Video and Transcriptions on the Sunset-101 Roundabout discussion
Colin Fiske:
“So if you can make those changes — the full separated bike and pedestrian facilities, the additional traffic calming measures, and getting rid of the slip lanes — we think this would be a really great project.”
From the City Council meeting, February 21, 2024
Contents
- Shorter Quotes
Mayor Meredith Matthews, Councilmember Kimberley White, Councilmember Stacy Atkins-Salazar, Councilmember Sarah Schaefer, City Manager Karen Diemer.
From public comment: Fred Weis, Colin Fiske, Korina Johnson - City Engineer Netra Khatri, speaking on the shared bike-pedestrian pathways.
Video, 1 minute 41 seconds. Transcription of what he said. A few sentences of comments. - Longer quotes, from the public comment
Full text of Colin Fiske of CRTP speaking, full text of Fred Weis speaking. - Video from the February 21, City Council meeting. 49 minutes.
With closed-caption text.
Shorter quotes
” I hope we come to a good solution. We do have time to improve this project according to your schedule.”
Fred Weis:
“As Colin Fiske mentioned, the idea that using Class I shared paths is a step backwards and we hope to see a redesign that does not have the shared pathways. This is probably one of the busiest pedestrian-bicycle places in all of Arcata. They should have separate pathways there.”
Colin Fiske:
“So if you can make those changes — the full separated bike and pedestrian facilities, the additional traffic calming measures, and getting rid of the slip lanes — we think this would be a really great project.”
City Engineer Netra Khatri, speaking on the shared bike-pedestrian pathways
Video, 1 minute 41 seconds. A transcription is below the video.
The City Council asked about having separate bicycle and pedestrian lanes. City Engineer Netra Khatri brought up:
- Putting another bike lane on the bridge — and that would have to go through Caltrans. Adding another bike lane on the bridge is not the issue.
- Adding bike lanes on the outside of the roundabout circle. This is not desirable, and again this is not the issue the Council is discussing.
- Having separate bike and pedestrian pathways. The City Engineer does not address or answer this question.
Public Comment
The public comment period starts at about 19 minutes 40 seconds in the video below.
Colin Fiske
Starting at 23 minutes 43 seconds in the video below.
“Good evening, Colin Fiske with CRTP. It’s no secret that these intersections have been a problem for a long time. If you look on Street Story, you’ll see them covered with reports of hazards and near-misses and collisions. And that’s no surprise to anyone who has used them. So I think it’s a really good thing that the City is trying to redesign these intersections.
CRTP would really like to be in full support of the project, but there are a few things that we think need to be resolved first.
So one is that in this area, the bike and pedestrian traffic is already too heavy for a shared facility — just a single Class I facility to work properly. You really need separate bike and pedestrian facilities, as a sort of side path to the roundabouts. I did learn recently that there’s no plan to separate the bikeway and the sidewalk on the overpass, which is great, but there also needs to be separate and clearly marked bike lanes alongside the crosswalks and throughout the project area.
Merging with car traffic to navigate a roundabout is extremely stressful for most bicyclists, and we can’t expect them either to ride up on the sidewalk and mix freely with pedestrians as the only alternative due to the high volumes of pedestrians and bicyclists in the area.
There’s a sort of similar bike ramp sidewalk system currently at the Sunset and Foster roundabout, and essentially bikes never use it. And presumably this system is keeping less-confident riders from riding on the area.
The second thing is that the design really should include more measures to slow traffic approaching the roundabouts and help ensure yielding to pedestrians. This could be traffic calming measures on the approach like lane narrowing and tighter curves as well as upgraded signage and signals at the crossings themselves. It sounds like there’s a plan for rapid flashing beacons, which is great, but it would be better even to have full hybrid beacons that actually produce a red light which would help especially with blind and sight-impaired pedestrians.
And finally the slip lanes, we just need to get rid of the slip lanes. These are the turn lanes that allow the cars to skip the roundabout without stopping. They remove by doing that the traffic calming and safety producing effects of the roundabout. And they’re notoriously dangerous for pedestrians where the pedestrians have to cross them. The only reason for them, and you heard, is congestion management. And the City has been saying recently that that’s not a priority anymore, certainly not compared to safety. So we really just think you should get rid of a slip lanes.
So if you can make those changes — the full separated bike and pedestrian facilities, the additional traffic calming measures and getting rid of the slip lanes — we think this would be a really great project. Thank you.”
Fred Weis
Starting at 30 minutes 38 seconds in the video below.
“Good evening, Councilmembers. I’m Fred Weis. I have corresponded a bit with Netra on this and have spoken with him. I want to say, first of all, I’m a big fan of roundabouts, and have been for decades.
I sent you an email earlier today with images that show the way that bikes would actually go on these roundabouts, and including [scale images of] cars and trucks. This is also on Arcata1.com.
The images of the roundabouts look okay, until you looking at the details, and then it starts looking bad, in my opinion.
The main thing is that there’s 10 places where the pedestrian path crosses a traffic lane. We’re told there’ll be flashing lights there. We’ve seen on K Street that the flashing lights don’t always work well. The I’m not at all fan of traffic lights, but one advantage is that the cars are stopped and pedestrians know when they can go.
As Colin Fiske mentioned, the idea that using Class I shared paths is a step backwards and I hope to see a redesign that does not have the shared pathways. This is probably one of the busiest pedestrian-bicycle places in all of Arcata. They should have separate pathways there.
What’s not so obvious, which is why I made the diagrams that I sent to you, is that if a vehicle is coming off the roundabout and has stopped for pedestrians or bicyclists [who want] to go over the traffic lane — if two or three vehicles are stopped, the back vehicle will be in the roundabout itself. If a bus is stopped, the back of the bus will be in the roundabout. This stops the traffic in the roundabout. That needs to be improved. I have some suggestions, I’ll be talking with Netra about.
As Colin Fiske also mentioned the requirement that bicycles either merge with the traffic or go on the shared pathway is not a good solution. I think this arrangement is actually less safe for people — for pedestrians — less safe for bicycles, and also less safe for cars.
I mention in the CEQA exemption, it says, quote “The 2,000 new units at Cal Poly dorms, quote, COULD contribute to pedestrian-bicycle vehicular traffic.” No, it WILL contribute. I don’t like the lack of honesty in that document. It also doesn’t mention that there’s going to be 5,000 or 6,000 more students and faculty, and they will be going through this intersection. Thanks. I hope we come to a good solution. We do have time to improve this project according to your schedule. Thanks.”
Video from the February 21, City Council meeting.
49 minutes. With closed-captions.