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2005 Master Plan Annual Report
Transportation
2005 Annual Report | Land Use | Economy | Community Appearance | Community Facilities & Services | Housing | Transportation | Implementation
Click here to view/download a pdf version of the Transportation section.
Transportation Meeting Summary
From Meeting Dated Thursday, March 2, 2006
In Attendance
- Doug Green (Engineering Division), Moderator
- Steve Cothrel (Parks & Recreation Department), Recorder
- Patty Dalton, Emma Bramley, Joe Valentino (City Manager’s Office), Dean Sivinski, Matt Davis (Development Department), Jim Wood, Larry Helscel (Public Services Department)
Goal
Provide a comprehensive transportation network that is safe, convenient and accessible to the entire community.
Executive Summary
The Transportation section remains an important yet challenging component of the Master Plan. The ability to safely move vehicles and pedestrians throughout any community is imperative. At the same time, there is a desire to reduce cut through traffic in order to decrease the level of traffic congestion. In addition, the City faces a large inventory of surface infrastructure that is aging and in need of significant improvement.
Immediately following adoption of the Master Plan in 2001, the City worked to update the community’s Transportation Plan to address existing and future needs within the community. The Transportation Plan was presented to City Council and accepted in 2002, but the overall recommendations contained within it have proven a challenge to set in motion. The associated financial costs, combined with an uncertainty of the success and community acceptance of recommended traffic-calming treatments have resulted in the decision to not pursue several opportunities for change in favor of replacing existing conditions. Additionally, while not perfect, the community’s existing surface infrastructure functions adequately and safely on the whole, raising the question of “what are the compelling reasons for significant change?”
The trial roundabout at Miller Park and the re-striping of Lane and the southernmost section of North Star roads to create bike/pedestrian lanes have met their objectives, with mostly positive comments from residents. These results indicate that a phasing in of recommended changes might be the best way to proceed. Such options are low cost yet provide an opportunity for residents to become familiar with proposed changes and possibly to embrace their implementation in other areas of the community.
Many strategies within the Transportation section are conditioned upon redevelopment of the City’s commercial districts and are highly dependant on other areas of the Master Plan. As re-development of the commercial areas of the City occur or as major sections of arterial roads are replaced, City Council and Staff consideration of this section and to specific areas of the Transportation Plan will be necessary.
The City faces the challenge of effecting policy decisions by other entities with regard to several Transportation issues – from working to facilitate improved services with the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) to awaiting opportunities for redevelopment in the City’s commercial districts. As such, progress is dependent upon decisions made by others.
Those involved with the Transportation Plan update process underwent an educational, decision-making process over the course of a year. Many residents are unaware of this process and how conclusions were reached and therefore some of the proposed treatments may appear extreme, or even unnecessary. In addition, costs associated with the Transportation Plan were grouped into one large number, and perceived negatively as a result. As with the Master Plan, the Transportation Plan is intended as a guiding document, to be implemented as opportunities arise over the course of many decades.
To better address some of the ongoing issues surrounding Transportation Plan recommendations, the Infrastructure Policies Committee of City Council was formed in 2005. The committee focused on various infrastructure elements including sidewalks, bikeways, curbs and gutters, and beautification efforts. Through many months of work, much was achieved to develop a review process that allows for a complete approach to considering and addressing infrastructure and Transportation Plan goals cost effectively and in a timely fashion.
As a result of this process, Staff was directed by the Committee and ultimately City Council to proceed with plans for rebuilding Kenny Road north of McCoy Road – and at the same time enhancing the community gateway, adding beautification elements and incorporating the option for installing a multi-use path along the western side of this arterial road into the engineering plans. This project and its associated options was delayed in early 2006, to allow for a review by the 2006 Infrastructure Policies Committee, with a report back to City Council as a whole later in the year.
Many of the strategies set forth in this section can be categorized as routine City business and have been marked as such for future Master Plan Annual Report updates. As a result, they will only contain update information in future reports as projects or items of note occur.
Objective Highlights
Objective 1. Maintain the functionality of the roadway network.
- With only minor exceptions, the City’s system of streets and roadways functions as intended: the arterial streets move traffic through the City with minimal delay, the collectors adequately move traffic between major destinations, and the local streets provide access to the residential properties which abut them.
