|
|
|
|
Second 2016 Mobility Bond Safety Improvement Project starts this week
|
|
|
Click each image for a full-size illustration of the intersection before and after planned improvements. Images are not drawn to scale or intended for engineering purposes.
|
|
|
This week, the City of Austin is initiating the second Vision Zero Safety Improvement Project funded by the 2016 Mobility Bond. The goal of this project at Pleasant Valley Road and Elmont Drive is to reduce crashes by minimizing left-turn conflicts and enhancing pedestrian and bicycle safety.
Improvements include raised medians; dedicated left-turn lanes; a shared-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists on both sides of Pleasant Valley; new curbs; high-visibility, ADA-accessible pedestrian crossings; a center turn lane; a new sidewalk; curb extensions to reduce pedestrian crossing distance; private driveway reconfigurations to reduce collisions; and more. A full, detailed list of planned improvements is available here.
ATD anticipates that the project will take approximately six months, weather permitting. Anticipated road closures and delays are as follows (all time frames are tentative):
- Early phase (Sept. - Nov. 2017): During shared-use path construction, pedestrians will be redirected to a temporary shared-use pedestrian and bicycle lane, protected by water barriers, on Pleasant Valley.
- Middle phase (Dec. 2017 - Feb. 2018): During construction of raised medians, there will be intermittent closures to one lane per direction on Pleasant Valley between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays.
- Final phase (Feb. - March 2018): During final paving and permanent striping and signing activities, there will be rolling lane closures on Pleasant Valley and Elmont.
Vision Zero is the City's goal of reducing traffic deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2025. This project is being delivered by the ATD Traffic Engineering Division’s Transportation Safety Improvement Program using a portion of the $15 million allocated for Fatality Reduction Strategies through the Local Mobility portion of the 2016 Mobility Bond.
In June, the City started construction of a new traffic signal on Alice Mae Lane at Slaughter Lane as part of the safety improvements at the intersection of Slaughter Lane and South First Street. Full construction on that project is anticipated to begin in early 2018.
|
|
First round of Safety Improvement Projects mostly complete
|
|
|
Clockwise, from top left: Completed safety improvements at Cameron Road and US-183 Service Road; Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and I-35 Frontage Road; Lamar Boulevard and Rundberg Lane; and Lamar Boulevard and Parmer Lane.
|
|
|
Prior to passage of the 2016 Mobility Bond, ATD began carrying out on-the-ground safety improvements to a set of five high-priority intersections using funding approved by City Council in 2015. With the fourth major project finished at Lamar Boulevard and Parmer Lane in July 2017, ATD kicked off work on the fifth project, Slaughter Lane and Manchaca Road, by completing preliminary improvements. These projects are also being delivered by the Transportation Safety Improvement Program.
The preliminary improvements include a new traffic signal at the nearby intersection of Manchaca and Monarch Drive, activated in July 2017. Partnering with TxDOT, ATD will begin full project construction at Slaughter and Manchaca in fall 2017 and anticipates completion in spring 2018. Improvements will include a traffic signal upgrade; sidewalks; a shared-use path; raised and/or high-visibility crosswalks; a pedestrian refuge island; accessible pedestrian ramps; raised medians; dual left-turn lanes and more.
ATD has completed major safety improvement projects at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and I-35 frontage roads; Cameron Road and US-183 service roads; Lamar Boulevard and Rundberg Lane; and Lamar Boulevard and Parmer Lane. ATD also installed a new traffic signal at Mount Bonnell Road and RM 2222 in March 2017.
|
|
New reports detail progress on Vision Zero implementation
|
|
City Council adopted Austin's Vision Zero Action Plan in May 2016, and the City of Austin, along with regional partners and community-based stakeholders, have put in a lot of effort since then toward implementation of the plan. In order to keep City Council and the public up to date on the program’s progress, ATD recently released a Vision Zero Annual Report and at-a-glance Vision Zero Report Card.
Together, these reports provide an update to City Council and the public on metrics and Action Plan implementation. They track fatalities, serious injuries, and top contributing factors to crashes, highlight key Action Plan implementation projects and programs, and provide a status update on all actions.
Highlighted achievements, aligned with each of the Action Plan's five key focus areas, include:
- Evaluation – Better crash data reporting and sharing, as well as a crowdsourcing tool for the public to share feedback.
- Enforcement – Extended “No Refusal” nights to address driving while intoxicated, and a new targeted enforcement collaboration between the Austin Transportation Department and the Austin Police Department called Vision Zero in Action.
- Engineering – Safety improvements completed or planned at five major intersections, 716 pedestrian‐related improvements, 2.75 miles of new urban trails, 28.8 miles of new bikeways, and over 14 miles of new or improved sidewalks.
- Education – Multimedia campaign achieving over 3 million ad views, accompanied by community‐based, citywide outreach events with regional partners.
- Policy – City of Austin staff recommendations adopted by City Council on speed management, as well as efforts to integrate traffic safety into community planning.
|
|
ATD staff help with Hurricane Harvey recovery in Victoria, Texas
|
|
Last week, ATD responded to a request for assistance with Hurricane Harvey recovery from the City of Victoria, Texas, by dispatching a group of signal and sign technicians carrying supplies.
An ATD convoy with 23 staff members, 16 vehicles and three trailers departed Austin the morning of Thursday, Aug. 31. Since then, the crews have helped City of Victoria staff replace 122 roadway signs and restore 34 traffic signals to proper working condition, with five other signals currently being repaired.
|
|
Hands-Free Ordinance still intact as statewide texting ban kicks in
|
|
In Austin, it’s illegal to use a handheld electronic device while driving a motor vehicle or riding a bike, in motion. Now, as of Friday, Sept. 1, it is illegal to text and drive across the entire state of Texas. The new law left intact Austin’s Hands-Free Ordinance, which prohibits just about every use of an electronic device while driving or riding a bike. Yes, that includes Tweeting, texting, calling, navigating, Spotify shuffling, Pokémon catching, Snapping, etc.!
To avoid fines in Austin or the rest of Texas, put your phone away or consider using a hands-free system such as Bluetooth or an affixed GPS system. If it takes your eyes or your attention off the road, don't do it!
|
|
Check it out: "Demand questions are the elephant in the room with autonomous vehicles"
|
|
With widespread anticipation of autonomous vehicles rolling out over the next several decades comes speculation about what can be done to ensure positive transportation outcomes. Paul Mackie, Communications Director for transportation demand management (TDM) research-and-development initiative Mobility Lab, explored some of these ideas in a recent blog post.
"Serious questions must be asked about the often rosy projections of AV market penetration, vehicle occupancy, and effects on transit and other systems," wrote Mackie. "As I’ve written before, car and tech companies should do a good job of ensuring that safety and tech issues are covered before AVs roll out en masse, but who will watch out for the societal factors?
"This is a perfect spot for leading thinkers in the TDM community to step forward and help:
- Ensure the establishment of fleets that could essentially enhance access to existing transit networks rather than encourage personalized AVs that would likely create traffic armageddon.
- Avoid any kind of 'Waze effect' with those fleets potentially chopping up once-peaceful neighborhoods and city blocks and turning them into new thoroughfares, like interstate highways did decades ago."
Read the full post at Mobility Lab.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
