FAKE Mobility Planning

Letter to Council and Residents LB:

At the end of the first Candidate Forum 9/6 Councilman Rob Zur Schmiede remarked the city of Laguna Beach already adopted Complete Streets Policy.   Public remarks like this placate a parting audience and spread disinformation, worse the remark leads community residents to the wrong conclusion.   Let's review the facts.

To qualify for grant funding assistance  a city must have documents in place the way Los Angeles did in this comparison with Laguna. To date Laguna Beach has not prepared any of these prerequisite documents and thus could not possibly adopt Complete Streets Policy. Laguna's latest Transportation, Circulation and Growth Element  was adopted in 1992, features Model 'A' Fords on the cover, Bob Gentry was Mayor TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO. In it there is no reference to Complete Streets Policy.

Laguna's  Enhanced Mobility and Complete Streets Transition Plan referred to by Zur Schmiede is not a policy document and thus is not policy. Instead it is rubber-stamped with this disclaimer:

Laguna's Enhanced Mobility and Complete Streets Transition Plan is instead an 84 page exercise for city staff to generate paper not policy, it reads like Wikipedia bookmarks not a city commitment for ACTION.

Costing $118,000 in grant funding plus consultants expense plus staff time, the exercise was a city jobs program not Complete Streets Policy.  If it were policy the content would be consistent with a complete street*, a Twelve Millon Dollar automobile parking lot would not be disguised as The Village Entrance.

Lorene Laguna is the only candidate to promote Complete Streets Policy. She served on the Laguna  Canyon Road Task Force and recognizes adding more auto infrastructure to remove traffic congestion is counter intuitive, like raising speed limits to calm traffic.  One last factoid, Mr Zur Schmiede was not the only council candidate to complete the LB City Citizen Academy.

-LS

*Document excerpt:   The level of service (LOS) would count people not vehicles (page 13), SYNCHRO would model roadway users not vehicles (page 28).

San Clemente Builds More Complete Streets

UPDATE: Changes approved.   Tonight the San Clemente City Council is expected to approve roadway changes to provide safer access to bicycle riders, pedestrians and provisions for OCTA transit along Camino Capistrano and Camino Mira Costa in San Clemente. The roadway changes are consistent with the infrastructure changes provided by Complete Streets Policy adopted by the city in 2012.

The street changes include:

• Introduce traffic-calming measures to blend modes
• Reduce 4 vehicle lanes to 2 lanes
• New striping for bicycle lanes

The San Clemente staff report with drawings is here.
The San Clemente agenda bill is here. 

Laguna Beach continues to deny the benefit of Complete Streets Policy.

-LS

Steps to Adopt Complete Streets Policy

1. Admission

   Recognize if you drive, then you contribute to traffic congestion

2. Policy Initiation

    Recognize traffic congestion is an economic, environmental social problem

3. Gather the Evidence 

   Gather the pollution, traffic counts, time lost, obesity and trip data of mobility system

4. Building Support

   Identify stakeholders, political leaders, partnerships, city staff, technical leads  

5. Influence Factors

   Identify regulations, media advocacy, pub/priv financial influence, workshops

6. Financial Support

   Identify sources, agencies, MPO's, CDC, Land Use Connection Programs  
   
   

READ:  American Planning Association Guide to Complete Streets, APA Report 559

-LS

LB at Traffic Crossroads

New York City spent billions to achieve this traffic map. Should Laguna follow the same investment plan in roads?  -LS

The LB Commuter Brain

Your Brain on Car Policy

Your Brain on Complete Streets Policy

• I'm late
• I'm stuck
• There's no parking
• Why don't they ride the bus?
• Am I driving drunk? 
• Road rage

• Cafes & Lattes
• Breakfast
• Networking
• Newspaper
• Exercise
• Happy Hour
• Community Centers 

C'mon where's the Transportation in CalTRANS?

-LS

Caltrans and Laguna Canyon Road

Positively the last Caltrans road re-alignment for L.C.R.

 

A better idea: Adopt Complete Streets Policy
see the Chronology of LCR re-alignments here.
-LS

Community Meeting Free RSVP

Hosted by LCF and CANDO Free RSVP here.

Chronology of Laguna Canyon Road re-alignments here.

More history of Laguna Canyon Road re-alignments here. 

UPDATE: Was the meeting educational? Have comments for Caltrans? Submit your comments to Caltrans via email or post. 

