HomeMy WebLinkAboutDTS-06-011 - Traffic Calming Criteria and FundingDate of Report: January 18, 2006
Report No.: DTS 06 -011
Subject: TRAFFIC CALMING CRITERIA AND FUNDING
RECOMMENDATIONS:
"That the existing Capital Budget funds of $100,000 annually be maintained for the
implementation of traffic calming measures; and further,
That a report be prepared for a future DTS Committee meeting upon completion of the
2006 traffic calming EA studies and the permanent installation of the 2005 traffic calming
measures, to update the Committee on the funding projections and the timing of future
permanent installations ."
BACKGROUND:
At the Dec 12/05 Council meeting, Councillor Lorentz raised concerns with the proposed
phasing in of traffic calming measures over a 2 - 3 year period. At the request of Mayor Zehr,
staff were directed to provide further clarification prior to consideration of the permanent
installation of the traffic calming measures, as to the criteria to be used in the selection process;
how the funding will be applied; and the project timing.
REPORT:
The City's Traffic Calming Policy was approved by Council in August 2004. It established a
process for identifying, prioritizing and evaluating traffic calming measures throughout the City.
In 2005, Paradigm Transportation Solutions was contracted to conduct three Class "B"
Environmental Assessments for traffic calming. These were the first three studies undertaken
as a result of the new traffic calming policy and traffic calming budget. The streets reviewed
were Greenbrook Drive, David Avenue /Schneider Ave and Kingswood Drive. These reviews
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are now complete and temporary measures have been installed on Schneider Ave and will be
installed on the other streets in the near future.
Council at the Nov, 28 2005 meeting approved undertaking a traffic calming environmental
assessment in 2006 on Chopin Drive, Chandler Drive and Bradley Drive. These streets were
chosen as per the approved Traffic Calming Policy and were based on the following criteria.
Criteria used in the selection process:
• Speed — Speeds are measured over a full week 24 hours per day. This allows for the
differentiation between daytime, nighttime and weekend traffic. The 85% speed, or the
speed at which 85% of the traffic is traveling, is measured in both directions. This speed
is then compared to the expected speed based on the road classification. The
difference between these speeds provides the score.
• Volume — The volume of traffic over a 24 hour period is calculated for each street. The
streets under consideration are all prorated out of a score of 20 with the highest volume
street getting 20 points and the lowest volume street receiving 1 point. The amount of
through traffic is also considered, although this is sometimes difficult to determine until
further studies are completed.
• Collisions — The number of collisions per kilometer of road over the previous three years
are calculated and prorated out of 20 points.
• Safety:
• Sidewalks - proportion of neighbourhood streets with continuous sidewalks on at
least one side, prorated out of 5 points.
• Pedestrians & Cyclists - number of schools and major pedestrian generators in
area, presence of designated bike routes in the area, prorated out of 5 points.
• Emergency and Transit Routes - proximity of emergency and transit routes in the
area, prorated out of 10 points.
These criteria are applied against all streets considered for traffic calming within each road
classification, ie local, minor collector and major collector. The highest rated streets are then
recommended for traffic calming EA's. For our 2006 program, numerous streets were reviewed
and the three highest rated were recommended as follows:
Chandler Dr 65 points
Bradley Dr 58 points
Chopin Dr 53 points
The 2006 traffic calming priority list for each road classification is included at the end of this
report.
Funding of Traffic Calming Initiatives
When the Traffic Calming Policy was develop in 2004, we somewhat arbitrarily picked an annual
budget figure of $100,000 and it was intended to cover the cost of any consultants, public
notices, meetings, etc as well as the implementation of the measures. This amount was
included in the capital budget each year for a 10 year period from 2005 to 2014 inclusive.
The total cost for consulting fees, public notices, etc for the 2005 traffic calming program will be
approximately $60,000 thereby leaving $40,000 for implementation of the measures. This
obviously will not be sufficient to complete all the proposed measures on a permanent basis and
temporary measures will be installed with the intent of installing permanent measures over two
or more years. The installation of temporary measures will also allow staff to monitor their
effectiveness and potentially reduce the number of devices installed, thereby saving the cost of
permanent installations.
The total cost of the 2005 traffic calming measures as proposed are:
David /Schneider $15,000
Kingswood $70,000
Greenbrook $72,000
Total $157,000
For the 2006 traffic calming program, Chopin Dr, Chandler Dr and Bradley Dr are proposed for
review. These streets are not quite as impacted by through traffic as those in the 2005 program
and we do not expect modifications as extensive in order to achieve a desirable effect. Staff will
also be undertaking the EA's in house which will reallocate approximately half of the annual
funding to the implementation of traffic calming measures.
Obviously we do not have enough funds to fully implement the 2005 program immediately.
