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Home My WebLink About14 - 19th Street Bridge Traffic Study UpdateCITY OF � SEW PAR N E P ODp REACH Cky Coundl Staff Report Agenda Item No. 14 September 11, 2012 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: Public Works Department Stephen G. Badum, Public Works Director 949- 644 -3311, sbadum @newportbeachca.gov PREPARED BY: Antony Brine, City Traffic Engineer APPROVED: v c v TITLE: 19th Street Bridge Traffic Study Update ABSTRACT: On February 29, 2012, Mayor Gardner sent a letter to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) requesting an update of the Santa Ana River Crossings (SARX) traffic study which would identify potential mitigation measures for traffic related impacts in Newport Beach should the proposed 19th Street Bridge over the Santa Ana River be removed from the Orange County Master Plan of Arterial Highways (MPAH). RECOMMENDATION: Receive and file status report for the 19th Street Bridge Traffic Study. DISCUSSION: In June, OCTA entered into a contract with the transportation engineering firm Iteris to prepare the updated traffic analysis. Beginning in July, Public Works staff began meeting on a bi- weekly basis with the other stakeholders involved in the study, including the cities of Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach, the County of Orange, OCTA and Caltrans. In the stakeholder meetings to date, most of the discussion has revolved around study area definition and performance measurements. Most recently, it was agreed by the stakeholders to complete the traffic analysis using a "constrained" roadway network as the background for the study. The constrained network differs from the planned and built -out MPAH because it includes downgraded or deleted roadway segments within 191h Street Bridge Study Update September 11, 2012 Page 2 the study area. The stakeholders agreed that certain roads within the study area will, more than likely, never be built. It was agreed that any potential mitigation measures should be developed based on this more realistic background roadway network. On August 14, Public Works sent a letter to OCTA requesting that specific roads on the Banning Ranch property be downgraded, upgraded or deleted as part of this study. A copy of this letter is attached. The other cities have also requested amendments to the MPAH as part of the study. On July 5, OCTA sent to the stakeholders a Draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining the responsibilities of each stakeholder for implementing any possible mitigation measures. The Draft MOU is currently being reviewed by the City Attorney's Office and Public Works staff. Staff will continue to work with OCTA to assure that the Final MOU includes well defined mitigation measures, funding commitments, and a firm schedule and guarantee for implementation of the mitigation measures. The current study schedule shows the development of mitigation measures during September, and the draft report submitted to the stakeholders in October for review. It is OCTA's intent to complete the final report by November 8, 2012. Staff will present the City Council with an update of the study results in either the first or second Council meeting in October. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Staff recommends the City Council find the requirement for environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQX) is satisfied by the discussion on and action recommended earlier in this staff report. NOTICING: The agenda item has been. noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which the City Council considers the item). Submitted by: pii Badum Publ orks Director Attachments: A. Location Map B. August 14, 2012 letter to OCTA ,2, CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT Stephen G. Badum, Director August 14, 2012 Mr. Joseph Alcock Orange County Transportation Authority 550 South Main Street Orange, CA 92863 RE: MASTER PLAN OF ARTERIAL HIGHWAYS (MPAH) AMENDMENT REQUEST Dear Joseph; As a part of the 190' Street Bridge Analysis, the City of Newport Beach would like to formally request an Amendment to the MPAH for the roadways within the Newport Banning Ranch (NBR) property. The Banning Ranch project will be served by a circulation system that links the project site and land uses to the local arterial system, and attempts to minimize adverse impacts to local natural resources. The proposed circulation system included in the NBR project is different than currently illustrated in the adopted MPAH. The requested Amendments include the following: • Downgrade Bluff Road between 170i Street and 190' Street from a Major Arterial to a Primary Arterial. • Delete the 170i Street extension west of Bluff Road to Pacific Coast Highway. • Delete 150' Street west of Bluff Road to the 170i Street extension. • Upgrade 150i Street between Placentia Avenue and Bluff Road from a Secondary Arterial to a Primary Arterial. The City appreciates the opportunity to incorporate