Post: 
Edward Dolan
Associate Environmental Planner
California Department of Transportation, District 12
Division of Environmental Analysis
1750 East 4th Street, Santa Ana, CA 92705

eMail: D12.SR133@dot.ca.gov

Deadline: 5pm July 10, 2018

-LS

Driverless Car Chase

Bob Eckstein : Science Funnies

State Route 133 Improvement Project

Laguna Canyon Road SR-133

 

Project Summary:

Construction begins: February 2021
Construction ends: April 2023
Revised Cost $39,300,000
Cost per lane foot: $18,714
Speed Reduction: None
Congestion Relief: No Way

 

 

Current Conditions: 

At Laguna Canyon Road or SR-133 southbound, the project segment consists of two general-purpose lanes in the vicinity of SR-73, narrowing to one lane after about 550 feet and continuing as one lane until approximately 300 feet before the El Toro interchange where it widens to two lanes and a left-turn lane. The route continues as two lanes for approximately 200 feet at which point it merges back to one lane for the remainder of the project area. Northbound from project marker PM 3.1,  SR-133 consists of one lane for 400 feet where it widens to two lanes and a right - turn lane at El Toro. It continues as two lanes for approximately 300 feet where it narrows to one lane for approximately 400 feet before becoming two lanes again for the remainder of the project area.

 

 Changes to SR-133:

From El Toro Northbound will become four lanes

From El Toro Southbound will become four lanes

19 utility poles El Toro to 73 will go underground

Purpose:

1. Improve roadway deficiencies  by bringing SR - 133 to  design  standards
2. Improve safety  in the  vicinity  of the SR - 133 / El Toro Road intersection
3. Reduce flooding by improving drainage flow 1.3.2 
4. Underground utility poles
5. Add a Class II (on shoulder) bike lane

Correcting Deficiencies:

• Nonstandard shoulder  widths throughout the corridor
• Overhead poles immediately adjacent nonstandard shoulder widths
• Higher-than-average  collision rates 
• Short-term flooding and debris-carrying catastrophic flooding

Complete Streets Policy Mandates:

The state mandate for Complete Street Policy is AB-1358 while the Cal Department of Transportation has their own Deputy Directive 64 mandate (origin 2001, reaffirmed 2008, 2014). This project addresses Complete Streets Policy this way: 

1.3.2.5 Legislation
There are no known federal, State, or local government mandates that relate to the project. All  projects located on the State Highway System are subject to the requirements of NEPA and CEQA.

1.6.3 Transportation Demand Management (TDM) 
TDM focuses on regional means of reducing  the number of vehicle trips and vehicle miles traveled as well as increasing vehicle  occupancy. TDM strategies were not considered and discussed as part of this project because they  were determined to be not relevant to the purpose of  the  project.

Complete Streets Policy Reality:

1.3.2.6 To encourage the alternative modes of transportation, the City of Laguna Beach (City), in cooperation with OCTA , provides a bus service from I - 405 into  Laguna  Beach in the summer months. The  City also operates a trolley service to and from the Canyon of the Arts. 

1.3.2.7 Air Quality Improvements This project does not increase  the highway  capacity; therefore, it does not contribute  additional air pollutants, and per 40  Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 40,  Part 93.12 6 , the project is exempt from all conformity requirements. The addition of  the Class II  bike lanes  should encourage the use of bicycles along the route. 

Bottom Line:  

There is no mention of Complete Streets compliance in the SR-133 Improvement Plan.

GOOGLE Search for Complete Streets Policy: 

No results found for "complete street policy" search:http://www.dot.ca.gov/d12/DEA/133/0P94U/.
No results found for "DD-64" search:http://www.dot.ca.gov/d12/DEA/133/0P94U/.
No results found for "Deputy Directive 64" search:http://www.dot.ca.gov/d12/DEA/133/0P94U/.

UPDATE:  Caltrans reply to Complete Streets Safety Policy

More Information:

Link to State Route 133 Improvement Project (contents)
Link to Caltrans Public Notice and Invitation.
Link to Main Project Plan
Link to Appendix D Technical Reports

Link to Daily Pilot Article 5 December 2019

Link to CEQA Notice of Determinations 11 June 2020

LS

BOSCH Parking and California Dreamin'

Lets legalize Pot ...    download your parking App ...    install Way-Finding signs ...    load your  Q-Codes ...    get Bosch Parking Assist ...    and drive a self-parking Tesla ...

before Bosch ...

 ... after Bosch!






... all of that will not free a single parking space when everybody else is also looking for parking.

Fast Company story (click)

"Real solutions to congestion would come from having fewer cars on the road"- Fast Company

-LS