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Home My WebLink About08/05/2008 03C Citizen Service Request Response RE: Synchronized Traffic Signals on Yakima Avenue A c • COUNCIL INFORMATION MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council Dick Zais, City Manager FROM: Chris Waarvick, Director of Public Works Joan Davenport, Supervising Traffic Engineer DATE: July 28, 2008 SUBJECT: Traffic Concerns Raised at July 15 City Council Meeting At the July 15, 2008 City council meeting Audience Participation session, several items were raised by citizens related to traffic matters. This report summarizes the citizen inquiry and the • staff response. Robert Cook questioned why the traffic signals on Yakima Avenue are not better synchronized. ii• Response: At this time, two traffic signal synchronized systems are in place on Yakima Avenue for coordination of the traffic signals on Yakima Avenue between 8 Street and 1st Street, as well as between 1 Avenue and 7 Avenue. Yakima Avenue has 14 traffic signals from 8 Street to 7 Avenue and significant pedestrian traffic as well as vehicle turning movements. As noted in the answer to the third citizen inquiry below, pedestrian signal timing requirements are a significant factor in synchronization issues. Traffic signal progression on Yakima Avenue is tempered by the presence of pedestrians and reflected in the 25 mile per hour speed limit. Yakima Avenue is part of a downtown system that includes the parallel Arterial streets of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue where speed limits are higher and with fewer traffic signals or pedestrians. Traffic volumes on Yakima Avenue range between 10,800 and 27,000 daily vehicles. Robert Cook questioned why Semi - Trucks are allowed on Yakima Avenue in the Central Business District. Response: As noted above Yakima Avenue is the primary arterial that serves the Downtown commerce and government center for the City of Yakima as well as the Terrace Heights region of the Urban Area. Until planned improvements occur in the vicinity of 1 -82 to distribute through and truck traffic to Lincoln and MLK Jr. Blvd truck traffic will continue to use Yakima Avenue for freeway access. The Yakima Urban Area Transportation Plan identifies Arterial streets where truck traffic should be encouraged in the future. However, intersection, radius and surface improvements are necessary to accommodate truck movements. • Council Information — Traffic Questions from 7 -15 -08 Page 1 of 2 Mary McDaniels stated she did not think the pedestrian signals on Yakima Avenue • allowed enough time for pedestrians to cross the street. Response: The pedestrian signals on Yakima Avenue operate within the timing requirements of the Man ual on Uniform Transportation Control Devices (MUTCD). The pedestrian displays consist of three separate phases, described as follows. The WALK phase is displayed as a person walking. This phase lasts an average of 7 seconds during which the pedestrian should start crossing the street. - 1 I FLASHING The second symbol the pedestrian sees is a FLASHING RED HAND which will last an average of 13 seconds. During this phase, the pedestrian should continue crossing the street, but not begin crossing the street. This phase is required to be calculated to allow the pedestrian to cross at a rate of 3.5 feet to 4 feet per second. 111 NOT FLASHING No pedestrian crossing should occur when the SOLID RED HAND is displayed because cross traffic or turning traffic is permitted. COUNTDOWN SIGNAL r b The pedestrian system on Yakima Avenue and throughout the CBD was - - 1:; ..„.12_,-, . i 1 i nstalled using a combination of State and Federal grants in 2000 and [I Ill' j } 2001. Since that time, the "COUNTDOWN" traffic signal displays have �, / ' 1 3 '` been developed and used successfully. The City of Yakima will install the k, • a ti ` first COUNTDOWN signal display at the intersection of 3 Street and M `'..A �A .. - Yakima Avenue as a demonstration project. The cost to upgrade each intersection is approximately $2,200. S Council Information — T raffic Questions from 7 -15 -08 Page2of2 Page 1 of 2 • Claar, Sonya 41111 bject: FW: citizen complaint/visit From: Matthews, Archie Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:06 PM To: Price, Cally Cc: Zabell, Dave; Zais, Dick; Claar, Sonya; Greer, Terri; Caruso, Joe; Edler, Dave; Granato, Sam; Light, Rod; Cook, Bill; Morales, Michael Subject: RE: citizen complaint/visit A Paint Out Graffiti crew got a signed permission slip from Mrs. Jette and painted over the graffiti on her fence this morning using her paint. Have a nice day. • Archie M. Matthews Operations Supervisor • Neighborhood Development Services 112 S. 8th Street Yakima, WA 98901 (509) 575 -6101 • Original Message • From: Price, Cally Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 2:11 PM To: Matthews, Archie; Granato, Sam; Light, Rod Cc: Zabell, Dave; Zais, Dick; Claar, Sonya; Greer, Terri; Caruso, Joe; Edler, Dave • Subject: citizen complaint /visit . Pam Jette stopped by today to see the Mayor. "I want some answers and no one is • calling me back. The police department doesn't care and isn't doing anything to stop the graffiti and the gang bangers in this City." She has called