almond
Grove up until the construction contract is awarded this April. Staff is not recommending
funding of the full closure during this agenda item and funding will not be necessary until
FY 2018/ 2019 at the earliest.
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REMARKS (cont’d):
7. How should we reconcile the decisions we make with this item with the upcoming
prioritization session on the 31st? For example, if the majority of the Town Council
approves a permanent closure of Wood Road, would this be placed as one of the “approved
projects” on the 31st and we would have discussion to see if there are other priorities that
rank higher than this?
This item should be a part of the discussion on January 31. By approving the action
recommended by staff, the permitting and design work towards a permanent closure will
continue. By continuing efforts towards a permanent installation, the Town positions itself
to justify an additional closure this coming summer in order to continue collecting data. At
the Council’s direction, staff will propose this additional work within the 2017/ 2018 CIP
budget.
8. What if on the 31st the majority of the Town Council votes for a permanent closure of
Wood Road, a PCI index of 70 and funding to make the traffic bussing program shovel ready
for VTA approval? When would a budget come back to reflect these priorities, especially if
it’s not financially feasible? If it’s not financially feasible, would we have another discussion
(perhaps at budget time) to fine tune and re-prioritize?
As funding and staff resources are not available to advance all of the desired projects, the
Council will need to prioritize and provide direction to staff on these priorities. This
discussion will occur on January 31 and the outcome of the prioritization discussion will
educate staff for budget proposals later in the year. One goal is for staff to have enough
detailed information on the Council priorities to provide a recommended project list.
Attachments previously received with January 17, 2017 Staff Report:
1. Highway 17 On-Ramp Extended Closure Observations
2. Traffic Volume Data Comparison
Attachments received with this Desk Item Report:
3. Communication received between 11:01 a.m., Thursday, January 12, 2016 and 11:00 a.m.,
Tuesday, January 17, 2016