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Home My WebLink AboutDTS-10-049 - Traffic Calming Follow Up - Homewood AveJ KITC~~R De~elopment& Technical5ervrces REPORT T0: Development & Technical Services Committee DATE OF MEETING: March 8, 2010 SUBMITTED BY: John McBride, Director of Transportation Planning PREPARED BY: Jeramie Lewis, Traffic Technologist (519-741-2665) WARD(S) INVOLVED: West-Victoria Park DATE OF REPORT: February 24, 2010 REPORT NO.: DTS-10-049 SUBJECT: HOMEWOOD AVENUE TRAFFIC CALMING -POST MEASURE INSTALLATION FOLLOW-UP REVIEW RECOMMENDATION: That the existing traffic calming measures on Homewood Avenue, consisting of three (3) speed humps from Queen Street South to West Avenue, remain in place. BACKGROUND: As per the recommendations outlined in Development and Technical Services Committee Report DTS-07-064, Transportation Planning has conducted afollow-up review of the traffic calming measures that were installed on Homewood Avenue in 2007. The intention of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of the traffic calming plan in terms of ensuring that the measures have successfully moderated traffic speeds and have discouraged traffic from using Homewood Avenue as scut-through route. In addition, a survey was sent to neighbourhood residents in early 2010, in order to determine the level of support the traffic calming plan receives from Homewood Avenue residents. In 2006, Homewood Avenue was scheduled for reconstruction. In February, 2006 a petition was presented by Homewood Avenue residents requesting that traffic calming measures be incorporated into the reconstruction of the roadway. Recognizing this opportunity, the City of Kitchener initiated a Traffic Calming Review for Homewood Avenue. The first public meeting was held on April 12, 2006. Residents were invited to review the data regarding vehicle speeds, traffic volume data, collisions and the proportion of cut-through traffic collected by the study team, and to provide their input about the traffic issues in the neighbourhood. The majority of residents who attended the meeting and submitted comment sheets expressed concerns about cut-through traffic volumes and high vehicle speeds. On October 4, 2006, a second public meeting was held to present five design options to the 2-1 community. A preferred alternative was identified and feedback was requested from residents in order to determine if the community, as a whole, supported the recommendations. The preferred alternative consisted of installing three (3) speed humps along the length of Homewood Avenue. This plan was well-received by the residents. A final traffic calming recommendation, based on this plan, was submitted to Council in April 2007 (DTS Report 07- 064). The recommended traffic calming measures were installed in the summer of 2007. REPORT: As part of the review of the traffic calming measures along Homewood Avenue, Transportation Planning has compared the data for speeds, collisions and traffic volumes (both total and cut- through traffic) for Homewood Avenue based on conditions observed both before and after the traffic calming installation. The results are as follows: Home wood Avenue -Traffic Sp eeds and Volumes Traffic Volumes Speeds (kmlh) Count Station Location Date WB EB Total Change WB EB Avg. Change Between Queen Street 2005 628 505 1133 46 3% 43.8 43.2 43.5 +1 6% and West Avenue 2009 297 311 608 . . 44.3 44.0 44.2 . Note: 85 percentile speed is the speed at which 85% of vehicles are travelling at or below. Based on this data, it can be concluded that traffic volumes on Homewood Avenue have fallen dramatically since the traffic calming installation in 2007. Traffic speeds have remained virtually unchanged, showing an increase in average speeds by only 0.7 km/h, or a 1.6% increase. It should be noted that the road conditions on Homewood Avenue prior to the 2006 reconstruction were extremely poor. This poor road condition, in itself, reduced vehicle speeds. In March 2006, a traffic originldestination study was conducted to determine the volume of cut- through traffic on Homewood Avenue. It was discovered that 63% of westbound traffic (396 vehicles) and 58% of eastbound traffic (293 vehicles) were using Homewood Avenue as a cut- through route. Based on the number of residences on Homewood Avenue not changing in the interim, Transportation Planning has reasonably determined that local traffic volumes remained stable while the reduction in traffic volumes occurred within the cut-through traffic on Homewood Avenue. As part of the Homewood Avenue follow-up review, Transportation Planning investigated the number of collisions reported to police both before and after the installation of the traffic calming measures. In the five years leading up to the installation of the traffic calming measures there were a total of eight (8) motor vehicle collisions along Homewood Avenue and at its intersections with Queen Street and West Avenue, for a collision rate of 1.6 per year. In the two full years since the implementation of the traffic calming measures (2008 and 2009) there has been only one (1) motor vehicle collision resulting in a collision rate of 0.5 per year. Overall this is a reduction in the collision rate by 1.1 collisions per year. This preliminary collision analysis suggests that the traffic calming measures have helped to reduce the overall collision experience on Homewood Avenue, although it should be noted that alonger-term analysis of collision trends on the street over the next few years will be required in order to confirm these preliminary findings. 2-2 Transportation Planning conducts afollow-up neighbourhood survey as part of our traffic calming reviews. In January 2010, a survey package was mailed out to all Homewood Avenue residents, in order to gauge community support for the traffic calming installation. The survey package included the results of the traffic studies performed both before and after installation, as discussed in this report. Responses were received from a total of 35 of the 81 properties that were surveyed, and the results are as follows: Total Survey Results: Residents in support of maintaining the existing traffic calming 33 (94%) Residents not in support of maintaining the traffic calming 2 (6%) Tota135 of 81(43% response rate) Based on the results above, it appears that there is widespread neighbourhood support to maintain the existing traffic calming measures on Homewood Avenue. Accordingly, Transportation Planning recommends that the existing traffic calming measures be retained on the street. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: There are no additional costs to maintain the existing traffic calming measures. CMB ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Jeff Willmer, Interim General Manager Development and Technical Services Department 2-3 ~~ ~ ' ~ fn y ~' ~ ~~ .~ ~ ~ ~p ~ ~a ~ ~ ~ ~ , .~ ~° ~. r ~' ~. ~ ~ ~ ~ a~ ~ '_* ~ ~ ~ ~: ~ S ,~ ~ _~ ~ ~ r A r * ~ ~~ ,~ u~ ' •9 ' ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~"a ~ r° ~' ~ ~5 r € f ~ -~. 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