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Published April 6th, 2016
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New Signals on Reliez Station Road Get Green Light
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| By Cathy Tyson |
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| Supporters of the traffic signals on Reliez Station Road gathered at a Lafayette City Council meeting. Photo Cathy Tyson |
Who knew there would be so much controversy in the name of safety over a pair of traffic signals on Reliez Station Road?
After three public workshops, two public walking tours and reviews by the Circulation Committee and the Design Review Committee, the matter was discussed before the Lafayette City Council on March 28 with both supporters and opponents in the audience. Residents most immediately affected by the signals voiced their concerns and were thrilled that stop lights for two intersections on Reliez Station Road were approved, despite the roundabout fashion the solution came to pass.
"The arguments for the light are so compelling - this seems to be the only reasonable solution," said Council Member Brandt Andersson, recognizing the threat of cars and trucks stopped on the steep hill rolling backwards already exists now. The balance of the council agreed, so the stop lights were approved, along with an okay to purchase some of the necessary equipment ahead of time.
Although there was public outreach on the Olympic Boulevard and Reliez Station Road corridor that started with an initial opinion survey in May and June of 2014, some residents still felt frustrated with the process, and criticized a lack of transparency and adequate notice of meetings. Still other opponents are troubled by the steep slope at the location of the light that will be at the corner of Las Trampas and Reliez and the relatively small number of car trips generated by the 72 homes on those streets.
"Does it make sense to endanger upwards of 15,000 cars a day to save time for a few hundred cars?" asked Silloo Tarapore in a letter to the city council.
When a resident complained she hadn’t heard of the project, or the point where the decision was going to be made, Coe itemized the overall number of meetings, which in his quick estimation was over a dozen, along with email blasts and updates on the city website.
The majority of public speakers at the meeting were neighbors who live on side streets that intersect at the crest of Reliez, where one of the signals will be located. They urged approval, citing safety reasons, especially noting the paved path that serves children and cyclists crosses from the west to the east side of the street at that intersection.
One speaker summed it up: “A traffic light is the only way to guarantee safe passage, the inconvenience to the community is minimal.” The other signal will be at the intersection of Reliez and Olympic Boulevard.
Both signals would stay on green roughly 99.4 percent of the time, Andersson said, only changing to red when pedestrians or bicyclists hit the button at the crosswalk or for cross-traffic from side streets. “Is that too much to ask?”
“Prepare to stop” signs will be illuminated on the approach to the light and the poles will be long enough to be seen from an adequate distance.
Rae Eckholm asked the city council to rely on the independent opinion of traffic engineering experts Stantec, who collected and analyzed data on the corridor and recommended the installation of traffic signals. Eckholm pointed out that, “we citizens are not traffic engineers.” She said the current situation doesn’t meet safety regulations and there is no legitimate reason to question the experts who have evaluated the road.
Another neighbor shared a video taken just a couple of hours before the meeting, that demonstrated actual cars blowing through the intersection at Las Trampas as the flashing lights were illuminated, complaining they are “constantly ignored.”
If the city does nothing, it could be liable, due to its knowledge of a dangerous condition. “The city has potential (legal) exposure either way,” said city attorney Mala Subramanian, whether a light is installed or not. She explained that vintage Reliez Station Road is not necessarily up to the standard that would be built today.
Mayor Mark Mitchell pointed out an important change the city recently made in truck weight rules on Reliez Station Road. Police can now issue $1,000 citations as an incentive to encourage getting trucks off that road.
There was also some debate as to the timing of the project. City engineer Tony Coe wanted the project to be scheduled for this summer, when there would be less school traffic to reduce construction impacts for the roughly 14,000 cars that use the road every day. Unfortunately some of the necessary equipment requires a three-month lead time prior to delivery, so he asked the city council to approve the purchase of the items in advance of the construction project itself going out to bid; they would arrive in time to be part of the summer construction window.
In addition, the decision to order the estimated $100,000 to $150,000 signal equipment requires the city commit to the project, since it’s not possible to cancel the order.
The vast majority of the funding for the estimated $762,000 project will come from the Contra Costa Transportation Authority’s Measure J Major Streets Program.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA