Salinas - Los Palos Drive

Location

• Salinas, CA
• Los Palos Drive
• Start: Romie Lane
• Finish: Abott Street
• Distnace: 1,300 feet
  

Figure 1. Location of Los Palos Drive.

Background

Los Palos Drive has a 60-foot right of way with a 40-foot curb-to-curb width. Between Romie Lane and Abbott Street, Los Palos Drive is 1,300 feet long. There are 18 residential homes on Los Palos Drive between Romie Lane and Abott Street and 32 homes on Fairmont Drive, a cross street cul-de-sac. Two signalized intersections are found where Los Palos Drive meets with Romie Lane and Abott Street.

In 1999, concerned residents petitioned for traffic calming measures to take place due to high traffic speed volumes. The resident’s main concern was that too many vehicles were using Los Palos Drive as a “shortcut” between Romie Lane and Abbott Street at speeds above the 25mph speed limit. The situation made it more difficult for local residents to get in and out of their driveways during peak times. Many residents were also concerned with safety of their children who play at the park that fronts Los Palos Drive. Salinas Public Works Department considered an all-way stop sign at Los Palos Drive and Fairmont Drive, but traffic and accident studies did not warrant one. That same year in June, traffic counts showed that Los Palos Drive handled 6,500 vehicles per day. The average speed on Los Palos was approximately 29.5 miles per hour with the 85th percentile speed of 33.89 miles per hour eastbound and 33.61 miles per hour westbound. Speeds were found to be high for a residential collector street where 85th percentile speeds range from 31-33 miles per hour. However, such speeds are generally accepted.

Key features to note in the area are:

• The Salinas Auto Center, which was located on Abbott Street before it relocated in 2001.
• Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital is located at the corner of Romie Lane and Los Palos Drive.
• The medical district within Salinas found mostly off Romie Lane.
• The play park found on Los Palos Drive.

Neighborhood meetings were held to decide the best traffic calming measure to pursue. Neighboring residents from Wilgart Way and Alameda Avenue were invited to attend the meetings due to the potential impacts a closure would have on their street. Due to a non-consensus between various residents, the city decided to fund an engineering study to respond to the community's concerns. Some of the options generated during the meetings included:

• All-way stop sign at Fairmont and Los Palos.
• Traffic calming measures on Los Palos Drive to lower traffic speeds and volumes, and reduce cut-through trips.
• Fully or partial close of Los Palos Drive.
• Combination of the above.

The Alternatives

The consultant generated the following alternatives:

1. Traffic calming measures along Los Palos Drive to reduce the traffic speeds and traffic volumes on Los Palos Drive, without impacting parallel residential streets and residents living on those streets.
2. Partial closure of Los Palos Drive.
3. Full closure of Los Palos Drive.

The City Council approved the first alternative on April 3, 2001 to implement traffic calming devices along Los Palos Drive to slow down speeds and reduce traffic volumes. Table 1 shows the costs for each alternative. Alternative 1 was the second most costly to implement.

Cost of Traffic Calming Options

Alternative 1

• Modify the Abbot-Romie Intersection to provide dual left turn lanes from eastbound Romie Lane to northbound Abbott Street and provide a protected traffic movement from southbound Abbott to westbound Romie Lane.
• Install median islands with brick paving on Los Palos Drive at the Abbott Street and East Romie Lane Intersections to create entryways into residential land use areas.
• Install “constrictors” at the Los Palos intersections with Manor Drive and Fairmont Drive to narrow lane widths, which should lower travel speeds and re-enforce the residential area.

The expected outcomes from the traffic calming measure included:

• Reduction in the eastbound and westbound vehicular traffic volumes on Los Palos Drive by 20% to 25%.
• Reduction in the 85th percentile speeds of eastbound and westbound traffic on Los Palos Drive by 10% to 15%.
• Enhancement of sense of security among users of Los Palos Drive, particularly cyclists and pedestrians.
• Reduction in turning speeds of vehicular traffic and enhancement of good safety conditions at the pedestrian crossings.
• Minimal inconvenience to local traffic in terms of access, and no increase in trip distances.
• Enhancement of motorists’ awareness of the presence of a pedestrian access to Maple Park off of Sierra Drive as a result of the installation of playground warning signs.
• Improvement of the visual amenity and appearance to Los Palos Drive.
• Have no/limited negative traffic impacts on the residential community surrounding Los Palos Drive.
• Minor inconvenience to emergency services on Los Palos Drive and no negative impacts on the services on the primary emergency routes of Alameda Avenue and east Romie Lane.
• Minor inconvenience to bicycle movements and mini-school buses on Los Palos Drive.

These traffic-calming measures were installed temporarily and monitored to determine the effectiveness of the measures. If it was determined that these measured did not work, more stringent measures would be required which would mean implementing alternatives 2 or 3. Figure 2 shows the key locations where traffic-calming devices were installed along Los Palos Drive.

