PRESENTER: Presenter
Carly Farmer, Assistant City Engineer
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SUBJECT: Title
Discuss and consider a recommendation to City Council to implement a traffic calming plan on Mission Drive between Valley View Lane and Trail View.
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation and Capital Improvements
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COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: 3
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Staff has received a request to evaluate Mission Drive between Wood Road and Valley View Lane for traffic calming. The request was due to safety concerns over speeding and cut-through traffic in a residential area. Mission Drive is a local residential street between Landa Street and Kerlick Lane. Some drivers choose to avoid Walnut Avenue when traveling between Landa Street and Loop 337 by utilizing Mission Drive and Kerlick Lane. In addition, the elementary campus for the New Braunfels Christian Academy draws traffic into the neighborhood from parents dropping off and picking up children. The speed limit on Mission Drive is 30 mph. The majority of the street has mountable curb and no sidewalks. The pavement width on Mission Drive ranges between 34 and 36 feet. There are existing double yellow centerline pavement markings from the intersection with Wood Road to the intersection with Trail View.
The City of New Braunfels Speed Hump Policy approved in 1999 requires a petition be submitted with signatures from two-thirds of the properties adjacent to the street segment on which speed humps are requested. A petition was received and was verified to meet the two-thirds requirement. An operational requirement in the policy is that the 85th percentile speed must be at least 5 miles per hour over the regulatory speed limit of 30 mph. Additionally, the volume requirement in the approved speed hump policy is a daily traffic volume of at least 800 vehicles per day (vpd). Traffic data was collected in three locations along Mission Drive over 24 hours in March 2024- between Wood Road and Trail View, between Trail View and Valley View Lane, and between Laurel Lane and Laurel Circle. The data collection results are in the table below.
Based on the 1999 Speed Hump Policy, staff would not be able to recommend any traffic calming on Mission Drive. However, the City of New Braunfels recently enacted the Street Safety Action Plan. This plan made recommendations for new policies, programs, and projects to achieve the goal of ending severe and fatal roadway crashes on the City of New Braunfels Roads. City staff recognizes that the current 1999 Speed Hump Policy being the lone traffic calming procedure is insufficient for evaluation of neighborhood traffic speeding concerns. Part of the Street Safety Action Plan is a recommendation to update the speed hump policy, default speed limits in residential areas, and additional traffic calming measures with objective evaluation criteria that city staff can implement when investigating speeding and safety concerns on residential streets. City staff is currently drafting a new Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program to replace the 1999 Speed Hump Policy.
Based on the traffic data and the draft Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program, staff made recommendations for each of the areas on Mission Drive. For the area between Wood Road and Trail View, the speeds measured were high for a residential area. This street segment is too steep of a grade to install speed humps. Staff recommended and installed a hatched neck down using pavement markings to narrow the traveled way. These pavement markings will be refreshed and the street restudied to determine if speeds have improved. Radar feedback signs may be a potential option if pavement markings are not effective. For the area between Valley View Lane and Trail View, the speeds measured were low and appropriate for a residential area. The volume was also appropriate for a residential street. Staff does not recommend installing traffic calming, including speed humps, in this area of Mission Dr. For the area between Laurel Lane and Laurel Circle, the speeds were also high for a residential area, so traffic calming may be beneficial. Although the petition received by staff did contain a few signatures from this area, staff has not received a request or petition for traffic calming on Mission Dr between Kerlick Lane and Mission Trace.
Although supportive of the hatched neck down installed between Wood Road and Trail View, the residents between Trail View and Valley View Lane have opted to continue with their request for speed humps on Mission Drive near their homes.
ISSUE:
Residents have requested traffic calming be installed on Mission Drive due to speeding and safety concerns about cut-through traffic in a residential area.
STRATEGIC PLAN REFERENCE:
☐Economic Mobility ☐Enhanced Connectivity ☐Community Identity
☐Organizational Excellence ☒Community Well-Being ☐N/A
FISCAL IMPACT:
Traffic control signs cost approximately $150 each. Speed humps cost approximately $21,000 for two locations. Insufficient funding is available in the FY 2025 Approved Traffic Calming Budget. If approved, speed humps will be placed on an approved traffic calming list and prioritized with other approved plans for FY 2026 funding.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff does not recommend traffic calming on Mission Drive between Valley View and Trail View.