- Improvement of the Riverside Drive/Henderson Road intersection in 2005 has increased traffic flow and reduced delays at this important community gateway. Based on this improvement, Staff considers Objective 1, Strategy d as completed.
- Since the inception of the Master Plan, significant progress has been made in repaving and resurfacing the City’s streets through the Capital Improvements Program and by allocating additional dollars to projects as they have come available. Since 2001, approximately 50 percent of the City’s streets have been milled and overlaid or slurry sealed.
- In the 2003 Community Survey, respondents indicated the City should continue to prioritize road improvements. It will be interesting to see whether residents have been noticing the positive changes of recent years when the 2006 Community Survey is undertaken, and where road improvements falls within the community’s present list of priorities.
- Unfortunately, the identified need for road improvements is greater than available financial and human resources. Much of the community’s roadway inventory is aging, with significant work required at the same point in time. Because total reconstruction is the most expensive treatment, it already presents a funding challenge, one that will intensify in the future. Staff is investigating new, lower-cost alternatives and technologies for reconstructing streets, such as “full-depth reclamation” in the hopes of allowing the City to achieve more with the available dollars.
- While there are limited outside funding opportunities for street improvements, a challenge to securing such funds derives from the fact that the Transportation Master Plan was not formally adopted. The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, which coordinates federal and some state funding, requires entities to have an approved plan as a condition of their application process.
Objective 2. Encourage multi-modal transportation connections as mixed-use development occurs.
- Successfully implementing the strategies of Objective 2 are dependent on change occurring within the City’s commercial districts, therefore much of this objective remains pending. However, the guidelines are in place for facilitating such change as opportunity occurs.
- With a City Council member on the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) Board, Upper Arlington’s interests in public transportation are well represented. Proposals for increased levels of service should be submitted to COTA as new mixed-use developments occur in the study areas.
- Improved sidewalks are being incorporated within new mixed-use developments such as Arlington Pointe Plaza. The challenge lies in filling gaps in the sidewalk system in surrounding residential neighborhoods in order to improve pedestrian access to the new mixed-use developments, with funding and responsibility the key issues. This topic is to be considered further by Council’s Infrastructure Policies Committee in 2006. Staff recommends that Objective 2, Strategy c be revised to read “Ensuring mixed-use developments are fully accessible by a sidewalk system within the development.”
Objective 3. Expand transit options.
- With a City Council member on the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) Board, Upper Arlington’s interests in public transportation are well represented, however, existing levels of use have resulted in a reduction of services.
- As a whole, public transportation is not fully embraced by Central Ohioans at this point in time, and the City can only continue its efforts to encourage consideration of Upper Arlington’s public transportation needs as COTA reviews the needs of the region. Continued upward pressure on fuel prices may increase COTA ridership, while new mixed use developments in the City’s study areas may intensify the need for increased levels of service.
- Objective 3, Strategy c requires the provision of support facilities for bus transit to serve new developments. Since new developments such as Arlington Pointe Plaza and Town Center Place are beginning to occur, staff recommends changing the strategy from “midterm” to “ongoing” for implementation purposes.
- Since a large segment of the population that would benefit from adequate public transportation options is comprised of older adults, it was hoped their transportation needs would be adequately addressed in a 2005 Older Adults Needs Assessment. Results from the study did not indicate a significant issue, primarily as a result of the range of older adults surveyed in the process (ages 50 and up) and a perceived disconnect amongst many older adults who believe they will continue driving independently for many years to come. Results from the survey are to be reviewed in depth in 2006 and several priorities for further study considered, with a more detailed look at transportation issues tentatively on the slate.
Objective 4. Reduce cut-through traffic.
- Police Division efforts to monitor and encourage motorists to follow speed limits continues as routine business. The division intends to install some permanent, pole-mounted speed monitors, with the first unit scheduled to go on-line in 2006. While there are instances of speeding, typical monitoring results indicate few neighborhoods where widespread, excessive speed is a problem. A recent study on Kenny Road, from McCoy Road to the north corporation line, showed similar results.
