Title
Conduct a public hearing to consider:
a. Traffic volumes on Carmel Valley Road for segments six (6) and seven (7), pursuant to the 2010 General Plan, Carmel Valley area; and
b. If additional road segments need to be evaluated annually.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Accept the traffic volumes on Carmel Valley Road for segments six (6) and seven (7), pursuant to the 2010 General Plan, Carmel Valley area; and
b. Determine that no additional road segments need to be evaluated annually.
SUMMARY:
The 2010 General Plan - Carmel Valley Master Plan (CVMP) includes policies that require annual monitoring and reporting of traffic volumes and travel times on segments 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10 of Carmel Valley Road. If the annual monitoring reveals that traffic volumes are exceeding certain thresholds, the Board of Supervisors must conduct a noticed public hearing.
The required monitoring has been completed and an evaluation report of traffic volumes on Carmel Valley Road and Rio Road has been prepared. No segments exceed the Average Daily Traffic (ADT) thresholds, but two (2) segments exceed Percent-Time-Spent-Following (PTSF) thresholds; therefore, a public hearing is required pursuant to Policy CV-2.17 of the 2010 General Plan. Notice of this hearing was published on March 9, 2017, in the Monterey County Weekly.
Additionally, only segments 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10 of Carmel Valley Road are within 20% of their threshold. The other segments do not meet this criterion and do not need to be evaluated annually.
DISCUSSION:
The CVMP includes a policy to monitor the circulation of traffic in Carmel Valley (locations shown in Attachment A). Policy CV-2.17 requires biannual monitoring of peak hour traffic volumes. Once while school is not in session (June) and once while school is in session (October). The counts are conducted on all 10 segments, but an evaluation is required on the segments within 20% of their threshold. Currently, there are six (6) roadway segments that meet this criterion: segments 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10. For these six (6) segments, we evaluated traffic flow patterns using two (2) methods: Average Daily Traffic (ADT) and Percent-Time-Spent-Following (PTSF). Monitoring in 2016 was conducted between June 16 and June 22 and from October 24 through October 30.
In addition, this CVMP Policy requires the Board of Supervisors to conduct a public hearing in the year following data collection if the analysis shows that established thresholds are exceeded.
Attachment B displays the Average Daily Traffic (ADT) volumes for the six (6) segments, and the threshold value from the CVMP.
Using these volumes, the Percent Time Spent Following (PTSF) was calculated for segments 3 through 7. Since segment 10 is a four-lane highway, for which the PTSF methodology does not apply, the Level of Service (LOS) is based on Volumes only. The PTSF values are also shown in Attachment B. The PTSF of both segments 6 and 7 exceed the LOS D threshold established in section 2.17(e)(3)(b) and triggers the need for the public hearing. Attachment C summarizes all of the segment volumes. No additional segments are within 20% of their threshold and thus only Segments 3, 4,5,6,7 and 10 are required to have PTSF and LOS evaluated for 2016. The other segments do not meet this criterion and do not need to be evaluated annually.
Policy 2.17 (d) further requires that every 5 years, the County shall examine the degree to which the estimates of changes to the LOS in the Plan Area may be occurring earlier that predicted in the General Plan Environment Impact People. This 5 year analysis was conducted following the data collection of 2015, presented to Board on October 18, 2016, and determined that no changes to the unit cap were needed.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
This traffic volume analysis was reviewed with the Carmel Valley Road Committee (CVRC) at their December 8, 2016 meeting.
FINANCING:
Scheduled traffic monitoring activities for CVMP, estimated at $8,000, are funded by the Carmel Valley Traffic Impact Fee Program. Sufficient funds are available in the Road Fund 002, Unit 8195, Appropriation Unit RMA0012 to finance this work. The fund balance exceeds $2.205 million.
Prepared by: Mohammad Qureshi, Ph.D., P.E., Traffic Engineer, (831) 796-3009
Approved by: Benny J. Young, Interim RMA Deputy Director of Public Works and Facilities
Approved by: Carl P. Holm, AICP, RMA Director
Attachments:
Attachment A - Notice of Public Hearing
Attachment B - Average Daily Traffic and Percent Time Spent Following
Attachment C - Percent Under Threshold
Attachment D - Location Map
(Attachments on file with the Clerk of the Board)