Figure 2. Traffic calming locations

Location 1 is the entrance to Los Palos Drive from Abbott Street going southbound where a median island was installed. Notice that drivers have moved some of the concrete blocks. Figure 3 shows the island. Figure 4 shows a sign installed to alert drivers of an entrance to a residential zone.

Figure 3. Los Palos Drive at Abbott Street (Location 1)

Figure 4. Entrance sign at Los Palos Drive and Abbott Street

Location 2 is Los Palos Drive at Fairmont Drive where bulb outs were installed to reduce the lane widths and consequently reduce speeds. Local residents complained that it was difficult to turn into Fairmont Drive while emergency vehicles had no difficulty turning into the same street. Figure 5 shows the location.

Figure 5. Los Palos Drive and Fairmont Drive (Location 2)

Location 3 is where the play park is situated. Many residents from the area bring their children to this park. Figure 6 shows the location.

Figure 6. Play park along Los Palos Drive (Location 3)

Location 4 is Los Palos Drive at Manor Drive where bulb outs were installed to slow down traffic. Traffic must “weave” its way through this section. Some complaints were that this section was very dangerous because most drivers went straight through the section without “weaving.” The idea is to reduce the lane widths and in turn slow drivers down. Figure 7 shows this location.

Figure 7. Los Palos Drive at Manor Drive (Location 4)

Location 5 is the entrance to Los Palos Drive from Romie Lane going northbound where a median island was installed. Figure 8 shows the island. Initially there was only one lane for the traffic movement out of Los Palos Drive. Residents complained that the traffic loops were not detecting the vehicles and therefore another lane had to be reinstated during the study. The idea was to have only one lane to deter drivers from using Los Palos Drive as a shortcut to the Hospital. Figures 8 and 9 show the location.

Figure 8. Los Palos Drive at Romie Lane entrance (Location 5)

Figure 9. Los Palos Drive at Romie Lane (Location 5)

Accident Information

Accident history between January 1, 1985 and August 25, 2000 (before the traffic calming measures were implemented) indicated that there were 4 reported accidents on Los Palos Drive. This is a good accident history for a residential street. No accidents have been recorded after the temporary implementation of alternative 1.

Effects of Traffic Calming Measures

Tables 2 and 3 show the traffic volumes and traffic speeds before and after implementation of alternative 1.

Table 2. Volumes at Los Palos Drive and Maple Play Lot (3-day avg. count)

Table 3. Speeds on Los Palos Drive

The data shows that there was a small reduction in traffic volumes between April 2000 and October 2001. There was a total reduction in volume of 237 vehicles per day. The Salinas Auto Center relocated during construction of the traffic calming measures. Therefore, it is uncertain what percentage of traffic volume reduction could have come from the Auto Center relocating and what percentage came from traffic calming implementation. There was a reduction in speeds from 33.6 miles per hour to 31.8 miles per hour going southbound on Los Palos Drive. No significant change in speeds could be measured going northbound. Overall, the numbers show that alternative 1 was not very effective. It seems that drivers were not affected by the traffic calming devices along Los Palos Drive. Although the numbers do not show a reduction in speeds, the traffic calming measures do enhance the safety of children, elders, and people with disabilities. The traffic calming measures also make the street more aesthetically pleasing.

Public Response

The public was never supportive of the action taken by the board of council members to implement alternative 1. Local residents wanted Los Palos Drive to be completely closed at Abbott Street. After alternative 1 was implemented, local residents still had the same complaints about speeds and volumes. Table 4. shows some of the comments residents sent to Public Works after alternative 1 was implemented.

Table 4. Public comments to traffic calming implementation

A Salinas Traffic and Transportation Commission meeting was held on Thursday March 7, 2002 concerning the Maple Park Traffic Calming Project. Residents gave their opinions at the meeting, which included:

• People continue to drive too fast
• Drivers are giving obscene gestures to the local residents
• Residents can’t get into their driveways during peak hours
• Drivers have moved the temporary concrete blocks
• There is no respect for residents
• We want the street to be closed

The traffic engineer explained that the driver behavior did not change and that the data collected did not show significant change. The City Council is currently reconsidering the project and is deciding if alternative 1 will be installed permanently or if one of the other two alternatives be chosen. The big concern is that closing the street to general traffic would create a precedent for other neighborhoods.

Transportation Philosophy of the Town

Salinas, California is considered a blue-collar town. A very small percentage of its residents have a college degree. It makes it more difficult for traffic calming than for example Davis, California or San Luis Obispo, California. Traffic calming projects are not very prevalent in Salinas. Nevertheless, the traffic engineer has been pursuing more traffic calming projects in the area.

Original Contact

Chad Alinio
City Of Salinas
Public Works Department
200 Llincoln Avenue
Salinas, California 93901-2639
(831) 758-7197
Email: chada@ci.salinas.ca.us

This information originally compiled by Julian De Anda, 2002, as part of a senior project.