- Through the Traffic Safety Coordinating Committee, efforts continue to implement traffic calming measures as appropriate. Such efforts are not always welcome by motorists or residents of the street where the measures are proposed.
- Recent traffic calming successes include the Miller Park Roundabout and the narrowing of Lane Road and a portion of North Star Road vehicle lanes to accommodate striped multi-use pathways on the edge of the pavement. These projects represent larger concepts that are outlined in the City’s Transportation Plan. Although bolder steps will be necessary to implement these larger concepts, the “introduction” to the public via the “trial” treatments has been successful. The Henderson Road Corridor Study, scheduled for 2006, will further address traffic calming in this busy area.
Objective 5. Expand walking opportunities.
- Council’s Infrastructure Policies Committee began consideration of a sidewalk policy in 2005, but did not resolve the issue, with efforts scheduled to resume as the 2006 Committee begins work. Potential long-term policy considerations would include:
- City initiation of sidewalk construction on prioritized arterial routes as roadway improvement projects occur.
- City construction of sidewalks along parks, public buildings and other City-owned public facilities, as appropriate.
- Consideration of the appropriateness of sidewalks in certain neighborhoods.
- ADA compliance issues associated with sidewalk construction and repair.
- Funding.
- Consideration of a formal policy requiring the installation of sidewalks in all new developments. Recent developments, both residential and commercial, have included sidewalks through staff encouragement of developers and voluntary developer efforts although there is currently no formal policy requiring sidewalks.
- Arterial streetlight improvements have occurred in several areas in recent years with additional projects slated as road projects are implemented. However, cost issues remain a factor in the prioritization of such projects. Arterial streetlights are being designed in 2006 for Kenny Road from Fishinger Road to the north corporation line. Construction is slated for the spring of 2007.
- Within residential neighborhoods, the responsibility for streetlights falls to homeowners through the City’s Neighborhood Lighting Utility (NLU). The NLU replaced the old lighting system in the area south of Lane Avenue in the mid-1990s through a resident-initiated assessment process. Since the initial project, there have been no further successful petitions for neighborhood lights. Neighborhood lights were, however, installed in the Tarrington Woods subdivision by the developer, with costs recouped as part of the purchase cost for each home. The Neighborhood Lighting Utility Board has discussed the possibility of adding an incentive component to the resident-initiated petition process to enhance the potential for neighborhood lighting projects. Funding is the primary challenge and Staff recommends consideration of the issue by Council’s Infrastructure Policies Committee.
Objective 6. Improve bicycling opportunities.
- The addition of the Lane Road bike/pedestrian lane in 2004 proved a success, with many neighborhood residents using it in the warmer months. A similarly lane was added to North Star Road, south of Lane Avenue. Because these projects are in the process of being implemented, Staff recommends amending Objective 6, Strategy a to “ongoing.”
- The concept of a multi-use pathway along Kenny Road from McCoy Road to the north corporate line was brought before City Council in early 2006, as a result of the work of the 2005 Infrastructure Policies Committee. The entire Kenny Road reconstruction project was put on hold at this time to allow for further consideration by the 2006 Infrastructure Policies Committee and in the hopes of securing a better price by bidding the project out during the off-season, in preparation for 2007 construction.
- In 2006, the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board will undertake a strategic planning effort. Staff’s recommends that this process considers and advises City Council on greenways, walkways and bikeways and that Objective 6, Strategy c be revised to “ongoing.”
- Staff recommends deleting Objective 6, Strategy d since creation of such a map would be more applicable to recreational bike pathways rather than those along transportation routes whose purpose is to enhance connectivity between commercial and community activity centers.
