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CC - Approval and Ratification of the Submission of the Following Six Grant Applications to Cycle 10 of the Highway Safety Improvement Program Funding for Traffic Safety Improvement Projects: (1) Sepulveda Boulevard from Centinela Avenue to the Westfield Mall Access; (2) Overland Ave from Maytime Lane to Northgate Street; (3) Three Signalized Intersections on Overland Avenue and Bristol Parkway; (4) Ten Signalized Intersections on Washington Boulevard, Culver Boulevard, Overland Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, Centinela Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard, (5) Twelve Non Signalized Intersections on Washington Boulevard, Sepulveda Boulevard, Washington Place and Higuera Street; and (6) Segments of Jefferson Boulevard and Sawtelle Boulevard.
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Meeting Date: February 1, 2021
Contact Person/Dept: Heba El-Guindy/Public Works Department
Phone Number: (310) 253-5628
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: Yes [] No [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date:
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (01/28/2021)
Department Approval: Charles D. Herbertson, PW Director/City Engineer (01/26/2021)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council approve and ratify the submission of the following six grant applications to Cycle 10 of the Highway Safety Improvement Program Funding for the traffic safety improvement projects: (1) Sepulveda Boulevard from Centinela Avenue to the Westfield Mall Access; (2) Overland Avenue from Maytime Lane to Northgate Street; (3) three signalized intersections on Overland Avenue and Bristol Parkway; (4) ten signalized intersections on Washington Boulevard, Culver Boulevard, Overland Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, Centinela Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard; (5) twelve non-signalized intersections on Washington Boulevard, Sepulveda Boulevard, Washington Place, and Higuera Street; and (6) segments of Jefferson Boulevard and Sawtelle Boulevard.
BACKGROUND
The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST) was signed into law on December 4, 2015. Under FAST, the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), codified as Section 148 of Title 23, United States Code (23 U.S.C §148), is a core federal-aid program to States for the purpose of achieving a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads. Caltrans Division of Local Assistance (DLA) manages California's local agency share of the HSIP funds. California's Local HSIP focuses on infrastructure projects with nationally recognized crash reduction factors (CRFs). The HSIP is a competitive statewide grant program. Local HSIP projects must be identified on the basis of crash experience, crash potential, crash rate, or other data-supported means.
HSIP funds are eligible for work on any public road or publicly owned bicycle or pedestrian pathway or trail, or on tribal lands, that improves the safety for its users. Within FAST, there are twenty-eight project categories identified as eligible such as High Friction Surface Treatment (HFST) and Variable Speed Warning Signs (VSWS). It is the intent of the HSIP that federal funds be expended on safety projects that can be designed and constructed expeditiously. Projects cannot require the acquisition of significant rights of way (not more than 10% of the construction cost), nor can they require extensive environmental review and mitigation.
DISCUSSION
The City’s Cycle 10 HSIP grant applications were submitted by the due date of November 2, 2020. The PW Department submitted six HSIP funding applications for projects that fulfill all goals set by the Program. Projects were selected based on five-year collisions analysis from 2014 through 2018, in order to maximize the Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) that relates estimated safety benefits to the cost of project design and construction. The majority of the submitted safety projects are also identified in the Local Roads Safety Plan that will soon be brought for City Council consideration and approval.
It should be noted that each of the grant applications was accompanied by letters of support received from the Mayor, the City’s BPAC, the City’s Police Department, the Culver City Unified School District, Women on Bikes, and Bike Culver City. Below is a summary description of the submitted HSIP grant applications.
(1) Sepulveda Blvd from Centinela Ave to the Westfield Mall Access
Sepulveda Boulevard serves a high volume of local and regional vehicular traffic. This segment of Sepulveda Boulevard has a reverse horizontal curve that cannot to be aligned due to abutting private properties on both sides of the road. The project improvements along this 0.4-mile segment includes the application of HFST to eliminate/minimize vehicular loss of control along the curves especially under wet surface conditions. Safety measures also include the installation of two VSWS on the west side of Sepulveda Boulevard (i.e. facing southbound traffic) south of the Mall driveway, and on the east side of Sepulveda Boulevard (i.e. facing northbound traffic) north of Centinela Avenue. These signs will enhance motorists’ awareness to their travel speeds and encourage them to slow down in advance of driving along the corridor segment of concern so that they have better control of their vehicles and have time to properly observe vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians, and fixed objects as they appear around the curves.
(2) Overland Ave from Maytime Ln to Northgate St
This is a curved segment of Overland Avenue with cross sections that vary from two to three auto travel lanes per direction. This road segment directly serves residential units, access to the West LA College at Freshman Drive, and access to the Raintree Plaza Shopping Center at Maytime Lane. This is a heavily traveled corridor with a plan to establish Class II and Class IV bike lanes per the Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan adopted in June of 2020. To achieve a high application BCR, improvements were limited to this 0.17-mile segment and covers the application of HFST that is expected to reduce rear-end, broadside and hitting an object collision types. The HFST will also be combined with improvements to signage and pavement markings.
