Council Transportation Committee - Regular Meeting

No. He can't.

Ruth wants John,

are you up there? One last call to John.

Is

John's hand went down.

Okay. So then we will go on to If we get back to him later, we'll try. We'll close public comment, oral communication, and move on to item number four. Consent, 4.1 approved meeting meeting minutes. The minutes for 04/01/2025 meetings are present for approval tonight.

Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person would like to provide comment on the minutes? If so, please click the raised hand button in Zoom or approach the electrum. Will take in person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. Anybody in the audience here would like to comment on the minutes? K. Anybody virtually would like to talk on the minutes? Okay. Seeing no comments, thank you. I will now bring the item back for committee deliberation action. Are there any corrections or comments on the minutes? Hello, members? No. No. Oh, do do I hear a motion?

Motion.

Second.

So moved. Roll call, please. Move. I'll be voting by by. I get well, because we're doing virtual. Right? So we have to do it. Otherwise, I say, listen to him. It's a new one.

Sorry. I misread you, sir.

Okay. Since we're going virtual, I thought you'd have to raise your roll call.

Oh, okay. Are you looking for me to do that?

I can do it now with that. Yeah. You're independent. I hope that we're gonna write it. So would you please take a roll call vote? Am I correct, mayor?

You can do I think I'm better, but it's usually the director that does the vote.

Yeah. K.

Am I calling individual names,

or am Yeah. I It's in favor of reasons. Okay.

Chair McAllister?

Yeah. I'll in favor of the motion.

Committee members, come on. Yes.

And committee member x?

Yes. Okay. Three yeses.

Okay. Motion and voted by raised hand. Oh, okay. I just read raised hands. Okay. We will make this thing a little quicker. New business, Miramani Avenue Complete Street Project 23 dot 3. This is the item item 5.1 is the Mira Monte Avenue Complete Streets project 23.31. The staff presentation will be provided by Alison Boyer, assistant public works director. I hope to amend. I'm sorry?

And, chair, do you have an announcement

to make?

I do have an announcement to make. Due to my Baskin Robbins locations, with no a determined distance, I will need to recuse myself for any potential conflict on this particular item. So, therefore, I will adjourn to the audience. Oh, you're pointing to the

The engine room. Yes.

At the engine room as this will continue.

And who will be chairing in your absence?

I would think the senior member would be maybe Allison. Okay. Bye. Allison. And I will be notified when it is over.

K. I'm glad to find out how senior I am.

I need your glasses.

I am blind as it is, though. Okay. Oh, I might as well take one. Oh, I have a badge. What's in this? Stupid.

Okay. So while meeting member McAllister chair McAllister is walking out, we are now on item five, new business.

5.1 is Miramonte Avenue complete. Street study project 2,331. And we are so this the staff presentation will be provided by Alison Boyer, assistant public works director, and transportation planner, will be available to answer questions after the presentation.

So thank you, and good evening. Again, I'm Allison Boyer. I'm the assistant public works director, and I have Priyote Ahmed next to me, and she'll help with the presentation here. So today, we're here to talk about the Miramonte Complete Streets project. The recommendation we are have before you is to review and recommend the preferred alternative concept plan for Miramonte Avenue Complete Streets study, project 23 to 31 from El Camino Real to Castro Street, Maryland segment a to city council.

Miramonte has been split into three segments, segment a, B, and C. Segment B is currently under design and construction and is expected to begin shortly. Segment A and C are included in the study we are covering today, and this was funded with twenty sixteen VTA Measure B funds. We are focusing on segment a since it is due for paving, and we are looking to do this work with that paving project. Some quick background on where we're at in the schedule here.

Last year, we kicked off the study with data collection and outreach round one. Since then, we have completed preliminary concept design, data analysis, outreach round two, and a preferred alter and developed a preferred alternative. Today, we are here to receive your feedback on the preferred alternative. And based on the BPAC and CTC feedback we received, we are planning to bring a final report to council at the end of the year. So and have a a have that be ready for design with the design team as they move forward with the pavement project.

With that, I'll pass it up to Kurdi.

Thank you, Priya Tiamat, and I'll be providing portion of this presentation. So a little bit on the background. The goal of this study is to improve safety, accessibility, connectivity, and increased transportation option on Miramonte Avenue, which supports city's vision zero policy, which aims to achieve vision zero fatal collisions by 2030, and Citi's Safe R Us to School program since this corridor provides access to Saint Joseph, Graham Middle School, and Bob Elementary School. As Allison mentioned, this is a planning study for segment a and segment c. We kicked off the study last fall with outreach round one and study data collection.

For outreach round one, we conducted bike and walk audit, interactive map survey, and an open house. Through and through this outreach, we received valuable feedback and improvement ideas for this corridor. In parallel, we also conducted a thorough data collection, which included traffic counts, speed, traffic collision, parking counts, and field observation. Data collection traffic data collection and parking utilization is included in your packet as attachment and attachment c. Based on the data collection analysis, staff kicked off outreach round two during summer.

During this round of outreach, staff sought feedback on proposed parking removal, proposed travel lane reduction, and bike and pedestrian facilities along the corridor. During outreach round two, we have taken these elements for public feedback. Public outreach events included study survey, pop ups at nearby schools. The outreach notification included sending postcards to residents, car flyer, yard sign, traffic light pole flyer, and social media posts. Through outreach, we heard support for protected bikeways and pedestrian safety features.

In the survey that closed last Friday showed that over 55% of survey respondents supported this plan, and of the respondent that opposed the plan responded that preserving travel lane would be the reason. One key element of this plan is on on street parking removal proposal, which is based on seven day data collection over different time period around the clock. The proposed parking removal map shared for feedback with nearby schools and corridor residents. This map includes the three yellow circles that you see in the screen shows where the where the parking removal is proposed, which is on the west side of the street where we found minimal parking demand and more parking demand on the east side of the street. The second element of the preferred alternative for per concept plan is travel lane reduction from two lane to one lane.

This is this proposal is based on low traffic volume and delay a lot delay analysis along this corridor. The analysis was done through using highway capacity manual 2,000 methodology. Approximately 64% of survey respondents supported proposed and additional parking removal. Survey respondents also identified additional treatments which included new and improved pedestrian crossing, traffic coming measure, and increased street street scaping and improved street lighting. This plan include these treatment through mid block crossing with rectangle rapid flashing beacon signs, traffic calming measured through reduction of travel lane and barrier protected bikeways.

This plan is also reserving space for Green Street for future if funding becomes available. Now to the preferred concept plan. This segment shows from El Camino to South of East Park Drive. As you can see, we have barrier protected bikeway going southbound and parking protected bikeway going northbound. We also have mid block crossing with RRFB, a dash line through the complex zone.

This segment shows from Park Drive to Tophy Dai Drive. Again, on going on the west side of the street, we have barrier protected bikeway. On the east side, we have parking protected bikeway. We have high visibility crosswalk at Sonja and mid block crossing at Trophy Street with RRFBs. And we also have green dash line through the conflict zone.

The last segment is from Trophy To Maryland Drive slash Castro, and we have barrier protected bikeway, parking protected bikeway, high visibility crosswalk, and dashed line through the conflict zones. To zoom in a bit more, one of the element is the parking lane reduction, and this map shows from ECR to Park Drive where it will be vertical vertical barrier protected and parking protected. Vehicle lane is 11 feet, and buffer and bike lane would be determined in the design phase. This segment also shows part to South Of Sonja where it is vertical vertical barrier protected on both side, and the vehicle lane is 11 feet with buffer and bike lane would be determined in the design phase. And this is the last segment that shows from Rankin to Castro.

It has the parking protected and barrier protected, and the vehicle lane would be 11 feet with buffer and bike lane would be determined in the design phase. An alternative option to consider keeping the existing which is keeping the existing bike lane configuration. In this configuration, parking is along the curb, bike lane, and travel lane a bike lane and then will be travel feet. This configuration will preserve eight existing parking spaces compared to the preferred concept plan. The trade off here would be keeping parking, would be increased conflict points between bicyclists and drivers.

The safer option would be to have it as parking protected bikeway. And according to Federal Highway Administration, protected bikeway will reduce vehicle to bike conflict by 53%, which is shown in the previous slide.

So we went to BPAC last Wednesday, and we heard unanimously from BPAC that they also recommended this they recommended the staff recommendation to CTC to and the motion passed unanimously. The BPAC comments we heard were exploring loading area opportunities along the corridor. Consider additional mid block crossing at El Camino Real and West Park Drive. Consider a bidirectional bike lane from Miramonte Avenue and the maintenance alleyway at Miramonte and East Park Drive. That's located in front of the ballpark.

Consider adding walkways along the corridor. I'm sorry. Adding crosswalks along the corridor and restrict restricting right turn on red. Explore shortening, turn radio links where feasible to slow vehicles crossing the bike lane, and explore options to shorten and improve the merge transition between segment a and b for greater cohesion. So what's coming next?

So we finished our community outreach in round two with your recommended with a preferred alternative recommendation. From here, we'll move to going to council in fall twenty twenty five, and then the design team will kick off the design for segment a. So the recommendation here before you is to review and recommend the preferred alternative concept plan for the Mira Monte Avenue complete street study, project twenty three thirty one from El Camino Real to Castro Street, Maryland Drive, Segment A, to city council.

