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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConsider Assuming Jurisdiction Over State Highway 111 and Highway 74REQUEST: SUBMITTED BY: DATE: CONTENTS: Recommendation: CITY OF PALM DESERT PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT STAFF REPORT Consider Assuming Jurisdiction over Highway 111 and Highway 74 Mark Greenwood, P.E., City Engineer June 9, 2005 Vicinity Map Consider assuming jurisdiction over Highway 111 and Highway 74. Discussion: Jurisdiction and responsibility on State Route (Highway) 111 and State Route (Highway) 74 have been an issue in the City for quite some time. The State's mission is to promote regional transportation; therefore, they do not have a customer focus that supports residents and businesses in the City of Palm Desert. While Caltrans currently maintains jurisdiction over these highways, their offices are in San Bernardino. This results in their being disconnected from day-to-day issues on the highways. The current State budget crisis has exacerbated concerns due to dwindling funding, resulting in a lower level of customer service than the citizens of Palm Desert deserve. Highway 111 has always been the street that generates the most calls for service in the city; however, Highway 74 has recently become the most complained -about street. Staff is powerless to resolve these issues in a timely manner as we are prohibited from making improvements on the highways. Most issues involve staff making a written request to Caltrans, with a several week delay before a reply is received. Typically, Caltrans staff either denies the request based on a strict or incorrect interpretation of regulations, acknowledges the problem but declines to make improvements due to budget constraints, or agrees to make the improvement and doesn't follow through. This results in citizens feeling that the City is ineffective in addressing important issues. Issues to address when considering assuming jurisdiction over the highways include: MAINTENANCE Caltrans is currently responsible for performing maintenance of the pavement, signals, lighting signing and striping. However, the City is responsible to reimburse Caltrans for 50% of energy and maintenance costs for signals and lighting. The City performs all landscape maintenance as well as repainting of red curbs for the "No Parking" zones that exist along the entire length of Highway Consider Assuming Jurisdiction over Hwy 111 and Hwy 74 Page 2 of 4 June 9, 2005 111. The City also performs all of the street sweeping that occurs on the highways. Ongoing annual maintenance, less traffic signals, is estimated at $150,000 for Highway 111 and $150,000 for Highway 74. LIABILITY The Public Works Department previously investigated Caltrans' claims history on Highway 111 and found a total of $150 paid in a ten-year period. This represents an excellent claims history, similar to any other arterial in Palm Desert. We currently operate and maintain approximately 40 miles of arterial streets. Highway 111 extends 3.05 miles and Highway 74 extends 3.67 miles in Palm Desert. All things being equal, our liability exposure could be expected to increase by 7.6% after taking over Highway 111 and 9.2% after taking over Highway 74. IMPROVEMENTS All improvements made to Highway 111 and Highway 74 for at least the last 10 years were performed by the Public Works Department or by private developers. Caltrans has made no improvements in this time period. On the other hand, Caltrans requires the City or developer to obtain an encroachment permit for all work on the highways. The encroachment permit process takes from several months to over a year, and generally adds unnecessary cost to projects. Recent examples of permitting issues include: • Highway 111 landscape modification, which ran into and through peak season entirely due to Caltrans' lengthy review process and lack of concern for local issues. The City Council has mentioned a desire for installation of countdown pedestrian signals at Highway 111 and Monterey Avenue on several occasions. To date, we have been unsuccessful in fulfilling this request due to Caltrans' procedural requirements. If staff were to dedicate the time that would be required for this process, we would be unable to complete many other important tasks. If this were a City -operated intersection, the improvements would have been completed within 30 days. The City Council has requested audible pedestrian signals at Highway 111 and Plaza Way. Staff is including this in the Highway 111 sidewalk project, which will take 6 to 9 months for permitting. If this were a city - operated intersection, the desired improvements could be installed and operational in 30 to 90 days. • We are currently in the plan review process at Caltrans for the proposed traffic signal at Highway 74 and Shadow Mountain Drive. Installation of G-- PubWorkslStaff Repoiis12005Uune 91Assume jurisdiction over Hwy I I I and Hwy 74.doc Consider Assuming Jurisdiction over Hwy 111 and Hwy 74 