Sarah Campbell, Jean Mather and I met with Clay Harris with the City and their engineering consultant, Mary Mazzei, with Halff Associates to get an update on the proposed designs for future street improvements. All 3 street projects are postponed until Water/Wastewater secures funding. The bond package will likely be included in the November 2012 election and if approved, work will begin in 2013. The following is a summary of each project:
The Circle:
The design is 90% complete.
The design includes:
• Full depth street reconstruction (Alignment/width to remain the same)
• New sidewalk and curb/gutter up to Drake (approx. 300-feet)
• All trees preserved
Live Oak:
The design is 90% complete.
The design includes:
• Full depth street reconstruction (Alignment/width to remain the same)
• Repair, replace (or infill where missing) sidewalks and curb & gutter on both sides of the street up to the hotel on the east end with the exception of area in front of Travis Park Apartments where there is not adequate right-of-way.
• Provide curb ramps at intersections
• Provide new sidewalk across triangular planting section at East Side
• Provide cross walks to allow safe crossing to public sidewalks
• Provide new driveway entrances up to the right-of-way
• Water and wastewater utility line replacement and limited new storm intakes to provide greater storm catchment capacity
• New traffic triangle with vegetation at Schribner
• Speed humps to remain
• No bike lanes added.
Annie/Woodland:
This has not yet been design pending public outreach.
The proposed work includes:
• Waterline replacement from Congress to Eastside
• Wastewater line replacement from Travis Heights to midway between Kenwood and Chelsea
• Previous discussions with the neighborhood included a request to consider placing electric utilities underground, however this is cost prohibitive and problematic. Given the City is working with the neighborhood to not increase the curb-to-curb distance, relocating electric lines underground is highly unlikely since presumably these utility alignments will remain as is.
• Previously intention by the City was to add both a bike lane and a sidewalk on both sides of the street (9-feet on each side of the car lanes) which would result in widening the overall paved width (for asphalt and concrete sidewalks); remove a significant number of large trees and create a safety concern with the perception of a wide superhighway.
Following up on our concerns, the City and their engineering consultant, Halff & Associates is looking at the possibility of maintaining a 40-foot curb-to-curb width for the FULL paved width, including streets and sidewalks, by combining the bike and ped paving in a 10-foot sidewalk on one side of the street only, allowing parking on the opposite side of the street. Given the low volume of foot and bike traffic, the earlier 18-foot width was not appropriate.
The City will schedule a public outreach meeting at some point in the future to discuss ideas and concerns.