Thank you. Thank you. So is anyone facing the mayor? Do you have any questions?

Thanks thanks to staff for the report. I noted a few things.

I am down with my. So

I am I was wondering if there I I know that there's, like, attachments. Is there a total number of those who provided input? So I saw, like, surveys with the pop ups. I saw the percentages. But, like, how many people in total with all the different methods do you think you spoke to? I would say over four slide 12. Yeah.

Yeah. Over 400. So with the orientation, back to school nights, and the survey, we have over 400 respondents. Okay.

So for number one, it says study survey, 438 respondents. That's for everything? I thought that was just for the survey.

Survey. Sorry. Over 500. I I yes. Okay. That's 500.

Yeah.

Yes.

Great. And what do you and I think, you know, fifty five percent of people have responded. Is there other things that you all did differently that you felt really helped? Or it seems like there was really good engagement.

So I

was just curious on maybe what worked and what we can what we can maybe as as counsel can ask as we're doing engagement.

You know? Yeah. I think the two thing that really comes to mind, one is yard signs. Mhmm. Yard signs are our With the QR code. The mode. Yeah. With the QR code. Okay. High engagement.

Walking their dog Yeah. Taking the kids to school. That's where we get a lot

of Yeah. Very high engagement and pop ups. So we did back to school night for Bob and Graham, and we also did an orientation with Mountain View Lisbon District. And it was we would scan it and then lot of the students actually would take it with us and they would ask like, what does this mean? So at hand, we kind of showed how to take the survey. Uh-huh. You know, it's it's a planning survey, so there is educational part and you take the survey. So it was it was really nice to kind of walk people through that.

Okay. And that was gonna be the second part of my question was trying to understand the the data. It's not, you know, disaggregated per se. So just wondering, like, if everyone is a user, and and sorry if I missed it somewhere in the documents. Is there a way to know if it's an actual user or an actual use?

We do have that information. I don't know that we provided it in the report. Oh, so you are We did ask how how are they how do they relate to Miramonte? Or do they live there? Do they travel there? Are they just a resident in Mountain View? So we do have all of that data, and we can provide that if that's

The only reason I asked that is just curious on how understanding how they how they use it and if the things we're proposing are, you know, what they want. So that that's just why. Can tell staff wants to present that when it comes to the full

proposal would be really great. The full report. Yeah.

Yeah. Just if I may, if you can remember, if you off the top of your head, have a guess. If not, don't feel free.

A majority were either lived along the corridor or were using it for school. Yep. That's the majority. Great.

Alright. So not only do we have the high engagement, but it's actually people who are using that Yes. Avenue. Okay. Great. What

was saying is we went when they did the pop ups, they came with the iPad. So they were taking the survey there. So that's part

of those numbers. So so maybe that's part of the engagement. You actually

had it there for them to do it right away. Mhmm.

Okay. And then a question about slide 19 related to high visible crosswalks. So when we do the high visibility crosswalk, I know that's kind of, like, one measure, but we can also do high visibility crosswalks with, like, the flashing lights and others. So is that included when

we say high visibility crosswalk,

or is that another type of traffic analysis with which we have to do to include kind of the flashing sign? Sorry. I don't know

the The RFBs?

So we have RFB. Thank you. RFBs are called out in specific locations. So we do have two of those included on the project. There's one between El Camino and Park, and then there's another one closer to what's that?

On Trophy. Trophy. Yeah. Okay.

Trophy. Sorry.

It was hard for me to totally tell in the visuals.

Yes. This one is with ROFB. That would be a new one. And on Park, that's an existing one, and we are gonna put an RFB there to increase visibility Okay. Right here.

For mid block block crossing. Sorry.

So at McKelvey, there's the mid block.

Yeah. And you're gonna you will install. Put that. Put that. Okay. Because I

it doesn't exist for whatever. Correct. Alright. Okay. So there. And then I'm sorry. Can you

On the trophy. On trophy. Yeah. So it'll pop up right there. But not at Sonya?

Sonya has a traffic light.

Has a traffic light, so it doesn't so it already has a a

controlled pedestrian button. Yeah.

Yeah. Sorry. Okay.

Trying to orient myself.

Yeah. So the RRFBs are added usually for those mid block where there's Okay. Not a

Great. Thank you.

Those are my machines.

Okay. Those are helpful. So my questions are, first, remind me the BPAC comments. They did recommend the staff recommendation. And also, the additional comments they made are all are they all explore and consider? They're none that are Yeah. So definitely do. Okay. Yeah. Just wanted to make sure. And then explain the bidirectional bidirectional bikeway a little more to make because I can't

Yeah.

It's it's a

so Let me

I mean, since it's just explore,

I'm Yeah. So we have to make sure the space the the space we have to make sure the space is there. And Uh-huh. I don't know if your mouse will show up. But so if you look to like, right if you were going down the first baseline of your of the baseball diamond, there is an access road right there.

Okay.

We missed the driveway in our so there will be an access point there. So that was one of the comments that we we acknowledge that, yes, there needs to be an access there. So the comment was between the new mid block crossing that you see with the RRFB and that access road, explore that the bike lane can go both ways, both northbound don't have to bike across the street. There. So Now we have to make sure that the space is there, and that's why we said explore. You know, we'll look and

see what what's available. Glad I asked because I didn't get that at all.

So that was that the idea is that how if you wanted to go north yep. Northbound, you would have to kind of go south to get around. Whereas if we did a a bidirectional there, they could use

the crosswalk. Because people won't cross Right. We wanna do ahead of a safe way. Mentality, I think, because somebody didn't wanna Correct. Yeah. So A large street three times.

Yeah. So so making sure that we have this space available in the right of way to do that. But that's what that's what that's enough comments to me that I endorse exploring it. Can you I should know this by now, but when you do the traffic counts you know, when I take this street, which

I do a

lot, it's very different depending on whether it's commute time or other times. So do you when do you do the traffic counts?

We did it morning and evening peak. So that was from

I want to make sure Yeah.

We were just around it. Either 06:30 or seven in morning till nine. Okay. Good. So we captured

the morning peaks. And then then I noticed that members of the public, not surprisingly because this comes up most of the time when we or maybe all the time when we're doing street improvements like this, One of the things they one of the comments that members of the public said was, could they have increased street trees and landscaping? And then it was said that you would do that if in the future, if funding's available. And so this is gonna be something I ask every time just to put it on, you know, not the back burner, but the front burner. So do you have plans to not just say in the future, but make it more specific?

And I'll name two things that are on my mind. One is that Google may, we've heard, donate a substantial number of trees to us. There's one opportunity. We have an active transportation plan coming up, which may be an opportunity to, you know, fit in, talk about funding for greening. And then the other one is we have a tree inventory we could use to overlay.

But, you know, since it's one street, we probably just need pick a street to find tree deserts. And there's also the California Regional Water Crop Quality Control Board has some permitting that is basically asking us to I'm sure you know more about this than I do, to to increase impervious surfaces possibly through this. Oh, and then the last thing is that this is something that the council sustainability committee is talking about increasingly, that we need that if we want active transportation, it has to be shaded. Otherwise, our cars provide shade, but, you know, our our bikes and walking does not. We usually don't provide our own shade.

So do you have something more specific than in the future if we find funding? So what we've done for this one right now is we've made sure

that we haven't precluded it for the future. Right? So anywhere that there is a buffer, we can add greening in the future. Right now, because this project is so tightly tied to our pavement project that has already been budgeted and scoped and approved in the last cycle budget CIP cycle, the it's not included in the budget scope for this project. So if this is something that council wanted us to pursue, there would be a cost implication to adding this to

the project at this point in time.

That being said, moving forward for any project that is a new project that comes out of maybe the ATP that's not necessarily tied to a planned cycle of a paving project, we would include the greening or landscaping as part of that planning and design process so it's budgeted moving forward.

So let me see that I understand because sometimes I have to hear things twice. So you're saying it's in the projects we're seeing tonight, it says in the future if we find funding. But in the future, because community members and council members have brought it up multiple times, you can put it in a little more proactively. Is that what you're

So if for this specific project, council would like to direct staff to include greening, there would need to be a budget modification to the pavement rehabilitation project that this change is tied to. This project is basically a striping project tied to a paving project. We're not changing curb to curb. We're not changing medians. There's no heavy curb construction, irrigation, utility work as part of this project.

So to green it has a significant cost implication. Doesn't mean we can't do it, but right now, that is not part of the scope or budget that the CIP envisioned.

I think what I had envisioned is when we next go to council for the what's it called? Biannual CIP, the every two years. Right? At that time, the biodiversity plan will be done. There will be an opportunity if council, you know, wants staff to explore to put in essentially a a greening project, but it would take away from unrestricted funds. Right? And so there are trade offs that would need to be evaluated. Right now, we have set out the five year CIP for sort of our our plan. But if that plan, you know, were to deviate because we wanted to put in trees in instead of a different project, that's certainly something that can be evaluated.