Transportation
Strategy Responsibilities / Recommended Amendments
Objective 1. Maintain the functionality of the roadway network.
a. Updating the Thoroughfare Plan.
| Public Services, Public Safety
| Completed
|
b. Maintaining intersection levels of service (LOS) to ensure reasonable traffic flow.
| Public Services, Development, Board of Zoning & Planning, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, Ohio Department of Transportation
| Ongoing / Routine
|
c. Minimizing curb cuts along arterial streets.
| Public Services, Police, Development, and Board of Zoning & Planning
| Ongoing / Routine
|
d. Addressing level of service deficiencies along Riverside Drive and on Henderson Road at Riverside Drive by building roadway improvements.
| Public Services, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, Ohio Department of Transportation, City Council, Police
| Completed
|
e. Facilitating walking and cycling trips – and thereby reducing congestion – by enabling mixed-use developments.
| Public Services, Board of Zoning & Planning, Development, Economic Development, Community Improvement Corporation, property owners
| Ongoing
|
f. Continuing the street surface re-pavement program.
| Public Services, City Council
| Ongoing Routine
|
g. Maintaining good access to Riverside and University hospitals
| Public Services, City Council , City Manager
| Ongoing / Routine
|
Objective 2. Encourage multi-modal transportation connections as mixed-use development occurs.
a. Evaluating transportation implications of Study Area development proposals.
| Public Services, City Council, Board of Zoning & Planning, Development
| As redevelopment occurs in the Study Areas
|
b. Facilitating bus and cab service to mixed-use developments.
| Public Services, Development, COTA, community transportation providers
| Ongoing as redevelopment occurs in the Study Areas
|
| c. Ensuring mixed-use developments are fully accessible by the sidewalk system. Change to: Ensuring mixed-use developments are fully accessible by a sidewalk system within the development.
| Development, Board of Zoning & Planning, City Council
| Ongoing as developments are proposed
|
d. Requiring the provision of support facilities in office, major retail, mixed-use, and institutional development to benefit walkers and cyclists.
| Development, Development, Board of Zoning & Planning, Economic Development, Community Improvement Corporation
| Ongoing as redevelopment occurs
|
Objective 3. Expand transit options.
a. Working with COTA to expand bus service as warranted by increased ridership or new supporting development.
| Public Services, Central Ohio Transit Authority, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, Development, Economic Development, Community Improvement Corporation
| Ongoing
|
b. Providing pedestrian connections to existing bus stops through sidewalk improvements.
| Public Services, Central Ohio Transit Authority, Board of Zoning & Planning, Economic Development, Community Improvement Corporation
| As new developments are considered, Ongoing
|
c. Requiring the provision of support facilities for bus transit to serve new developments along existing routes.
| Public Services, Central Ohio Transit Authority, Board of Zoning & Planning
| Ongoing
|
d. Working with COTA to improve bus service within and between the City, The Ohio State University, Downtown Columbus, and suburban employment centers.
| Public Services, Central Ohio Transit Authority, City Manager
| Ongoing / Routine
|
Objective 4. Reduce cut-through traffic.
a. Continuing to use a special radar “speed trailer” to monitor and enforce speed limits.
| Police
| Ongoing / Routine
|
b. Implementing traffic-calming measures on key neighborhood collectors and local streets that are affected by cut-through traffic.
| Public Services, Police
| Ongoing / Routine
|
Objective 5. Expand walking opportunities.
a. Completing major gaps in the sidewalk system along arterials and collectors, and linking major activity centers.
| Public Services, Board of Zoning & Planning, City Council
| Further direction required
|
b. Facilitating street lighting to enhance safety, visibility, and security.
| Public Services, Board of Zoning & Planning, City Council
| As new developments occur / Further direction required
|
Objective 6. Improve bicycling opportunities.
a. Implementing bikeway recommendations of the regional bikeway plan prepared by MORPC.
| Public Services, Police, Parks & Recreation Task Force, new entity
| Short Term and Mid Term / Ongoing
|
b. Providing a comprehensive bikeway system that interconnects major activity centers and regional bike facilities.
| Parks & Recreation, Parks & Recreation Task Force, Public Services
| Further consideration required
|
c. Considering the creation of a committee to advise City Council on greenways, walkways, and bikeways.
| Parks & Recreation, Parks & Recreation Task Force
| Complete / Ongoing
|
d. Considering the creation of a Bicycle Suitability Map to inform citizens of the skill level recommended for different routes.
| Parks & Recreation, Public Services, Task Force
| Short Term / Delete
|
Updated 5/30/06
City Manager's Office
City of Upper Arlington
3600 Tremont Road
Upper Arlington, OH 43221
Phone: 614-583-5040
Fax: 614-457-6620
www.ua-ohio.net
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