the proposed Amendments in the traffic analysis. If you have any questions, please contact me at 949 - 644 -3311 or Antony Brine at 949- 644 -3329. Sincerely, 4Le Stephen G. Badum Public Works Director C Dave Webb, City of Newport Beach Antony Brine, City of Newport Beach Bob Stachelski, City of Huntington Beach Raja Sethuraman, City of Costa Mesa 3300 Newport Boulevard • Post Office Box 1768 - Newport Beach, California 92658 -8915 Telephone: (949) 644 -3311 • Fax: (949) 644 -3318 • www.newportbeachca.gov Location Map Victoria St Hamilton Ave Q Q > _0 i p c p ` o ° 0 m v E � o R o m mN n Banning Ave ... , , , , 19th St 19th St `yt r° 18th St 18th St <o 0 PROPOSED19TH STREET BRIDGE 17th St 17th St 16th St �s fh Sf Production PI a C00Sf 15th St m _Ie �P = c`° a o i Qm I Coast y ., ��II11� �.�,�i�� Location Map Victoria St Hamilton Ave R T m (n p C 0 O B L O 2 O a O a 2 Ul 3 m Banning Ave , , , , , , , 19th St 19th St J or 18th St 18th St �o 0 PROPOSED19TH STREET BRIDGE 17th St 17th St 16th St �s fh Sf Production PI �a 00 m� &1 Sfy�'2 lstn st 4 �Sfb 3 m sf r �PAz c° a �J �I coast Hwy 1 f �� fir] ►i AI CM CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH Foa August 14, 2012 Mr. Joseph Alcock Orange County Transportation Authority 550 South Main Street Orange, CA 92863 PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT Stephen G. Badum, Director RE: MASTER PLAN OF ARTERIAL HIGHWAYS (MPAH) AMENDMENT REQUEST Dear Joseph; As a part of the 19'1' Street Bridge Analysis, the City of Newport Beach would like to formally request an Amendment to the MPAH for the roadways within the Newport Banning Ranch (NBR) property. The Banning Ranch project will be served by a circulation system that links the project site and land uses to the local arterial system, and attempts to minimize adverse impacts to local natural resources. The proposed circulation system included in the NBR project is different than currently illustrated in the adopted MPAH. The requested Amendments include the following: • Downgrade Bluff Road between 17a' Street and 19 °i Street from a Major Arterial to a Primary Arterial. • Delete the 17°i Street extension west of Bluff Road to Pacific Coast Highway. • Delete 156' Street west of Bluff Road to the 17'x' Street extension. • Upgrade 15 °i Street between Placentia Avenue and Bluff Road from a Secondary Arterial to a Primary Arterial. The City appreciates the opportunity to incorporate the proposed Amendments in the traffic analysis. If you have any questions, please contact me at 949 - 644 -3311 or Antony Brune at 949- 644 -3329. Sincerely, Stephen G. Badum Public Works Director C Dave Webb, City of Newport Beach Antony Brine, City of Newport Beach Bob Stachelski, City of Huntington Beach Raja Sethuraman, City of Costa Mesa 3300 Newport Boulevard • Post Office Box 1768 • Newport Beach, California 92658 -8915 Telephone: (949) 644 -3311 • Fax: (949) 644 -3318 - www.newportbeachca.gov p City DrA_C1 (oT 2, Newport pushes for 19th St. I Bridge alternatives Equestrian trails in Santa Ana Heiglics and the proposed Marina Park lighthouse are also on Tuesday night's agenda. BY MIKE REICHER As county ualfic tanners stud ne t pmoosc 19 Street Bridge. .Newport Beach city officials are o )�rng to win street unprove- ments, in case the bridge idea is pen nanently scrapped. They recently requested that the county eliminate some roads origi- nally envisioned for Banning Ranch, as the developer's current plan does not include them, ac- cording to a repodfor TLesday's City Council meeting. Taking these streets out of tine sin yd , in adiuon to e bn ge, wo PrUsuMaply increase traffic on o er streets an o ter ew- ort's etas City o want neighboring cidesor other groups to pay for any road conswaction projects. Politicians, environmentalists and many vocal residents in Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach have been trying for decades to erase the bridi;e — which would spars the Santa Ana River and connect Costa Mesa to Huntington Beach — from the county master plan. They contend it would infringe on wildlife habitat and destroy their communities with increased traffic mid the taking of property by emi- nent domain. Newport's public works officials and attorneys are working to get "well- defined mitigation mea- sures, funding commitments, and a firm schedule and guarantee for implementation of the mitigation measure;' the staff report says. Representatives from the tides of Newport, Costa Mesa and Hun- tington have been meeting bi- weekly since July with county and Orange CountyTYansportation Au- thority officials. Thus far, discussions have fo- cused on the study's assumptions, See BRIDGE, page A6 �a y `,c�� /9 /12- Add capacity to congested 405 Freeway BY DON HANSEN n his letter published Au .28 ( "Commentary: Stop the 'south county Lexus' lanes," ), Costa Mesa Mayor- Eric Bever c osei —F [o present a distorted indictment of the plans to improve the- San Diego (405) Freeway between Costa Mesa and the border with Los Angeles County. My