So it so, you know, trees is a vague for an area like this, it's a vague concept. You know, is it one is it well, trees, plural. Is it two trees, or is it 40 trees? You know, I I'm imagining that just a few trees would may not be more expensive than the than the bike lane the now I can't even remember what the bidirectional bikeway we were talking about. Two trees.

I mean, I'm just wondering if some of the things we keep adding I'll I'll put it this way. To me, I walk a lot, and people won't walk with me, like, really a lot. They're like, look. Take the car because it's too hot. I mean, just over the past several days, I've had many people refuse to walk with me. Tree they will walk where there are trees. So I find it as important as of as many of the things that I see added constantly, and I don't have a good idea of whether we're really talking about two trees. Is that much sometimes that's a good thing to close a gap. So is that really much more than a bidirectional

So bidirectional bikeway would is paint. So the cost of paint is going to be relatively minor. If we were to add trees, you're talking new curb and gutter, new irrigation, the trees, the soil. If it changes our maintenance, I, you know, I I couldn't tell you off the top of my head what something like that is gonna cost, but it's more than just a paving project scope. Again, doesn't mean it can't be done.

It's just there's you go from pavement, which is asphalt, to concrete, so that's a difference. You're excavating your chain. So it it again, every it can be done. I'm not there's no it's just where you want to if you're doing it as part of the paving, which is what this project is, it's just a different scope, and it's a different budget. When what I think you're getting at with the ATP is as we develop new projects and we develop budgets and iterate the project from planning to design that are project specific versus tagging along with the paving project, that would be the time to identify a scope and a budget for adding those greening.

And as Jennifer mentioned, at that time, we would also have the biodiversity, having the shade canopy, and maybe be able to target those areas specifically.

Maybe we can show or point out on the slides where anticipate trees might go in the future? That would that be helpful

to see, to visualize?

Yeah. I I was actually gonna make that as a comment that when you showed the on some of the pictures, you showed where trees are now, and that was super helpful to me to get a concept of where it might be difficult to walk and where it's easy. And I'm gonna say, you know, I may make a comment saying, explore putting in two trees because we may get a bunch from Google. But I'm gonna wait and see. I'm gonna you know, this is not my neighborhood, or I'd be recused. And so I'm gonna wait and see what comments we get from the public. If the public if nobody wants them, I'm probably not gonna make that comment either.

And, again, we've done nothing to preclude it. So if at some point, this is something that that we have funding or or there's a grant that we can chase for for this type of work, that's something that we can do. Or if we see something that was very successful along the California project, whether it's even just the planter boxes or something that gives some greening there, we can explore that as well.

And and the the last thing, when

you say you don't preclude, I did have a member of the public emailed me and said that the lanes could be a little narrower, that they were on that they're 10 and a half feet on El Camino or 11 where there are buses. And here, they're 11 and a half. And she was saying and for all I know, she'll say it again because I noticed she's with us virtually. But I'm wondering whether that would leave would preclude greening even or lead to even more greening, preclude it less.

So we are planning for 11 foot lanes with this. We need to be able to get, you know, your trash truck through, your fire engine.

Do up 11.

So they're all correct. The planning includes an 11 foot lane. Good.

Yeah. That addresses that. Okay. Did you think of any additional questions?

I don't know if it's, like, a question or a comment, but, like, hopefully, can bring back I'd like to have it to move forward. Mhmm. And so perhaps staff can also, when this comes back to council, provide, you know, moving forward with the recommendation,

but potential reining

as they were mentioning for for future. I think I think Meramec is, like, with these improvements would be quite nice to walk on. There's lots of trees there. In some places. Yeah.

There's a few

other places. Obviously, other opportunities, but maybe that can be something we can put in the recommendation and stuff when we come back.

Okay. In that case, we now would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comments on this item? If you want to, click raise hand button in Zoom, or if you're here, approach the lectern, and we will take in person speakers first. Any in person speakers? No? Okay. In that case, we'll go to virtual speakers, and let's see. Sean

S.

Hi. Thank you. I'm Sean Scarborough. I'm a fairly long time Mountain View resident now, and I'd like to thank you all for doing the work on this. I'd also like to say the work that y'all did on California Street is excellent.

It's much more comfortable to ride on, and I think the items that are proposed here will make Mira Monte even safer and better for the students and other folks who ride their bikes there. I noticed on California Street, there is there are a lot of people who are parking on the street. And given that that's a relatively low income area for here, and perhaps there's a lot of people with jobs that require them to drive, I could see that as being kind of a growing pain we need to work out, possibly some on Miramonte as well. But, anyway, I I like the project and the options, and I'm really glad to see that we're moving forward with protected bike lanes. And maybe we'll get the, kind of network that we need so that there'll be more people who'll be able to ride their bikes, and we'll have fewer car less car traffic, you know, maybe better community centers so that we can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions through transportation as council member McAllister mentioned in the last council meeting.

So, anyway, thank you very much for your work.

Thank you. So I don't see the names, so you

can call them now. Oh, now I do.

Next is, Celia Paymer.

Celia Pamer.

Celia, do you hear us?

Hi.

Silly up here?

Oh, you just muted me.

There we go.

Web. It's April website. Can you me?

I can hear you now. I was waiting for the unmute prompt. It wasn't showing up. Can you hear me?

We can hear you. Yes. Okay.

So just a couple comments. I'm very excited for this this project. Similar to the last commenter, I'm really happy with the project on California. I know it's not absolutely perfect, but it is a pilot project, and it gives us lots of things that improve it. I know a lot of people are upset, but I think that's just because they hate driving, and it makes them be in their cars ten seconds longer, which they hate. So for those of us not in our cars, it's much more pleasant, which I think this project will do as well. A couple comments. I hope that the 25 mile per hour speed limit is expanded to the whole thing. We already have that prerogative. We don't have to do the traffic check 85% thing anymore.

And, I know it's most of the way 25, so let's make it all 25. And then the this there's still I didn't mock that section, but I know on this section, there's still a lot of the signs that say no parking of cars wider than seven feet and all that that are pinch points on the sidewalk. So I hope those I hope that those will be moved adjacent to the parking spaces so that the sidewalk is much more walkable and you get the whole space on the sidewalk to walk. And, yeah, I'm just looking forward to be a much more pleasant experience to bike down that way because right now, it is terrifying to go around that corner to El Camino. Thank you.

Thank you. So now we have Mary Dadeo.

Good evening. I wanna echo what's been said. I'm really excited about these changes and making this, stretch of of Mira Monte being safer and also just more comfortable for, cyclists. More trees would be great. One place that comes to mind is along the ballpark.

Whenever we're in that segment, walking in that segment, it just feels like long stretches between the shady spots. I'd like to echo what was just said about changing this whole stretch to 25 miles an hour and to go along with that. I it would be great if the new crosswalks could be raised all the way across to help with controlling the speed similar to, you know, what what's on the Western part of Cuesta where we have raised crosswalks, in several places. I find that to be really helpful. One place that concerns me, actually, I don't know if you can take a look at it, but the intersection with El Camino Real, north of El Camino Real as your southbound, so as you're heading to this all these new improvements, there is a separate bike lane that's green painted.

And then as soon as you get to the intersection, there's no at least in the in the I realize this isn't designed yet, but, there's no real guidance for the cyclist. The green striping goes away, and it looks kinda confusing around the pedestrian island what's what's expected of the cyclist. So somehow, even at least just some, green paint could be added there, or if the pedestrian island could change shape somehow. Or I'm I'm not sure how it would happen, but it it it's really a scary intersection crossing in the southbound direction from a shoreline over to Mira Monte at this spot. And anything that could be done to help that would would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. So next, we have April Webster.

Hi. Thank you so much. I also wanna echo what the previous speakers said in terms of saying how much I appreciate the California street project. It's more pleasant not just on a bike, but even in a car. People are racing far less down that street.

I put on cruise control just to see what it's like, and it's about the you know, prior to that, the road diet, people were racing past me. So it's it's really nice now. And it really shows what a Complete Streets design, how it can make a quarter feel safer and more comfortable for everyone. I also wanna say that I fully support the parking protected bike lanes in this project. They remove many of those really dangerous conflict points we see when parking is on the inside and the bike lane squeezed between the parked cars and moving traffic.

I also think it's important to get the details right, and this came up on California around the driveways. I don't know if we could look at how parking is addressed to maybe cut back and get a clear zone of visibility to help with daylighting, etcetera, and making sure those sight lines are open as a critical buffer. I did wanna say something about the proposed lane widths. I saw in the cross section that it was 11.5, and that's it sounds like it

was already resolved that it

will be 11, but that's 11.5 is more, more conservative even than what Caltrans has done in their have been their DIP 94 guidelines, but also what they have on ECR. They use 10.5 feet in the general traffic and then 11 feet for buses on the outer, and and it works. I also want to say that safety isn't just avoiding people people getting hit by cars, but it's also dealing with, extreme heat or, you know, just these heat waves that we're having and addressing shade deserts. And EPA research shows that tree cover can lower surface temperatures by 20 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and that kind of cooling can actually, like, can literally save lives. It is one of the deadliest health hazards in The US, killing more people per year than floods, fires, or hurricanes.