Some members of Council have expressed concern with the phased approach to the installation
of permanent measures and as a result the following options have been considered:
• Phase the permanent installation over a number of years as surplus funds from smaller
initiatives are generated
• Complete the 2006 program but do not install the measures until 2007
• Reduce the number of traffic calming EA's undertaken each year
• Front end the cost of the 2005 program and reduce the amount available in the following
years, thereby keeping the total program cost the same
• Increase the annual funding to $150,000
While it is difficult to estimate what the cost will be for future traffic calming EA's beyond 2006
without knowing which streets will be completed or what measures will be recommended, we do
expect them to be less in scale to what has been completed in 2005. Keep in mind that we
have completed the highest rated streets first, which generated the most severe problems,
whereas future EA's will be completed on more local and minor collector streets where the
number of measures will likely be less.
We also have recommended as part of the completed EA's that certain works be undertaken at
the time of road improvements, specifically the Schneider Ave island would be constructed as
part of the Queen St improvements scheduled for 2007. The schedule for implementation in
relation to available funding is as follows.
1!
Traffic Calming Implementation of Permanent Measures
2005 2006 2007 2008
Revenue
100,000
100,000
100,000
1001000
Study Expenses
60,000
15,000
15,000
15,000
Sub total
40,000
85,000
85,000
85,000
Accumulated
Revenue
40,000
125,000
68,000
53,000
Permanent
Greenbrook
Schneider
Installations
72,000
15,000
Kingswood
Chopin
70,000
(30,000)
Chandler
(40,000)
Bradley
(15,000)
Sub total
142,000
100,000
Total 1 1 -17,000 -32,000
This chart shows a deficit projection for 2006 and 2007. The cost projections have been based
on the installation of all identified measures for each street. The benefit of the staged
implementation of the traffic calming measures is that it will allow for the evaluation of their
effectiveness and confirm the need for all or fewer measures. If, for example, we find that traffic
patterns and driver behaviour can be positively shifted with fewer measures than those
identified in the EA's, then we would install less restrictions. This would ultimately reduce the
cost. Contingency amounts have also been included which may reduce the overall cost slightly.
We have made some assumptions on what the cost may be for the 2006 program on Bradley,
Chopin and Chandler Dr. These are just for illustration purposes, but knowing the types of
problems, the length of the streets and the types of measures that would be effective, we don't
expect that the costs would be as great as those in 2005. We have also assumed that the
permanent installation of the 2006 program would not be undertaken until 2007. The 2008
program, depending on the streets chosen, could be even less than previous years.
At this time, we believe that the annual budget of $100,000 is reasonable; it is just more heavily
weighted in the initial years than in the later years. It is Staff's recommendation that we
maintain the funding structure the way it has been budgeted, recognizing that most but not all
permanent measures could be installed after one season of temporary measures.
Upon completion of the 2006 traffic calming EA studies and the permanent installation of the
2005 traffic calming measures, a report will be brought back to the DTS Committee to update
them on the funding projections and the timing of future permanent installations.
If Council still wishes to expedite the installation of permanent traffic calming measures, than
additional funds will have to be approved, as they are not currently budgeted.
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Project Timing
The 2005 traffic calming EA's were completed with the assistance of a consultant and took
approx 8 months to finish. We intend to complete the 2006 EA's in house and have started
some of the data collection and intend to have the first public meetings during the winter. Even
still there is an extensive public participation component to an EA which must be maintained.
We feel that undertaking them in house should allow us to complete them in approximately 6
months and certainly in time for warm weather installation of the temporary measures.
Potential Changes in the Environmental Assessment Process
The Municipal Engineers Association (MEA), which "manages" the existing Municipal Class EA
process and reports annually to the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), has recommended that
a number of changes should be made and the EA document should be reprinted as a 4th
Edition likely in late 2006.
In the approved 2000 EA document, traffic calming was identified as a schedule B activity and
as such is subject to a Part 2 Order request (bump -up).
MEA proposed that in the 4t" edition a new schedule will be created between Schedule A and
Schedule B that would represent projects such as traffic calming and where they would be
similar to Schedule A as being pre- approved but with the requirement of Public notice so that
affected parties have the opportunity to appeal to Municipal Councils with their concerns.
The new Toronto Act, published after City Council's resolution was forwarded to the MOE,
exempts Toronto from the EA act with regard to Traffic Calming. It has been suggested that a
new Municipal Act will follow to do the same for all municipalities.
The MOE advisors will provide an update on relative timing etc in the near future.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
The recommendation of maintaining the $100,000 annual budget for traffic calming measures
will allow for the installation of permanent measures in a reasonable time frame. It allows for
the installation of temporary measures to ensure their effectiveness as well as confirm
community support before their permanent installation. Initially there might be minor delays, or
modest over expenditures of the annual budget, but we expect that this will be eliminated in
approximately three years as the larger traffic calming projects are completed and smaller, less
costly, projects come on stream.
John P. McBride Director
Transportation Planning
Rob Shamess, P. Eng
Director of Engineering