experience has taught me to look past political spin and bluster. However, in this case, Bever goes beyond those antics and advances misinformation and factually incorrect claims. With that in mind, let's set the record clear. First and foremost, Bever has been relentless in asserting that Measure M dollars will pay to construct toll lanes if Alternative 3 or a modified version of the alternative (to reduce impacts to Costa Mesa and other cities) were selected. This is simply untrue. Funded through Measure M, the I -405 Improvement Project promises Orange County residents one regular lane in each direction between Costa Ntesa (55) and San Gabriel River (605) freeways. This will be accomplished in all of the alternatives under consideration. Regardless of which option is selected, this promise made under Measure M v I0 be kept. The cost of this commitment, referred to as Alternative 1, is $1.3 billion. Adding tvo regular lanes in each direction, known as Alternative 2, would cost $1.4 billion. One- hundred million dollars would need to be obtained from other sources like state or federal dollars. Alternative 3, the express -lanes concept, would cost $1.7 billion. This alternative provides one regular lane in each direction, as promised to Orange County voters. Like alternatives 1 and 2, $1.3 billion of hording for that regular lane utiould come from Measure N4. The additional $400- million cost of this alternative would be funded entirely by those who choose to pay to use a newly constructed express lane facility. Alternative 3 adds one lane in each direction in the middle of the freeway that would work in conjunction with the existing carpool lanes to create a two -lane express facility in each direction. Ilimlti' �lm Grt i'uE:,it ,ltrnl Mail to the Daily Pilot, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa. CA 92626. Send a fax to (714) 966 -4667 or e -mail us at dailypilot @latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length. The express lanes would operate in a similar fashion to the 91 Express lanes, where three -plus carpools would be free. We are continuing to evaluate the potential for two -plus carpools to use the lanes for free during nonrush -hour periods. To use the lanes, a FasTrak transponder — of which nearly 1 million have been issued locally — would be required. Contrary to Bever'.s assertions, the express lanes would have multiple ingress and egress points and would be very accessible by those in the area. From a purely operational perspective, Alternative 3 moves the most cars through this stretch of freeway in the shortest amount of time. Projections show that the express lane facility will move more than 1,000 more vehicles per hour than Alternative 2. As someone who travels this corridor daily, I an quite convinced we need more capacity — not less — on the 405. That fact alone doesn't mean that the Orange County Transportation Authority board will select Alternative 3 when we are scheduled to vote Sept. 24, but it certainly should be a consideration. As a we to move people and goods on our eeways. Lastly, I take exception to the characterization of how excess toll revenues have been presented. The letter asserts that the reinvestment of toll proceeds along die 405 corridor is "offensive." i am still trying to reconcile how enhancing our city streets and roads would be offensive to a local elected official. 'fhe reinvestment of toll revenues is a long- standing policy on the 91 Express Lanes facility that works to better that corridor. Why would we not want to replicate success for west Orange County? In fact, the 91 Express Lanes have contributed more than $10 million to improve that corridor to the benefit of all who travel there — in the regular lanes as well as the express lanes. Claiming this to be some enticement when it is an established policy highlights a disconnection to how, things really work in our county transportation system. The proposed alternatives should not be considered an "audacious scheme" The only thing audacious is to totally ignore the facts and malign our attempt to improve one of the most heavily traveled freeways in the United States. DON HANSEN is the mayor of untington Beach and chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority Regional Plannino and Highways Committee. A 2sday, Dee: 29, 2604 I, kewtis TSUnamill could be, devaztqfino� in. Evacoation'aoness A tsunamiAhat. crashed mtb Drange ca? ao ter' County°could; destroy homes and cars up to " 30 feet above sea..' Te�. level, exp',erts say. aos Low lying areas such oar� ; as Seal Beach; buildings in most areas '! would blo6k °a tsunami . from moviNg fair inland; according to USC: researchers whop created models based, on the largest possible offsWe.earthouakes.n A tsunami that big,is . predicted for Orange County. once,every' 1,000 years, according to Mark Legg of Mark Legg Geophysical in Huntington Beach. . Source: Governor's Office of Emergency Services Blythe Bernhard and Monica Edwards Tha Ranisfer --