So I think we really need to start thinking about that now. Trees don't grow overnight. It takes fifteen to twenty years for the canopy to fully mature and get those cooling benefits. And we can't put this off. We need to really start thinking about it. So I think it's great that we are carving out room for it, but I think we know need to go a little bit farther. I think aligning the city's tree inventory with our complete trees projects to ensure that they're safe for people when it's getting hot is important. This is being done in Sacramento where it's much hotter, the Franklin Boulevard project. They actually, I think, pulled some funds to make sure that heat safety was addressed on their active transportation. And I think we need to be moving in that direction.

California law, SB three seventy nine, requires cities to integrate climate adaptation and resilience into their planning, and I think we need to do that. I think at some point, cities will start to get lit face litigation for extreme heat. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Are there any other speakers virtually? No more hands raised. Okay. So we'll close public speaking and bring this back to the committee for comments, and then we'll need a motion.

Mayor, do you have any comments?

No. I mean, I think I am open to staff recommendation with the comments that were included as well as looking at potential future breeding streetscape. Yeah.

And I think I'm sorry about the

right way. Biodiversity. Biodiversity. Future biodiversity. And and I think that's where I'd like to leave it and then allow for, you know, great, a larger member of council and and the public to be able to weigh in versus

So that's my motion. Explore it or what? I didn't

get that. Yeah. I think to include the comments. Right? Mhmm. As is the And

so then I'll I'll just ask additional things. Were would you I don't know whether it's worth saying anything about exploring a raised crosswalk. Is that something we would ever do, or is that too costly? Since several

commenters with that. These crosswalks are typically a, traffic calming type of device. In this case, we haven't done that study. I certainly wouldn't want to put us behind schedule. This segment really does need to get paved in the upcoming year. So I would I would shelve the raised part for later, as a potential. If it does come up as a future community concern, it can go through the NTMP process.

So you can raise crosswalks as a part of the near the traffic coming. Sure. Okay. So people interested can hear that. And then members of the public also talked about improving the crossing from shoreline across El Camino to Miramonte. Is that a part of this project? Or is that because that's on El Camino, that's separate outside of our situation. Mhmm. And should have been handled when we did El Camino,

you can imagine.

El Camino is Caltrans right away.

Right. But we just did that. So they just They just did. Yeah. They just did that. So I mean, when would the person who's concerned about that, where would they bring their those concerns? I

think what we can do is look at the transition as we're looking at design just to see how the flow across the intersection would work. If there's something that needs to be done on the North Side that's outside of this project scope, we can look at various avenues for how depends on what the answer is. Right? If it's Mhmm. If it's striping, we would know, we could see if it's something city crews could do or if we could tag it on to another project. But right now, it is it's something that can be looked at. I don't know that I can fully incorporate it as part of

this project. I appreciate that because it is a difficult it is a difficult intersection and much used. And what about the speed limit? Where would they take that request, the 25 mile per hour speed limit? Would that be a neighborhood traffic coming, or where would one take that request?

I think that's something that we would look at as part of design, right, especially as we're looking at reducing the number of lanes from two in each direction down to one as part of that design. And as we're doing the legends on the street, the legends are anything that's like letters or numbers. We would take a look at it at that time. Remember, we also are transitioning into segment b, which will be under construction very shortly,

and so that will also inform the design for segment a to the north. So that's one that you could a comment that you could easily incorporate.

Is that what you're telling me? Changing speed limit is not an easy incorporation, but we would certainly take a look at all of the factors that go into it.

Are you open to that as well? No. I I I

think that I feel most comfortable moving forward with the staff recommendations, you know, couple of suggestions. And then I don't feel like I have the information to provide feedback on what an appropriate speed limit is at this point. I feel that that requires traffic analysis that I do not I have not seen currently. Mhmm. Therefore, I feel that deciding on a certain speed limit doesn't doesn't feel appropriate to me at this time.

We also are looking at removing a lane of traffic, which I think will affect we're removing a lane, which will have, I think, an implication on speeds of with which people go, which might address the speed issue, but I don't know that yet until we go forward with the project. Okay. So that's hopefully, everyone understands that point of view. You know, I I I don't want that that perfect to be the enemy of the good. I think we have something good in front of us, which we can further analyze and see if need to have once we have more information, once we get go from four lanes to two, I think we're there's gonna be quite a bit of changes on Miramonte. So I think at that time

Okay. Well, I would say take a look now, but if I'm not gonna get a second, then I mean,

I don't don't think it's,

like, an easy thing to do. No.

You know? So rather than have staff go down that path, I think there's a

couple different steps we can we can take. So and then I didn't quite understand the the tree thing. How did that read? I just wanna make sure that I'm that I understand what's

So I think and I'll look to staff. Staff had suggested looking at future biodiversity opportunities.

Yeah. We can in the final report, we can recommend areas, and we can also probably

I we can include a cost for what I would really appreciate.

A rough a rough cost of what it would be to add that. So we can add that to the final report.

Okay. And somebody recommended the ballpark, which is what I remember as the fairest part. Okay. Okay. So I would second that motion. And all those in favor,

everyone raise their hands because we

don't have a clear picture. And now we can call chair McAllister back to the conference room. Yes. Nice, Danny.

K. We're gonna take a five hour recess as she comes.

Lunchespin.

Oh. Of course.

Oh, that was my trip and fall, my retirement. Jesus. Trying to get out of here.

So, John, did you have this water?

The water open? It's a refrigerator. I think so.

Amazing. You

know, the only way yeah. Now. Okay.

It's like there was test you know, And there was just a little one line in one of these things. That's it. Okay. Thank you, Allison, for doing this fantastic job under the last minute stress of moving this Yeah. Project forward.

Oh, you know what? I was gonna raise my hand to say hi. Guess it's But then that would be inappropriate. You never know. You haven't come through the rest of this.

You guys ready?

Okay. More importantly, yes, sir. Mhmm. Okay. We are now on to returns to the book. Well, you already knew I was leaving.

Oh, 52.

You wanna keep me on track. Okay. 5.2, the El Monte Corridor Improvements Project 21.38. 5.2 is the El Monte Corridor Improvement Project 21 dash three eight. The staff presentation will be provided by Mary Chris and Young, associate civil engineer, and Joy Joy Hoton. Please correct me or help me under if I'm getting close to announcing those names. Senior civil engineer.

Okay. Thank you.

I guess I was close. Thank you. Thank you for your birthday. Okay. Let's begin.

Preintroduce. Good evening, committee members. This is this item on the agenda tonight is a project update to the El Monte corridor improvement project. I'm Mary Chris Huang with the public works department associate civil engineer, and alongside me is Joy Houghton, associate civil engineer. So as we get started, the yellow highlighted area in this aerial illustrates the project limits, which includes two signalized intersections along El Camino Real at Escuella Avenue and El Monte Avenue circled here in black, and seven non signalized intersections along El Monte Avenue circled here in blue.

This these intersections are along El Monte from El Camino to the city limits at Springer Road and G Street. El Monte Avenue is a four lane street with two travel lanes, a bicycle lane in each direction, a posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour, and an average daily traffic volume of approximately 14,000 vehicles per day. So background on how we got here today. In 2019, the El Monte Corridor study was started to evaluate improvements for increased safety along the corridor. The study involved robust community engagement, including presentations to the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee and Council Transportation Committee.

In 2023, the project received federal funding for the 1 Bay Area grant program cycle three funds in the amount of $2,400,000 for the scope of work along El Camino Real. That year, council also approved an alternative from the study, which included a road diet from four lanes to three lanes with buffered bike lanes on the El Monte corridor. In 2024, a professional service agreement with for design was executed and preliminary design was kicked off. And that leads us to today where staff has begun coordination efforts with Caltrans and recently presented the 35% design to EPAC, which will be discussed later on this presentation. As shown here, the project limits are again highlighted in yellow.

El Camino Real, also called State Route 82, and highlighted here in blue is owned and maintained by Caltrans. This is of significance because it means the project requires Caltrans design review and permitting to do any improvements within their right of way. The OBAG three funding is specifically for work within the Caltrans right of way. The city is fully funding the improvements on the El Monte Corridor. Previously, it was two separate projects, but staff will deliver these projects together due to the overlapping project limits.

In the next few slides, I'll be sharing the project scope in detail. So starting with the El Camino Real and Escuela Avenue intersection, this will include high visibility crosswalks, green bike lane striping at conflict areas, and removal of the right turn only lane from Escuela onto El Camino Real with the installation of bulb outs with directional curve ramps. Oh, jeez. The slides are not showing Zoom.

Are we good to resume?

I'm gonna check.

Oh, our our, our virtual component is not seeing the slideshow.

Right. Give

us a couple seconds to see if we can push some more buttons.

Says we're screen sharing now. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

That's Mountain Dew in five years. Oh, okay.

Okay. You want to raise phone? Do you wanna leave? Just sometimes.

We'll just pick up for the. Okay.

Do you wanna turn off the? Oh.

Oh, okay. Okay. So you just

Do the best you can with what you have.

Okay. Yeah. Great. That's really good. Thank you, everyone, for your patience.

