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Planning & Design Meetings Traffic Plan Meeting Notes #1 5/5/2009 - MinutesDraft Meeting Minutes Date: May 5, 2009 Project: Palo Alto and Gunn High School Traffic and Parking Plans WILSON Location: 25 Churchill Avenue ENGINEERING Purpose: First Review of High School Traffic Plans & TRANSPORTATION CONSULTANTS, INC Attendees: Paul Stickney (PS) PAU3D Tom Hodges (TH) PAUSD John Wilson (JW) Wilson Engineering Erwin Lee (EL) Deems Lewis McKinley (arrived late) Gunn High School JW presented a preliminary draft transportation study with auto and bicycle circulation and parking for the school. The report identified key constraints including the limited capacity of the intersection of Arastradero Road and the main entrance, parking demand, current queuing when exiting the site, current points of conflict I congestion between autos and CIVIL ENGINEERING bicycles, bicycle parking demand, and bicycle access routes. Counts of vehicles and bicycle at the start and end of school completed on a Monday TRAFFIC in March of this year showed approximately 400 students biking to school on STUDIES what was a cool brisk day. Approximately 285 or 73.3 percent entered from TRANSPORTATION PLANNING the back (Los Robles/Georgia/McGregor). At the main entrance, 44 bicyclists or 11.3 percent entered from the east on Arastradero and 23 or 5.9 TRAFFIC SIGNAL DESIGN percent from the west. The remaining 37 or 9.5 percent entered from Miranda or the bike trail on the westerly edge of the campus (four bikes in the morning). Parking at the Gunn site is currently concentrated in three locations and includes a total of 461 spaces. When counted, the school as a whole had a peak parking demand for approximately 440 spaces or 95 percent occurring about 11:00 AU Morning drop-offs and afternoon pickups also play an important part of the student commute at Gunn High School. The counts in March showed a total of approximately 365 vehicles dropping off students on the campus. This includes drop-offs at Miranda, the front drop-off area and the rear parking lots but does not include any students dropped off on side streets (Georgia, McGregor, Los Robles, or Arastradero) who walked in. 70 ZOE STREET Relative to future demand, the student body of Gunn is forecast to grow from SUITE 200 a current population of 1900 to 2300. As summarized above, March 2009 SAN FRANCISCO, CA counts showed approximately 400 students biking to school. Assuming the 94107 same rate of bicycle use yields a forecast of 485 bicycles with an enrollment of 2,300. Similarly, Gunn currently generates a peak parking demand of TEL: (4 15) 974-5071 FAX: (415)974-5073 May 18, 2009 Page 2 approximately 440 spaces at about 11;00 AM on a typically weekday. Assuming the current degree of auto usage continuing as the school enrollment increases would indicate a future peak demand rate of 533 spaces or approximately 100 more than available today. Wilson Engineering's proposed parking layout for the east side of the campus included approximately 411 spaces or 122 less than potential future demand. Discussion then focused on the potential to provide additional parking on the west side of the campus in the area currently occupied by portable classrooms. It was agreed this would be explored further as part of the plan refinement process. Primary bicycle parking is being proposed at the rear of the campus to capture cyclists entering from Los Robles/ Georgia. A second bike cage is being proposed towards the front/ bat cage to capture bikes entering from Arastradero and a third near Miranda to capture bikes entering at the southwest corner of the site. Paly High School JW also presented a preliminary draft transportation study with auto and bicycle circulation and parking for the Paly campus. It also identified key constraints including the limited capacity of the intersection of school driveways at Embarcadero and Churchill, parking demand, current queuing when exiting the site, current points of conflict / congestion between autos and bicycles, bicycle parking demand, and bicycle access routes. Counts of vehicles and bicycle at the start and end of school completed on a Friday in March of this year showed approximately 410 students biking to school on what was a cool brisk day. Approximately 161 or 39.3 percent entered from Churchill/ Castilleja Avenues, 129 or 31.5 percent from Embarcadero Road at the signalized crossing, 48 or 11.7 percent from the intersection of EI Camino/ Embarcadero Road and 71 from the northeast corner of the campus at the CalTrain tracks above Embarcadero Road. Parking at the Paly site is currently concentrated in three locations and includes a total of 555 spaces. A total of 295 spaces are located in the northwest corner of the site, 57 spaces are located in the northeast corner and 203 spaces are located in the southerly portion of the site with access from Churchill Drive. As a whole, the school had a peak parking demand for approximately 416 spaces or 75 percent of available spaces at about 11:00 AM. Counts of drop-offs showed a total of 467 drop-offs on a Friday morning in March. Of these, 228 or 48.8 percent were in front of the Haymarket Theatre, 80 or 17.1 percent in front of the Tower building and the remaining 159 or 34 percent at the end of the entry drive from Churchill. May 18, 2009 Page 3 Relative to future demand, the student body of Paly is forecast to grow from a current 2009 level of 1,750 students to a future level of 2,300. As summarized above, March 2009 counts showed approximately 410 students biking to school. Assuming the same rate of bicycle use yields a forecast of 540 bicycles with an enrollment of 2,300. As discussed previously, Paly High School currently generates a peak demand for approximately of 416 spaces at about 11:00 AM on a typically weekday. Assuming the current degree of auto usage continuing as the school enrollment increases would indicate a future peak demand rate of 550 spaces or just what is available today. The Paly site is larger than Gunn with more space available to accommodate parking. The site currently has 555 spaces and preliminary layouts indicate upwards of 502 spaces can be provided with proposed improvements. In terms of bicycles, three new cages/ rack areas are proposed with one in the northeast corner, one in the south center area (near Corp Yard) and a rack near the Tower Building. The intent is to intercept bicycles as they enter the campus, keep them separated from vehicles and pedestrians, and get them parked in cages quickly.