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2008-06-17 TPC MinutesTRANSPORTATION AND PARKING COMMISSION City of Northampton City Hall, 210 Main Street Northampton, MA 01060 -3199 (413) 587 -1249 Fax: (413) 587 -1275 MINUTES June 17, 2008 Chairman David Narkewicz opened the meeting at 4:05 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Puchalski Municipal Building, 212 Main Street, Northampton. Members present David Narkewicz, Maureen Carney, Russell Sienkiewicz, James Lowenthal (arrived at 4:09pm), Wayne Feiden, and Ned Huntley Members absent Keith Wilson, Leslie Stein, Bill Letendre, Paul Sustick and David Reckhow 1. Public Comment Ed Hagelstein, 171 Nonotuck Street — He would like to commend job that the Police are doing on the autobahn on Nonotuck Street. The Police are not out in the open and obvious. They are picking up a lot of people and he is glad to see them using a little ingenuity. There is a radar trailer there now showing how fast you are going. A guy he passed in the opposite direction slowed down to 41 mph when he saw the trailer. He was wondering how the trailer works and if it records information. It also seems like a lot of cars have mufflers that are illegal. Hasn't seen anything in the Gazette in the police log about cars being stopped for mufflers or the loud music and we have the noise Ordinance. Seems like all you would have to do is pick up three people and maybe they wouldn't be so blatant about it. 2. Minutes of May 20, 2008 The Commission wanted to wait until the minutes were typed before approving them. Update — Cook Avenue & Hatfield Street Intersection Narkewicz stated that the DPW is in the process of performing a warrant analysis of the area. Huntley presented a memo prepared by Laura Hanson, Traffic Engineer, and read the memo to the Commission, see attached. He stated that the intersection marginally meets some warrants but doesn't meet the warrant for volume or speed. A majority of the accidents involve turning movements off of Cooke Avenue. There was a discussion about slowing the speed on Hatfield Street and whether that would help prevent accidents. The intersection was looked at in 2001 and it failed the warrants, in 2006 it was looked at with the Big Y expansion and it met the second warrant. There was discussion over possible traffic calming for the area. Sienkiewicz noted that there was a reduction in accidents after 2003 and he questioned whether something was done such as signage. There was a brief discussion about any improvements to the area and whether there is any traffic mitigation money and if it could be used on Hatfield Street. Huntley suggested watching the intersection for the rest of the year. There was a discussion about whether new traffic counts should be done at that intersection? Huntley stated that there is $200,000 in capital improvement money for sidewalks. It was agreed that this issue would stay with the DPW and they will continue to watch the intersection. 4. Update: Crosswalk Painting + Demonstration Proiects Narkewicz stated that last month the TPC talked about crosswalks and he wanted to get an update. Huntley stated that Smith agreed to use tire grip for a trial on the crosswalks at West Street /Green Street and West Street /Arnold Avenue. Lowenthal stated that he recalls Smith agreeing to put in a raised crosswalk at Green Street. There was a discussion on a raised crosswalk. The Commission agreed to review the permit and see what it says. Narkewicz stated that there had been a discussion about using duratherm on crosswalks near schools. There was a discussion on permanent crosswalks. Huntley stated that he is investigating it for downtown and what it would cost to incorporate into downtown. The DPW has been having trouble with line painting equipment but they are working on it and they have two crews of two people painting. The painting is done as weather and time permits. Feiden stated that Planning Board is looking at using these standards in private designs. 2 TrafficLouix Traffic Calming demo report (Laura) Laura Hanson, DPW traffic engineer was present and stated that there is You Tube video on the website showing the demonstration. TrafficLogix did the presentation. There is also another video that Felix from the DPW shot with City Councilor Jim Dostal pretending to be a patient in the ambulance while the ambulance went over the traffic calming devices. It was stated that the fire truck bottoms out at 20mph, the ambulance was comfortable going over the devices and the police had no problems with the speed humps or traffic cushions. There was a discussion over the weight of the fire department trucks because of the engines and they would to slow down to safely make it over traffic calming devices. There are traffic cushions that have breaks for fire department vehicles to fit through. The speed hump was 7 feet wide. Sienkiewicz stated that he witnessed the fire truck going over the speed hump and it was pretty dramatic what it did to their chaises. Laura presented a map and stated that she went to the Fire Department and Police Department in Amherst and talked to them about traffic calming devices. The DPW drafted a map that shows unrestricted emergency routes that Northampton could have. She will make the map available to a dispatch and will put it on the website. Discussion about how other towns have dealt with raised features and emergency vehicles. Lowenthal stated that the two effects need to be balanced. More people die of car crashes in Northampton then fires. The