Alright. So so I'll restart this slide, but, we are going through the project scope in detail again, starting with this El Camino Real and Iscuala Avenue intersection. So this at this intersection, we'll this project will install high visibility crosswalks, green bike lane striping at conflict areas, and removal of the right turn only lane from Ascuala onto El Camino with the installation of bulb outs and directional curb ramps. The intersection will also receive traffic signal upgrades, which includes conversion to an eight phase traffic signal system, allowing protected left turns and eliminating pedestrian and vehicle complex. The design for the intersection at El Monte Avenue will implement the feasibility studies recommendations, and that includes high visibility crosswalks, green bike lanes striping at conflict areas, maintaining two left turn lanes from westbound El Camino Real to southbound El Monte Avenue, and removal of the right turn slip lane from El Camino onto El Monte Avenue.

Yep. In the lane? The slip lane?

Yeah. Free right turn. Oh. Additionally,

staff is coordinating with Caltrans to incorporate protected intersection elements at the southwestern corner of the intersection. This inter intersection will also receive traffic signal upgrades allowing protected left turns and eliminating pedestrian and vehicle conflicts. Staff is still evaluating the elements for the area created by the removal of the slip lane from westbound El Camino to southbound El Monte. Elements may include green stormwater infrastructure as well as landscape improvements. Tree impacts will be determined at the next design milestone for the new bicycle and pedestrian pathways within the project scope limits.

Staff will aim to avoid impacting the trees, but should heritage tree removals be required, staff will recommend a tree mitigation plan to the urban forestry board. This image shows a typical cross section that was included in the council approved concept for the road diet along El Monte Avenue from El Camino Real to the city limits at G Street. In this image, a vertical element as shown in the bicycle lane buffer will be, is shown as a placeholder. The specific vertical elements that will be determined during the design process. Now looking at the El Monte corridor between Edinamari and Pilgrim, the design includes the following.

The rope diet beginning just south of Merritt Way, bicycle buff buffered bicycle lanes on both sides, the high visibility crosswalks, and in this section, a pedestrian refuge island. Between Pilgrim Avenue and Hollingsworth, the road diet will continue, and there'll be green bike lane striping in conflict areas, high visibility crosswalks with pedestrian refuge islands at the intersection. The project introduces two new crosswalks at the Hollingsworth Almaty intersection, Rectangular rapid flashing beacons or other known as the RRFBs crossing El Monte at this location will be added to the scope, and staff will be seeking additional funding. And here between Sparker And Springer Road, the road diet continues to the city limits along with the green bike lanes and high visibility crosswalks. The project was presented to BPAC this past June, and the committee provided the following motion for consideration.

VPAC fault approved the preliminary design with recommendations for staff to look into the following. At the signalized intersections along El Camino Real, a protected left turn coming out of the commercial parking lot South Of Escola Avenue onto El Camino Real, reducing the southbound lane on Escola to give more space to the bicycle lane with, and to evaluate the cost for adding protected treatments on the Northeast Corner Of Isquela Avenue as well as the Southeast Corner of El Monte Avenue and El Camino Real. On the El Monte quarter portion, BPAC's feedback included to have staff evaluate the approach at J Street to reduce conflicts between vehicles and bicyclists. And BPAC also recommended a speed study be performed after construction to identify any opportunities to reduce the posted speed limits. Based on staff's initial assessment, staff will work on incorporating the elements highlighted here in green, particularly the westbound left turn on Escuela Avenue in El Camino Real, the conflict zone on El Monte towards J Street, and the speed survey after the improvements are constructed.

For items in gray, staff is still evaluating additional protective elements at the intersection. It will need to coordinate with Caltrans for those improvements within Caltrans right of way, including the need to comply with Caltrans design guidelines. So following this meeting, staff will evaluate feedback obtained in both BPAC and CTC meetings and update the design accordingly. Staff will continue coordination with Caltrans as the design further develops. Final design of the project is anticipated to be completed in summer twenty twenty six, and staff will bring the project to council for approval and authorization of bidding.

Construction is anticipated to start in spring twenty twenty seven following Caltrans approval. So tonight, staff is has this recommendation for the commission's consideration, and that concludes the presentation.

Yeah. Thank you.

So do we have any other questions from our committee member?

Okay. I guess I'm going first. Okay. First, what is

just like before on the the bidirectional

bike lane, what's protected left turn for a bike?

Protected left turn for bikes?

Oh, it wasn't for a bike? Oh.

It's a protected left turn. Protected left turns is it'll have a designated lane for the vehicle.

So it will be painted so that it's visible.

The left turn. It'll have, like, a left turn only arrow signal. Yeah.

I mean, sorry. Not signal. Marking. Okay. And protected just means that it's solely for that and and visible.

If if I can add, protected left turn for vehicle means that the left turning movement will get its own face, so it gets a left green arrow rather than just a green ball that allows left turn movements and must yield to pedestrian. But with the protected left movement, it eliminates that conflict when pedestrians are in the

crossroads. Familiar with the term protected, I think bike lane. I with actual protections. Thank you. And then what there are lighting improvements named, but do you have further detail on what lighting improvements should be considered? At this stage, no. Or what's typical in a project like this? Yes.

They will do an elimination test along the corridor and wherever there might need some

upgrades to the amount of areas that are lit. So it's typically evaluation and then streetlights? So okay. Okay. Good to know. I've never asked that one before.

And

okay. I

think most of the rest of mine are oh, the motion here, the previous motion said to incorporate feedback's comments. Is that implied with this motion as well? It's suggested motion that you'll incorporate feedback's? Or should we add that if we're making progress?

Yes. Staff already completed initial assessment of things that we can include in the project. And then as Mary Chris mentioned, the items in gray, we're still continuing

to assuming that those are a part of the motion. Correct. And then and then my last question is the study says there will be Green Street improvements where feasible. So what do you know do you have any more detail on that, and or should we say what we said for the last item on the agenda?

Yes. So we are evaluating just the budget, also because in the areas along El Camino that is Caltrans right of way, we want to evaluate what we can do to comply with their design guidelines and, of course, what we, the funding can stretch out to be. But we are looking at those particular corners. If I may scroll over sample the area highlighted here in red. Mhmm.

And I think, at least for, they their input was also potentially at either of the north on this image corners of the Mhmm. The squat bath.

Oh, so they made particular comments? Interesting. Yeah. There are some areas that are kind of bare in this in this area. So okay. Thank you. Those are my questions.

So I have thank you to

No. No. No. Thank you

to Steph. I know that I was just trying to, like, look back. I know that this is a very high conflict area, if not one of the the the most. Right? The, I guess, below El Camino, if I remember you correctly. I was just trying to go back and realize. Because I remember when we were doing, like, the Vision Zero, there was this, like, rainstorm. I thought this it was, like, a school out.

You

know? And then am I remembering correctly? Could Steph help me remember? There was different spots that we were trying to address. Yeah. And this is one of the It wasn't in this. Yeah.

May be just because it's one of the first protected intersections that we're working on along El Camino. We do have a lot more to follow this project in included in our five year CIP plan.

Yeah. Robert Gonzales, the principal civil engineer. So you may be remembering back to the streetscape plan.

Okay. See.

The streetscape plan identified five primary corridors that were crossing El Camino. So they saw that it's a high high conflict areas, and that's why this project was identified for the OPAC funding and the and received the group.

Okay. So

it was identified. So that

was Okay.

So I don't remember it. Okay. Oh, okay. Wow. It's 2019. Okay. So my memory goes, see? That's a good thing.

Okay.

So does Escuela El Camino and El Camino El Monte count as two of the five on ECR?

That's a double check, but think I believe it's one. Okay.

Great. Okay. So then we have four more to go. Yes. Sorry. Okay. And then had a question about the slip lane. So I saw too that it's the Caltrans right of way. So and it and it looks like we're looking at those landscaping and green green infrastructure area. So to kind of council member Hicks's comments about biodiversity and things, we could look at that as as something.

Right? And it could be more than just a passive area because I think it'd be it'd be pretty substantial once Yeah. Once it's so is staff looking at that as, like,

I don't know if that's

the right word, but, like, kind of a placement, any opportunity, or something? Or

Yes. Yes. Stuff it. Okay. Yes. More green, more green stormwater infrastructure, and anything that creates some sort of sense of place for this location. Just that. It's a large area, so there's different opportunities. Right. And I

and I I think that kind of dovetails into my next question, which is and I don't know if I wanna say this kind of but is this like a public art opportunity perhaps, or are you thinking just green? Just asking. I don't wanna give you ideas.

Is time just greening? Just

greening. Okay.

Alright. It looks like I'm just curious. Wants to add.

Hi. Ed Arango. This is the public works director. Thank you for the question. As far as the public art, the public art policy is specific on the types of projects that qualify for public art, and it gives us consistencies for staff to know how to budget and plan for a project. So a roadway project like this isn't doesn't fall within those one of those categories.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Those are my questions. Okay.

So I don't have the background at all that you have, but, I'm gonna dig in. So the slip lane, why was it determined to eliminate it?

I think the, the safety along that with it having its kind of designated right turn movement, it would know that vehicles could potentially speed through that. And there are there is crossings for pedestrians along there, heading towards south of this photo towards along the El Monte Avenue Corridor.

