Local Road Safety Plan in preparation

At its February 23 meeting, board members agreed to allocate $51,355 (which includes a 15% contingency of $6,698) to TJKM to create the plan. Funding for the study is within the adopted budget of $85,000 for fiscal year 2021-22. The Road Safety Improvement Program Grant (Fund 005) will provide $40,000 to cover the costs, with Measure J (Fund 210) taking care of the rest.

According to the Staff Report of Director of Public Works/Municipal Engineer Shawn Knapp and Senior Civil Engineer Bret Swain, “The SHSP and an LRSP are developed to meet the 4 Es of road safety: engineering, enforcement, education and emergency services. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) establish guidelines for preparing an LRSP.”

TJKM divided the project into tasks. Task 1, Vision, Initiation and Project Management, will include developing a vision statement for LRSP; include attendance at 3-5 virtual stakeholder meetings; include attendance at 2-3 city council meetings; participation in community engagement meetings; prepare materials for all meetings; and provide updates on the budget and work progress.

In Task 2, Document Review, TJKM will review relevant documents designed to help establish safety improvement goals for motorists and pedestrians. Much of the review will focus on guidelines established by Moraga General Plan, Caltrans, SHSP, the United States Department of Transportation, and FHWA.

The third task is data collection, in which TJKM will review the latest available five-year collision history to investigate before identifying potential countermeasures. They will also conduct a field review to understand the Moraga road network and collect road characteristics such as travel patterns, carriageway widths, speeds (displayed and actual), traffic volumes, curves and road classifications.

Task 4, Collision and Pavement Data Analysis, will include reviewing data regarding the predominant crash types and pavement characteristics that may have been in place. The characteristics will be examined to determine if there were any flaws in the pavement design.

In Task 5, Propose Ordinances and Policies, TJKM can offer suggestions for new ordinances and policies to improve local road safety.

Task 6, Countermeasure Selection, consists of proposing countermeasures based on the information gathered in various scenarios dealing with the identified collisions, pavement design and conditions. Countermeasures could include signs at intersections, road segments and the use of collision reduction factors.

Development of security projects is task 7. TJKM will create a prioritized list of security projects and include cost estimates, mapping, and cost/benefit of proposed security enhancements.

Finally, Task 8 is the presentation of the final local traffic safety administrative plan to city staff and Caltrans for comments and revisions.

It is hoped that TJKM will complete the LRSP in time for the July 13 city council meeting for adoption.