Page 3 of 4 June 9, 2005 the traffic signal will be delayed by 6 to 9 months due to the Caltrans encroachment permit process. SIGNAL TIMING Signal timing is one of the most common traffic issues that cause citizens to contact the Public Works Department. Timing and coordination on Highway 111 is very high on the list of concerns. Caltrans has done such a poor job of signal coordination that the Public Works Department hired a consultant to oversee this issue. While coordination of the Highway 111 signals is not perfect, it is far better than it would otherwise be. Caltrans' lack of interest in resolving this issue is demonstrated by the fact that their signal coordination technician isn't even provided with a vehicle that can reliably get to the desert. Meetings scheduled with the consultant and the Caltrans technician have been delayed several times due to vehicle breakdowns. Signal coordination is a task that relies heavily on computerization. The Caltrans technician's computer remained broken for months due to budget constraints, severely limiting ability to complete needed tasks. In an effort to improve communication and efficiency, our consultant offered to provide a cell phone to the Caltrans technician, free of charge. Caltrans management declined without stating a meaningful reason. Signal coordination is not a system that can be installed and forgotten, left to operate on its own. Breakdowns are common and adjustments must be made frequently. The coordination on Highway 111 is in full operation perhaps 75% of the time, due to breakdowns in the system. Since the coordination technician is stationed in San Bernardino, he checks Highway 111 a maximum of twice per month. On several occasions, coordination has been disabled by other Caltrans staff who apparently didn't understand the coordination system. It must be noted that assuming jurisdiction of the highways would add 15 signals to our maintenance responsibility. Since our signal maintenance staff is already overtaxed, it would be necessary to add 1 signal technician to our staff. Initial cost for vehicle and equipment is estimated at $100,000, with ongoing annual cost of $75,000. From a staff perspective, this comes down to a question of efficiency. Staff currently, and in the foreseeable future, has a substantial backlog of work to complete and must therefore be as efficient as possible to accomplish as much of the work as possible. Having control of the highways would allow us to accomplish more, delivering a higher level of service with the same amount of effort. We have discussed this issue at length with City of Rancho Mirage staff, as that agency assumed jurisdiction of their portion of Highway 111 several years ago. Rancho Mirage reports that this was overwhelmingly positive with no negative results. G:1PubWorkslStaff Reports12005Vune 91Assume jurisdiction over Hwy I I I and Hwy 74.doc Consider Assuming Jurisdiction over Hwy 111 and Hwy 74 Page 4 of 4 June 9, 2005 PROCESS TO ASSUME JURISDICTION The process to assume jurisdiction of the State Highways includes the following steps: • The City Council adopts a resolution of intent to assume jurisdiction over these highways from the State. • Once the resolution is passed, Caltrans is notified that the process has commenced. • Staff will then seek the assistance of Senator Battin and/or State Assembly Member Benoit to introduce the issue to the state legislature. Legislative approval can be a long process (six to nine months), during which time right-of- way and environmental clearances will be obtained. Additionally, the State will provide us with historical data on liability issues pertaining to these highways. It is worth noting that the State is motivated to relinquish control of state highway sections that run through local jurisdictions, as a long-term cost -saving measure. At this time, the State will contribute up to $750,000 per highway assumed, over the next 2-5 years, depending upon scheduled maintenance and improvement costs. However, this one-time contribution may not be available for future takeovers. The Public Safety Commission addressed this issue at their May 11, 2005 meeting and unanimously concurred with staff's recommendation. Therefore, staff recommends that City Council consider assuming jurisdiction over Highway 111 and Highway 74. Submitte By: �4 Mark Greenwood, P.E. City Engineer f v 0 rn /Carlos Orgega City Manager /dhl Department Head: M ch el ante, E. Di ec r o ublic Works 41a,z1_ Paul Gibson Finance Director G:IPubWorkslStaff Reportsl2005Vune 9Wssume jurisdiction over Hwy I I I and Hwy 74.doc NORTH NO SCALE H \x" Lj f D FRED WLING DR .... ...... L 7 . ..... ..... . ..... . ..... �L PX.SE, CITY BOUNDRY ......... . ij -7 'r- -J I......... .. . . . . ....... . .......... . . .......... . �M�A) L j-, PROJECT ROADWAYS '— CPD PUBLIC WORKS G.,\PubWorks\Staff ReporLs\2005\Mamh 24\Attachments\Hwy 111-74 Vicinity Mqp\Vicinity Map — Hwy 111-74 Take—over.dwg 03/14/05 10:34 INTENT TO ASSUME JURISDICTION HIGHWAY 111 & HIGHWAY 74 VICINITY MAP