Were there any accidents, car accidents, accident accidents that says this slip lane, is not safe? Has there been any data behind it to say this isn't pinnacle? This has been here for fifty years, so I'm just wondering what decided that it's just that you're taking it out? Is it just assumptions, or is there data behind it?

I'll let the staff talk to data, but I'll say in general throughout this whole area, slip lanes are, considered an old design feature. They do encourage high rates of speed for vehicles making that right turn lane. It does introduce significant conflict points between vehicles and, pedestrians and bicyclists. I can let you know that in the last agency I was with, I was with them for a very long time, and there's a concentrated effort to reduce the lanes off route that agency. So it is it is a, region wide emphasis, and acknowledgment on the, growing importance of alternative, ways of getting around besides just vehicles.

Is there not a stoplight stop sign on that, slip lane?

There is not. Oh, I I'm sorry. Going With the El Monte.

Going from El Camino to El Monte is they're not signals or stop sign that control the slip lane.

So there would be a stop sign from, right when the vehicle goes to the slip lane to El Monte. Yeah.

There is a signal there. It does control slip lane traffic. Mhmm. Are you aware of that? Yeah.

Why is it there was stops? You're seriously signal, so thank you for correcting me.

So by doing that, now you have to that is that owned by Caltrans, that whole section?

Would all trans.

Caltrans. That would fall in their right ways.

And do you has there been any traffic count on how many people use the slip lane and how that will affect the traffic going around the corner?

I don't have that data, but we can go back to either traffic or even from Caltrans if they have that data.

I think we would have to

go back to 2019. Yes? Yes.

If if I could add, the concepts shown for the intersection of El Camino and El Monte and also the El Monte Corridor came out of the feasibility study that started, I believe, in 2022 or and it's it went through a robust community engagement. So the removal of the slip lane may have come from the community as a mask to be included in the project. Okay.

And I wasn't here, so my approach to traffic is, I would say, a little different than others. The project scope again, you mentioned. So how many times has there been a is there another scope? This is this evolving project scope on this project? Because it it initially, when you did your comment, you said this project we're gonna do the project scope again. So is there gonna revise this or revisit, or is this this a preliminary project scope, and so you're still finalizing it?

We are in the early stages of design.

Yeah. I think Robert

Yeah. Thank you for the question, Robert Gonzalez, principal civil engineer. So looking at the counts the the CTC memo on page three, it lays out a June 23 where we went to council, and the alternative three was approved. So those those scope items, including the slip lane, were approved by council, and that's how we move forward to the design stage. The only elements that are changing at this point are the size of the buffer, size of the bike lane, specific elements on corner treatments, items that were brought up by BPAC.

So those elements that are design details or or adjustments are what we're looking at now. These primary design elements are moving are the ones that council move forward with, and that's how we started our RFP our consultant contract. So when we talk about scope,

is this fully funded? Are you still looking for funds?

At this moment, well, I mentioned in the Hollingsworth Almonte Avenue Intersection, we would the staff is looking into the RFB at that intersection. So I think we will be looking for additional funding so that we can add that to the project scope.

Okay. And you also mentioned on the traffic signals, they're gonna be signalized or they're gonna be upgraded. Will those signals is the city of Mountain View, Are those gonna be signals that city of Mountain View will be potentially using on some of its streets? Will it be compatible with what we're doing? Are we are they more advanced than what we have in the past? I know Caltrans will control those signals, but will we have any just give me some insight about these traffic signals who are gonna be computerized, AI, and so forth.

Upgrade. The upgrades that we are mentioning are for the protected signal phasing that, senior central engineer, Hilton, was explaining. So the upgrades are to add the protected left turns, particularly at the Escuela Avenue and El Monte El Camino Intersection. And then for this intersection, El Camino Rail and El Monte,

we

are adding that crosswalk, on the West Side on this image. So we will need to upgrade that signal to have it so that it's there's no conflict with the left turn. And then because we are touching the signals, we will have to look into signal infrastructure, signal cabinets, and those are the type of upgrades we're referring.

So even though it's it's it's on Caltrans line, we're paying for the signals?

It will be funded by this project, but they will maintain it

Okay.

And own it.

And is that cost been determined yet?

We have estimates, and we do have that 2,400,000.0 OPAC grant for those areas, the intersections.

Has there been any studies to say how many people are on bikes going along El Malone?

I believe we have counts from the study, but don't know off the top of my

head.

Yeah. Staff would have to come back and answer that question just with some details. Those may have been done as part of the study, but we don't have those in front of us.

Was there I mean, this sounds like a very cost thing. So I'm trying to as you if you just did do your study, I'm trying to figure out the cost analysis of how many people will really use the bike lanes versus I well, that's the comments. But, yeah, I'd like to see how if there was an analysis on that. The I noticed that on the turning into the the diet lane, could you show the scene where you go into the parking lot of the shopping center? You had a clip in there.

It was when you were showing a road diet. Now I agree that okay. Well, while you're on that slide, why again, Esquila is sort of a interesting intersection. So why taking out the right turn lane? What's what was the thought behind that? From Esquila to going, north or west?

The belt? The bull belt.

Yes. Yes. We are adding that bull out. And I think the intent is, again, to slow the speed of the right turns, so then they are in that kind of into that right and through lane to help yeah. Kinda

Has there been any accidents, any incidences that would indicate that the right turn lane was an issue.

Now I am aware there was a, accident not too long ago, I think in April, but I it's supposed to at that particular location. I'm not too aware. It was at that

location.

I

do that coming out of the Walgreens, it was crazy because the signal is nuts in the air. That's one of those intersections. If you're going off a squeal and making a left turn, people are they have the opportunity to walk. So are you saying the signals are gonna say people will be able to walk, no cars will be moving, or are you still gonna have compatible, squeal, like, turning left going eastbound and people crossing across the street? Because there's constant conflict from what I see there.

It's typically with the vehicular movement, I'll say, but the two bulb outs on

the corners do a couple of things.

Mhmm.

One, it shortens a pedestrian crossing distance. Right? So a pedestrian is not as exposed, if you will, as long in the street as they're making that particular movement crossing the street. Secondly, is that elimination of a free right turn makes a pedestrian or bicyclist, whoever's crossing the street, more visible to the driver. Right? They're they're coming to, like, a point in the corner rather than a vehicle cutting the corner, and having two potential locations where there could be could be conflict. So, again, this is, we think, a good thing that we are doing at this intersection.

Mhmm. Thank you. Okay. So could we find that one slide where you're doing showing the road proposed road diet going into the parking lot? Okay. Right there. So you see right where the red ends? Mhmm. That's a right turn into the parking lot of the shopping center. So there's gonna be congestion there. So were you aware of that, and why are you doing the road diet there and not maybe down a little bit further or past it so that there won't be that conflict of people coming out or going in right there.

We

that's something we can take a look at. My understanding is this is the earliest point that we could do this that allows the cars to then decelerate and merge into one lane from two.

But the cars will be okay. It's I'm asking it because there I see a potential conflict or people slowing down to make the right turn, people not paying attention, the bike's going through. So I that's a concern of mine. K? Has your, now, that's the context. Is the, crosswalk at, March Way being affected at all?

In terms just the high visibility crosswalk. Mhmm.

So it's a cross it's

a crosswalk right now is my understanding, but it's just a regular crosswalk, right, and so we're going to be upgrading it with the latter style, which is the high visibility reference that we've been speaking about.

Will there be light there? I thought there were no lights there.

There are lights. I think, yeah, I think there are, a RFB in that intersection or or closer to Edinburgh. But there is one already RFP along El Monte Avenue

with this. Has there been any consideration or study considering that El Monte is a major thoroughfare coming from all the way from Foothill Expressway through Los Altos coming into this area that how traffic's gonna be affected?

I'll say that this study was done in 2019, 2020 era. That's also around the time that council approved the study, so all of that analysis was done way back then.

I think it's five years. So does that information change or modify over time?

Not significantly. I would say, if anything, the city's grown over time. Even despite, you know, the COVID years, we're to see rebound with respect to traffic. So I would say not significantly enough to change the results of that study.

Well, you just said things were growing. So, potentially, the traffic could be greater now than it was before?

Not significantly. We've rebounded. And as a city, we're growing, but it's I wouldn't I wouldn't undo something that council's already approved from 2019 when there was very robust study done at that time.

Hi. Ed Rango again. To add on to director Dean's comments, El Monte from El Camino Real to J Street, They call it J Street. That's the city limits. Two lanes in each direction, and the the proposed road diet provides it one lane in each direction. Once you get to J Street, it it forks off. We have J Street that goes to the right, and then we have, Springer that continues. Both are one lane in each direction. So and and that's pretty consistent through to Foothill. So, again, one lane in each direction. So this is effectively matching that configuration. And, again, with the other comments that you've heard before about the community looking for traffic calming measures along this section.

And then let's see what else I have there. Okay. I think that answers my questions. So then we will bring it out to the any other questions before anybody came up with a second thought or anything? No. I'm trying Would any members of public joining us virtually or in person like to make comments on this item? If so, please click the raised hand button on Zoom or approach the lectern. K. No one from the in person is going forward. Is there anybody virtually?