designated emergency routes don't mean there would be no traffic calming it just means we need to proceed with caution. Narkewicz thanked Laura because this is exactly the kind of research that the TPC needs. Laura stated that $5,000 - $6,000 is needed to purchase a set of speed humps or traffic cushions and the pieces can be combined to other sections. She stated that these devices are temporary because they are rubberized and won't hold up in the winter. Amherst takes theirs inside in the winter and they actually haven't used theirs in a few years. Laura stated that she met with the Safe Routes group at Jackson Street. She questioned whether there was general mitigation fund money to purchase a generic set of speed humps or traffic cushions? Feiden stated that no there is not general mitigation fund money but they could designate some money from a certain project for them to be used at a specific site first and if it works in a location then it could be done permanently. There was a brief discussion on the solar signs that were also demonstrated. Laura stated that those signs cost about $5,000. 6. UMass Transportation /Climate Chance conference (James) Lowenthal stated that he attended the Transportation/Climate Change conference at Umass. It was a 2 -day conference looking at national and global transportation on scale with climate change. The Highway Commissioner of Massachusetts was there and John Olver was the keynote speaker. It was an interesting mix of people. Some people are saying that traffic idling is causing global warming and others are saying that it is much bigger than that. The Commissioner turned it around and spoke on the effect of global warming on transportation. People in the transportation world are thinking much more about global warming and are more committed to reducing greenhouse gases. 7. I -91 /Exit 19 Community Advisory Committee (James) Huntley stated there was an introductory meeting of the committee and there was brief overview from Mass Highway. Very generic in nature and there was nothing hard to think about yet it was just an introduction to the project. James stated that the status is that Mass Highway is hiring a consultant. The consultant has been selected and recommended to the secretary but the contract hasn't been awarded yet. Plan was that the advisory committee wouldn't meet again until consultant was on board which probably wouldn't be until the end of summer or September. The review will start again because enough has changed to make sure Mass Highway has accurate numbers. The spectrum of possibilities includes full build to no build. Huntley stated that Mass Highway said that this would be an engaging project and is 7 -10 years out. Damon Road is in 25% submission and he hasn't heard anything about a public hearing yet. There was a brief discussion about breaking it into two projects from the car dealership to the bike tunnel. Narkewicz questioned the Ordinances for the roundabout at Look Park. Huntley stated that he would rather wait on the Ordinances for the roundabout on North Main Street in Florence, until Mass Highway moves forward. It doesn't need to move as quickly as he thought. He would just hold everything. 8. Continued: Transportation Budget 2 Narkewicz stated that this discussion has been continued for the past two meetings. Lowenthal had asked if the city could quantify what is spent on transportation. He thought we could start by looking at the capital projects. Huntley stated that his budgets are all line items but he has a total budget that he works with and as long as he doesn't exceed that total it is ok. Capital projects are different from year to year. Joe Cook, Chief Procurement Officer keeps all of the GASBY 34 and infrastructure improvement information and he is updating it for the Government. He is working on keeping track of how much it costs to fix things such as potholes. That software tracking system is at MIS and they are looking into it. 9. Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee Report Feiden stated that there is nothing new because they have all of the bike paths under construction. Next meeting will have more information. 10. Public Transit Committee Report Continued. 11. New Business Huntley stated that he is meeting with Smith College about Pickering Engineering senior projects and linking South Street all the way to Florence with the bike lanes. That is a project he would like to give them. There are a number of projects he will be throwing at them and they can pick which one they would want. Narkewicz questioned what the status was on the review of private ways? Huntley stated that it has turned into a large issue. The Board approved 33 streets but didn't have an appropriate public hearing for it so it has been questioned whether they are official streets or not? The question also came up about whether the DPW will have to do layouts and boundary surveys and if so it would be a $1,000,000 project. Huntley presented an Ordinance, see attached. He stated that it is in place now with the Big Y project and he would like the Code Book to reflect what is actually happening and he would like TPC to co- sponsor the Ordinance. This will delete the current Ordinance. Sienkiewicz moved to co- sponsor the Ordinance. Carney seconded. The vote passed unanimously (6 -0). Sienkiewicz stated that there are accident statistics in his budget and the budget is available on the Mayor's website. 12. Adiourn Carney moved to adjourn at 5:22pm.Huntley seconded. The vote passed unanimously (6 -0).