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Home My WebLink About2012-12-05 PACKET 09.B.REQUEST OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION COUNCIL AGENDA MEETING ITEM # 4C:� DATE 12107/12 PREPARED BY Public Safety Craig A. Woolery ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT STAFF AUTHOR COUNCIL ACTION REQUEST Response to Council questions regarding intersection of 80 and Hardwood Avenue STAFF RECOMMENDATION SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS MEMO: Memo dated 11/28/12 from Deputy Director of Public Safety Pete Koerner ADMINISTRATORS COMMENTS ..: NA t <a City Administrator Date COUNCIL ACTION TAKEN: []APPROVED ❑ DENIED ❑ OTHER From: Director of Public Safety Craig A Woolery Date: November 28, 2012 Re: RESPONSE TO COUNCIL QUESTION — 80 AND HARDWOOD AVE At the November 21 2012, regular City Council Meeting, Council Member Justin Olsen asked for an update on the intersection of 80 Street /Hardwood intersection following the center lane change. Specifically, public safety was asked if there has been a decrease in accidents, what enforcement has been done, how many citations, and what is the end result, is it improving or getting worse? History: In 2012, Cottage Grove had three traffic control changes. The intersection in question is 80 Street & Hardwood Avenue /E Pt. Douglas Road. On August 8 2012, the geometry on E Pt. Douglas Road approaching 80 Street from the south was changed from one left- turn -only lane, and one right- turn -only lane. The geometry on Hardwood Avenue, approaching 80 Street from the north, was changed from one -left- turn -only lane plus one left- through option lane plus one through -only lane. Pavement "cat - tracking" was also added through the intersection to help guide southbound motorists traveling across 80 Street. In addition, the traffic signal operation for northbound and southbound was also changed, from split phasing (all northbound traffic served first, followed by all southbound traffic to move simultaneously, with left turns in both directions permitted to turn either on a left arrow or on a green ball while yielding to oncoming traffic. The goals of these changes were to make the intersection more efficient and improve safety as vehicles depart the intersection. For additional information, please refer to the overview of Traffic Control Changes that was prepared for the City Council by Roger Plum, SEH, for the October 3 rd Council Meeting. Accident Data: Records Manager Barb Post did run a traffic crash report of the intersection of 80 Street & Hardwood Avenue /E Pt. Douglas Road from the time periods of January 1St 2012 to November 28 th , 2012. 112101113 1/20/2012 Property Damage Weather 112101654 1/30/2012 Personal Injury Failure to Yield Driver Inattention 112101935 2/4/2012 Personal Injury Failure to Yield /Disregard Traffic Control Device 112104440 4/1/2012 Personal Injury Failure to Yield 112105128 4/16/2012 Property Damage Improper Turn /Driver Inattention 112106526 5/15/2012 Personal Injury Failure to Yield /Disregard Traffic Control Device 112111879 8/31/2012 Property Damage No Clear Factor 112113955 10/13/2012 Property Damage Driver Inattention /Driver Inexperience 112114175 10/18/2012 Property Damage No Clear Factor 112114826 11/3/2012 Personal Injury Driver Inattention 112115060 11/8/2012 Personal Injury Failure to Yield /Disregard Traffic Control Device It should be noted that when listed failure to yield /disregard traffic control device; I did further review the crash report. These crashes were not due to the traffic control devices. The driver simply did not follow the green arrow. There has not been a notable difference in crashes from when the traffic control changes were made. Enforcement Action /Public Education: The Public Safety has conducted enforcement in the area of the intersection. When the initial traffic control was made, supervisors did discuss at roll call and requested that patrol watch the area and if violations occur to do public education. Officers did not pull an incident number so we cannot track this information. Public Safety also coordinated communications efforts with City staff. There were multiple posts on the City and Police Facebook pages which announced the changes. Information was also provided to the South Washington County Bulletin which did do articles on the traffic changes. Since the change, officers did differentiate between confusion and what appeared to be blatant traffic violations. The following is a summary of traffic enforcement since the traffic control change. Enforcement summary: Traffic Enforcement at 80th Street Hardwood Avenue /E Pt. Douglas Road since traffic chanqe 1 8/19/2012 ; I 8207003903 1 NO PROOF OF INSURANCE 9/8/2012 8207002141 DAS 9/28/2012 ' 8207003715 SPEED 10/6!2012 8207002147 SEAT BELT VIO 10/19/2012 8207002679 SEAT BELT VIO 10/25/2012 8207002656 SEMAPHORE VIO 11/8/2012 8207002037 FAIL TO YIELD 9/24/2012 8207002538 DAS 10/12/2012 ` 8207002556 POSS SM AMT MARIJUANA POSS DRUG PARAPHERNALIA PERMIT VIO 8/19/2012 8207003901 UNREASONABLE ACCELERATION 8/19!2012 8207003902 DAR SEMAPHORE VIO NO PROOF OF INSURANCE 10/16/2012 8207002647 SEAT BELT VIO 10/19/2012 8207002650 DL /NO MN SEAT BELT VIO - ,,11/3/2012.' 8207002690 INATTENTIVE DRIVING Conclusion: As mentioned above there has not been a notable difference in accidents in 2012. From reviewing the numbers /statistics, Public Safety can say that the traffic is not getting worse. From informal conversations with patrol officers, they have noticed that drivers appear to have learned the traffic control changes and there is less confusion. Public Safety can review the data again at a later time if requested.