Yes. Sylvia Paymer. Who? Yep. Sylvia Paymer. Oh, Sylvia. Thank you.

Yes.

Hi. Thank you. Well, I have a lot of comments, so I'll try and be quick. First off, the right turn on Esquela, I like the idea of the bulb out, but if you have it, please have a slip lane for the bikes. Otherwise, the bikes are forced into the car traffic right at a point when everyone's, like, looking around.

So let's keep that conflict to a minimum and make sure there's still a lane there. And then I do have to say I'm I'm not loving the options for the bikes turning left onto or off of a Esquela. Even when we hopefully add the no right turn on red, there's always conflicts for pedestrians and bikes with cars. Even if they're going straight, there's cars turning right into them on a green light. So I wonder if it is possible to look into a bike or pedestrian bike and pedestrian scramble cycle.

Mhmm. Right now with the head start cycles already, we're adding, you know, fifteen seconds now that we're having that protected left. So why not go to 30 and actually make it safe for bikes and pedestrians? We have four to five protected cycles for cars. Let's have one for bikes and pedestrians. Then, also, I do really like the Hollingsworth crosswalks. Thank you for putting one on both sides.

I love

that. I do wanna clarify the slip lane from El Monte or from El Camino onto El Monte does have a light, but it's after the pedestrian crossing. It makes the car stop for the oncoming cross traffic, not for pedestrians or bikes. So that does not increase safety. In terms of the bike count, the bike show users tend not to show up when they feel like they're gonna die. So sort of like saying, hey. There's a river between us and the town. No one ever goes to town. We don't need to build a bridge. We do need to build a bridge if we want people to actually go from our side of the river to the other.

Right? They need to not die on the way. I agree that the J Street Intersection needs fixing. I bike through that every day, and it's it's a mess. So I don't know what the fix is.

I like the idea of the roundabout, but I guess that got thrown out at some point, but, it is kind of a scramble there. And then also remembering, for the El Monte Road diet that the lights are the choke point for traffic, not the number of lanes. So unless we're doing something about that light cycle to get more cars through, which we're not because we prioritize El Camino traffic, the number of lanes isn't what's gonna make a difference. So let's reduce the number of lanes, make it so bike users don't feel like they're gonna die, so they actually use the road, and that'll reduce cars, which will reduce traffic for everyone. No one likes to be in their car behind another car, so let's get the other cars off the road by putting them on bikes. Right? Alright. Thank you so much.

Mary Dadeo?

I didn't see the unmute button. Is can you hear me?

Yes. We can hear you. Thank you. Okay. I'm sorry.

I just wanna say I'm super excited to see the improvement with the the having a dedicated left turn lane coming out of the next to the Walgreens and having separate light cycles. Because I've the few times I've been at that intersection, I've always wanted to coming out of Escuela, I've always been trying to make a left hand turn, and it is on a bike. And it is I can't imagine how scary it is for the pedestrians because it's it's it's awful for a bike. You just have no idea what all of a sudden, there's somebody coming at you from the up the Walgreens because people come around the corner all of a sudden really fast, and you have no idea what they're gonna do because nobody uses their turn signal. So thank you.

Thank you. That I'm super excited to see that. I do wanna say El El Camino Real and El Monte on that southwest corner. So in the diagrams, it's been sort of like a purple blob or a pink magenta colored blob. A previous iteration did keep a slip lane for pedestrians and cyclists in that purple blob area.

So the slip lane for cars went away, but it was still there for cyclists and pedestrians. And that would be such a treat to just get away from traffic even for the thirty seconds or whatever it takes you to bike through that space, assuming especially there are gonna be some trees and stuff added. It would be such a pleasure to just just have a few minutes away from traffic. So I'd really love to see that. And I agree. As you approach the J Street area, that is pretty scary, but I think some of that belongs to Los Altos. And so, in general, thank you so much for this whole project. I know you guys

have been working on it for

a long time, and it's really shaping up great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Sean S?

Hi. Thanks. Yeah. This is John Scarborough, and I I am also, like the other speakers, really excited about this project. It's good to see this coming and improving over the years.

And I'd like to take a moment to thank, chair McAllister for reminding me and an earlier me and probably some other folks who were were focused at that time on building greenhouse gas improvements, that transportation also is an important factor to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. And, you know, these kind of projects, like in California Street on along El Camino, getting the protected bike lanes in there, getting more street trees where we can. You know, that'll help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the heat island, get more people walking and biking. So I thank you for the reminder on that. So I like the plans, much like California Street and ECR.

You know, the protected bike lanes are good. I've been seeing people riding in the bike lanes on ECR. Even families, it's just amazing. You know, big change since, you know, the time before the, protected bike lanes. And then on California Street, that is so much more comfortable to ride on. I I see we still have some problems with the well, a lot of people parking. So if we can work that out there, we should be able to work it out everywhere else in the city. So I'm really excited to get that done. I'd be in favor of more space for trees on this project. So if we could have more of a park space, if the slip lane goes, have more of a parkish type space rather than a grassy stormwater retention pond.

I'd be in favor of that. I think that would make it a nice gateway into, you know, the El Camino Real part of Mountain View from the South. Yeah. If we have if we can have some green like, just planter boxes. If we're not gonna have trees, those would be nice. You know, kinda like they have the planter boxes on California Street. Hopefully, they'll be filled soon. But trees are even better, so we can have that. I'd be in favor of that. So thank you all for your work on this. I really appreciate it. You're making our city much better to get around by bike and walk and don't have to take our cars. Thanks.

Thank you.

April.

Hi. Thank you.

I just wanna echo what the other speakers have said in terms of being really happy to see this project taking shape, and, you know, protected infrastructure going in there for people moving on bike, and walking. I'm basically gonna plus one a bunch of things that other folks have said. I wanna say that I strongly support Celia's comment about including a protected scramble cycle for bicyclists and pedestrians. This is a really dangerous intersection, and, it can be one of the like, a really effective tool to avoid or reduce those conflicts at intersections. They just give people you'll you'll see it in other communities or whatnot.

They'll sometimes have lights, but giving them a head start, you have better visibility as a driver in terms of seeing them. So I absolutely plus one that. And as you know, if we can have a long a little bit of an extra crossing interval to get them out there, that would be wonderful. A huge plus one for the elimination of free rate turns that, you know, that sort of old school practice. I am thrilled to see the city starting to, you know, implement that, and, you know, it's one of the best practices in complete streets design.

So kudos. Yeah. They just, you know, make it they slow down the car and and make it easier for them to see instead of, you know, speeding right through that and maintaining speed as they go around the turn. Also, awesome to see the road diet. This further, I think, strengthens the safety of this, the stretch, this project.

And we've seen how, you know, John mentioned this, how impactful it's been on California Street, how you know, on El Camino Real in terms of calming traffic, and just creating more comfortable space for people biking and walking, and it's, you know, pretty much state of the art. So oh, and I also wanted to really glad John mentioned, you know, if you're anywhere that there's space that we're removing some of the space, it's great opportune like, the slip lane, it's a great opportunity to add in greening. And so some sort of, you know, GSI, green storm water infrastructure, or trees or anything like that, you know, I I think that should definitely be considered. You know, just given heat, is a safety issue. It's not just people getting hit.

And we have to start thinking in that, I think, that frame of mind that the more we could add ingraining and more canopy, and thinking long term, we need to get this stuff in place so that we're not gonna have, people suffering, you know, on the streets. They won't be able to walk or bike around if it's too hot, and there's you've seen this already in other communities. Sacramento has has started tackling this already. So I think we should always think about this when we have an opportunity. Thank you so much.

So

that was the last of our virtual speakers. How do you see some more?

That is all. Okay.

Thank you, people, for staying on and giving us your comments. We appreciate them. I will now bring this back to the committee for comments and action. Would anybody have, comments or further questions?

So, are any of the things that members of the public brought up possible to consider? The two that I the one the big one that I saw was something additional for people, particularly for bikers and pedestrians at El Camino And Escuela, where there was a fatality in, I think, last April. So that is a as said in in practice, it's a dangerous intersection for pedestrians and bikers. They mentioned a scramble. Is that something that's easy to consider, hard to consider?

Would be on El Camino, so it seems like pretty prohibitive. It

would be certainly something that Caltrans would need to approve as it is within their right.

Are there any kinds of improvements at this point, or do you feel it's improved enough since April?

We are still evaluating additional protected intersection elements, I believe, on the southeast corner of the intersection. Off the top of our heads right now. We don't know, but that's something we would be evaluating with our design. So I

would just pay special attention to that intersection because it it has a problem. And then the other one they talked about was the slip lane area that could be greened should be greened. Could there be a a bike or pedestrian path winding through whatever is there that's green. Is that a possibility or not?

It is a possibility, and we'll evaluate that definitely because it's designed for the developers.

Okay. So those are the two things that I heard from the public that I wanted to add. Otherwise, I would be willing to make a motion. But, okay, so I make a motion to accept the proposal, the staff proposal. Include

No. No.

I didn't wanna interrupt you while you did your motion.