(3) Three Signalized Intersections on Overland Ave and Bristol Pkwy
The third HSIP grant application is for systematic signal hardware upgrades to enhance visibility, operations and safety conditions at the intersections of Overland Ave/Freshman Dr, Bristol Pkwy/Hannum Ave, and Bristol Pkwy/Green Valley Cir. To achieve the highest possible BCR and for consistency of measures deployed, the intersection of Overland Ave/Freshman Dr was included under application #3 rather than the aforementioned application #2 covering improvements on Overland Avenue.
(4) Ten Signalized Intersections on Washington Blvd, Culver Blvd, Overland Ave, Jefferson Blvd, Centinela Ave and Sepulveda Blvd
This application packaged systematic signal hardware upgrades at ten intersections with correctable collision types at Washington Blvd/Ince Blvd, Washington Blvd/Beethoven St, Washington Blvd/Inglewood Blvd, Washington Blvd/Glencoe Ave, Culver Blvd/Sawtelle Blvd, Overland Ave/Braddock Dr, Overland Ave/Virginia Ave, Jefferson Blvd/Hetzler Rd, Centinela Ave/Green Valley Cir, and Sepulveda Blvd/Venice Blvd. The systematic improvements include LED lighting, signal back plates, retro-reflective tape outlining the back plates, larger signal heads and other visibility upgrades on applicable signal approaches. This is in addition to adding protected left-turn phasing to some approaches of eight intersections with sufficient queue lengths along the existing designated left-turn lanes.
(5) Twelve Non-Signalized Intersections on Washington Blvd, Sepulveda Blvd, Washington Pl, and Higuera St
Systematic improvements at non-signalized intersections include enhancements to signage and pavement marking, and installation of delineations where applicable. Warranted upgrade in control was also included in the HSIP application supported by the analysis. The intersections are: Washington Blvd/Cattaraugus Ave (east), Washington Blvd/Hutchinson Ave, Washington Blvd/Kensington Rd/Louise Ave, Washington Blvd/Kenyon Ave, Washington Blvd/Alla Rd, Washington Blvd/Tivoli Ave, Washington Blvd/Michael Ave, Washington Blvd/Walnut Ave/Del Rey Ave, Sepulveda Blvd/Vera Wy, Sepulveda Blvd/Janisann Ave, Washington Pl/Tuller Ave, and Higuera St/Krueger St.
(6) Segments of Jefferson Blvd and Sawtelle Blvd.
This HSIP grant application includes the application of HFST along the segment of Jefferson Boulevard located between 152 feet east and 375 feet west of Raintree Circle, and along the segment of Sawtelle Boulevard located between Herbert Street and 470 feet north of Culver Boulevard. The application also includes signal hardware improvements at the intersections of Jefferson Blvd/Raintree Cir and Sawtelle Blvd/Washington Blvd.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
According to the HSIP Guidelines, the minimum allowed grant ask is $100,000 and the maximum is $10 million for BCR projects. There is no limit on the number of applications per agency with the exception of only one non-BCR project for a maximum of $250,000. Percentage of reimbursement is dependent on the deployed measures and can be up-to 100%. In other words, no local match is required depending on the selected types of safety measures and qualifying BCR that exceeds the minimum allowed of 3.5.
(1) Sepulveda Blvd from Centinela Ave to the Westfield Mall Access: BCR of 7.15 with total project cost of $747,900 and no local match.
(2) Overland Ave from Maytime Ln to Northgate St: BCR of 12.17 with total project cost of $677,000 and no local match.
(3) Three Signalized Intersections on Overland Ave and Bristol Pkwy: BCR of 10.55 with total project cost of $105,500 and no local match.
(4) Ten Signalized Intersections on Washington Blvd, Culver Blvd, Overland Ave, Jefferson Blvd, Centinela Ave and Sepulveda Blvd: BCR of 16.13 with total project cost of $2,766,700 and no local match.
(5) Twelve Non-Signalized Intersections on Washington Blvd, Sepulveda Blvd, Washington Pl, and Higuera St: BCR of 35.64 with total project cost of $1,545,700 and no local match.
(6) Segments of Jefferson Blvd and Sawtelle Blvd: BCR of 11.23 with total project cost of $1,179,000 and no local match.
There is no fiscal impact since the projects selected meet the HSIP requirements and do not require local match from the City.
ATTACHMENTS
None
MOTION
That the City Council:
Approve and ratify grant applications to Cycle 10 of the Highway Safety Improvement Program Funding for the following: Traffic Safety Improvement Projects: (1) on Sepulveda Blvd from Centinela Ave to the Westfield Mall Access, (2) on Overland Ave from Maytime Lane to Northgate St, (3) at Three Signalized Intersections on Overland Ave and Bristol Pkwy, (4) at Ten Signalized Intersections on Washington Blvd, Culver Blvd, Overland Ave, Jefferson Blvd, Centinela Ave and Sepulveda Blvd, (5) at Twelve Non-Signalized Intersections on Washington Blvd, Sepulveda Blvd, Washington Pl, and Higuera St, and (6) on Segments of Jefferson Blvd and Sawtelle Blvd.