on a couple different occasions and was standing out on the corner of 2nd Street and MLK holding her "protest". sign this morning. She is not happy with the graffiti ordinance and thinks we should have a curfew for the kids. "Why am I responsible for these taggers? It's so frustrating. I paint the fence and they tag it again. I was promised a graffiti camera last summer and still haven't seen one. ONDS. does not answer my'calls and neither does the police department. I call them to report gang fights and gang bangers throwing rocks at cars and they tell me they aren't going to respond because they don't want rocks thrown at them. Nobody is doing anything about the gangs and graffiti in this town. The police know who the gang bangers are. Why don't they arrest them? Do I have to file a lawsuit against the City to get something 'done?" Joe explained to her that we have laws and regulations that we have to work in. We can't just go and arrest someone. We have to catch them in the act and have them identified in order to arrest /prosecute someone. Joe explained to her the ordinance and that she could sign a waiver to have ONDS come and paint out the graffiti. If she is on the list of people that has a waiver with ONDS then she cannot be fined. According to Ms. Jette, "They don't match the color and then it looks tacky." She • did mention that her husband signed a waiver last year and that they've only been out once since then. For now, she said that she won't picket outside City Hall and understands that the Council will respond to her at the next meeting (as promised at the last Council meeting). FOR COUNCIL INFO ONLY 7/24/2008 C X CCC T ES L a .. C/ Page 1 of 2 Claar, Sonya Subject: FW: citizen complaint/visit • • From: Matthews, Archie • Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:19 PM To: Price, Cally Cc: Zabell, Dave; Zais, Dick; Claar, Sonya; Greer, Terri; Caruso, Joe; Edler, Dave; Granato, Sam; Light, Rod; Cook, Bill; Morales, Michael Subject: RE: citizen complaint/visit • Cally, Mrs. Jette just called me and is requesting that Graffiti Busters come and paint over her graffiti on her fence. I asked Mrs. Jette if she wanted us to use "our paint" or if she had some that would match her existing paint color. She said she had enough of her own paint to cover the fence. She said she had previously had her husband sign a "permission slip ", but we show none on file. I explained to her, that we would bring a current permission slip for her to sign and be more than happy to paint over the Graffiti on her fence as soon as we were able to. My crew will be in that general area tomorrow morning and they have standing orders to paint over only the Graffiti and not the entire wall, fence or building component. If I can be of any further help in this matter, please feel free to contact me. Thank you, • Archie M. Matthews . Operations Supervisor Neighborhood Development Services . 112 S. 8th Street Yakima, WA 98901 (509) 575 -6101 Original Message_ From: Price, Cally Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 2:11 PM To: Matthews, Archie; Granath, Sam; Light, Rod Cc: Zabell, Dave; Zais, Dick; Claar, Sonya; Greer, Terri; Caruso, Joe; Edler, Dave Subject: citizen complaint/visit • Pam Jette stopped by today to see the Mayor. "I want some answers and no one is calling me back. The police department doesn't care and isn't doing anything to stop the graffiti and the gang bangers in this City." She has called on a couple different occasions and was standing out on the corner of 2nd Street and MLK holding her "protest" sign this morning. She is not happy with the graffiti ordinance and thinks we should have a curfew for the kids. "Why am I responsible for these taggers? It's so frustrating. I paint the fence and they tag it again. I was promised a graffiti camera last summer and still haven't seen one. ONDS does not answer my calls and neither does the police department. I call them to report gang fights and gang bangers throwing rocks at cars and they tell me they aren't going to respond because they don't want rocks thrown at them. Nobody is doing anything about the gangs and graffiti in this town. The police know who the gang bangers • are. Why don't they arrest them? Do I have to file a lawsuit against the City to get something done ?" Joe explained to her that we have laws and regulations that we have to work in. We 7/23/2008 Page 2 of 2 can't just go and arrest someone. We have to catch them in the act and have them identified in order to arrest /prosecute someone. Joe explained to her the ordinance and that she could sign a waiver to have ONDS come and paint out the graffiti. If 111, she is on the list of people that has a waiver with ONDS then she cannot be fined. According to Ms. Jette, "They don't match the color and then it looks tacky." She did mention that her husband signed a waiver last year and that they've only been out once since then. For now, she said that she won't picket outside City Hall and understands that the Council will respond to her at the next meeting (as promised at the last Council meeting). Cally Price Executive Assistant City of Yakima 129 North 2nd Street Yakima, WA 98901 Phone: 509- 575 -6040 Fax: 509 - 576 -6335 e . . • , . 7/23/2008 •