Okay. I was just

gonna I

was just gonna confirm the staff. So the the slip lane that you mentioned for for pedestrians and bikes, we're not removing the sidewalk that's there now. So pedestrians will still have access there, and we can still look for this element that includes a slab lane for bikes as well. So we're not we're not eliminating that. And then in

terms of looking for integrate it beautifully, which with the ever greening Right. That have

the Hertz parking lot. Yes.

The greening elements, I agree with the with the the the public comments that the Slope Lane area seems like it's large enough to accommodate additional trees as well as stormwater. We're sizing the stormwater now. So as as a senior engineer mentioned, once we get that size, we'll understand better how many trees we could actually plant in that area.

Okay. Continue. Thank you.

So I'm making a motion to accept the recommend staff recommendation with particular attention on the El Camino Escuela intersection and, yeah, how to incorporate bikes and pedestrians through the area that was a slip lane and will now be a greener space. K.

Do you have any comments? We'll have some discussion. So your comments, please.

Well,

I'm actually quite excited that we're moving forward with this project because I'm I'm happy that staff was able to remind me that this was one of the five priority areas and that we're making progress. I also strongly feel that slip lanes are dangerous and have had experiences as a cyclist and runner getting almost hit multiple times because of the high speeds that people go through the slip lanes, at least the one near me because people are coming off of central into the wizarding area. They just come at, like, 50 miles an hour. So I'm actually quite excited, and I think anything to help get us more connected and make people safer is the route I want.

Okay.

And it's gonna green a corner, so I think

that it's gonna be great.

Hopefully, I'll support the motion too. There

is a, there's a business there on, El Camino. That's a rental place. What would happen to the driveway that's at the slip lane?

Yes.

We do acknowledge that I believe you're referring to the Hertz

rent. Mhmm.

Yes. The driveway, what we are looking right now is we would want to configure to come off of El Camino into it, but we do need to or our design consultant is looking into that.

Yeah. Access will still be provided. Mhmm. We haven't worked through all the details of the design in terms of how exactly that will occur, but it's absolutely the intent to maintain access.

So are you saying pathways right now. Yeah. They have two. You're taking out one. One.

No.

Well, that's the thing is that that you would reduce their parking where they keep their cars that are for rent. So

It'd be more parking, but less Yeah. Less parking for. That's where I rent my cars. It's a cute little it's super cute little.

How will how are you gonna address that issue?

Well, look. The design consultant is looking into that, and we will coordinate with them.

Do they have a preliminary idea?

Just the access point coming from El Camino.

So where there's a right turn arrow now on the intersection, you would be putting a driveway in there?

Just right before. Right before the right turn button. Yes.

There's a I have an arrow there. So you're seeing it right in that area?

Can we flash

out to slide two? So, yeah, right below that right turn arrow marking, there's

symbol for the driveway right here.

Yeah. So

Perfect. So there's no plans to remove a driveway.

So what how are they gonna get turned? Is that green there's nowhere to turn. So are they you're gonna keep that so that they can turn into that parking driveway?

Yes. We will. There will

be a break

in the buffer

in the buffer there. There's there's no there's no curb at that point. So we would have a break in curb, and we would have a break in the buffer there. So Oh, yeah. Yeah. Doesn't that doesn't show proposed conflict striping, but we could have proposed conflict striping there. So it would be a right turn off and almost a almost like a 160 degree turn Yeah. Into the into the lot, but it would we would keep both of their driveways.

May I make a suggestion?

Please do. Well, my my suggestion to staff kicking maybe when the renter comes back for the full council approval,

it could be included where the supposed driveway should be. And then that way, I'll also could see. Well, usually, with the the. Yes. And maybe that will help.

Well, I'm sure they could if they could keep me abreast of it along the way too.

I was gonna have another full Yeah.

Yeah. I did heard someone say that there's no turn on red. What intersection is that? Is that proposed? Is that a Caltrain thing? So has that been approved, or does Caltrain have the authority on that one?

So those have not been approved. Caltrain has approached the city in general, like, I didn't asking us for a discussion about no right turn on red implementation along El Camino. We've been in with Caltrain Caltrans about that, particularly on the side streets. So no right turn on red Excuse me. Along El Camino, not on side streets. So none of that has been incorporated yet.

Alright. I just heard someone from the public. So they wanted that, or they just

The public is aware that along El Camino and other jurisdictions, those no right turn on rents are being incorporated, but we have not yet incorporated those.

And, one of my pet projects is hopefully we'll get someday is roundabouts, and I mentioned someone mentioned roundabout. So is there where was there a discussion that earlier on about a roundabout along this section?

Yes. So a a couple years ago, the city's BPAC and Los Altos' BPAC had a joint meeting. And in that meeting, specifically, roundabouts were discussed at the J Street Intersection. That was the only place that that was discussed, and we haven't had further discussions about that because that's a Los Altos intersection.

Would okay. Yeah. That could be the thanks. We've had issues with that on El Monte and Cuesta or not Covington. That's always not a lot of room. Had there been any discussion potentially on the Hollingsworth Intersection?

Again, this was approved by counsel with the specific scope, and it was discussed at the previous CTC meetings. And the alternative that was proposed was this one, Weather Road Diet. And I don't believe Okay. I don't believe roundabouts were approved at that point of votes.

A lot of cities are starting to go that route even on major roads come about. Okay. So, my general comments are that we are still a vehicle central centric state and that road diets have their place and pedestrians have, you know, the concerns and so. But I I see we're, every road that we're turning into is turning into a road diet, and we just don't have that many people on bikes. So when people come along and say, well, people are gonna ride their bikes.

They're not doing it. And that brings to why it costs a lot of money to do that. And I'm just wondering if that money can be recycled going down. Maybe the grants are given for this right now, that there was ways to increase our public transit, our shuttle services to get people moving around and getting out of their cars because I see that more likely to happen than people getting on bikes. And if the knowledge of we have a very, very low percentage of people riding bikes, yet we're spending a lot of money to get convince people to go on there.

I don't think the city is getting their fair share of money going in that direction. We're gonna be going into a deficit soon, in a year or so, And I wanna see us maximize what money we have. And if we only have, say, 5% or less people riding bikes and 95 people are using their cars, I think we need to look at our funding to see how we can get those people moving through the city efficiently and potentially with shuttles and greenhouse gases. So, that's more of a general statement about all the bike lanes because we did it on California. And we I don't think we did a bike survey recently to see what's going on.

I would like to see anytime we do a, what was it, a road diet that we put in counters to see how many people are really using the bikes. And if it's 2% or less, then I don't think that's a wise use of our money. And I'm very pragmatic about the approaches that we do. I like bike lanes. I've seen them work well in other cities, but I just don't you're it out of California.

You're doing it on El El Camino. And El Camino, I have a front row seat to the bike lanes, for where that my store is, and I don't see people riding the bikes. So if they're saying, well, build it, they will come. It's still early. I haven't totally gotten up saying that it was a way a lot of money, but we'll see what happens. And I feel well, is the staff anybody? Have you seen bike lanes that are put in Mountain View and that you've seen a gradual increase substantially to justify our cost of lane? I know safety is priceless, so we're not putting that aside. But have we seen where we've spent a lot of money on a bike lane, and we're just getting a few people coming through?

I would like to nominate Calderon Avenue.

We had a bike lane, took it out, then we had yeah. So very begin with. Okay. So these are my some of the concerns I'm hearing or I feel that, yes, we get all these and I appreciate the the people come virtually, but they're all bike advocates. We don't hear from the general public, and I'm gonna say I'm a general public guy that's trying to represent.

We got 82,000 people in here, and we're listening to maybe 2,000 people and people on bikes. And so we need to make sure that when we do all these roads, that we, appreciate everybody that's out there, and I still think we're focusing too much on this across the city. So so your motion, there's concerns I have on it. You know, the cut through, I'm a little concerned about. The turn into the parking, the the shopping center is a concern of mine.

Now just to give you some context, in 2015, I was mayor. We had a mark March March what am I saying then? Way mark. Marriage? Marriage. Yeah. We had a in we had a a death. Somebody was driving through and whatever, the lights weren't there, and it took us almost five or six years to get lights in there. Now one of the issues was that all the trees dimmed the area. Now I know you all want trees, and I love trees.

I see some great trees, and I can you can talk you know, we start talking about trees. Can see where the city doesn't even put trees up down Grant Road that they took out years ago. But we have to be very careful about the lighting because there are the trees are causing blind spots in people that get will potentially get hurt. And, we're doing something on Sleeper And Grant, and the lighting is not there. We have some great trees, but it's making those intersections done.

So there's always something going on that you want something, but there's you know, we have to pay attention to the unintended consequences. So how can I now this I'll just say no to the motion? And I'll vote no. I can't support it because there's things that I wanna get questioned about. And it sounds like there's more research.

There's more money going into it, and I would like to feel more comfortable about the money that we're spending that is fully funded because I was gone before. I'm just gonna keep talking on with them. And there's projects that were on the dias on agenda when I was on council. And there's four years later, and they're still not funded, they're still not getting done. And the delays and cost escalations hurts the city in the way we budget our money.

So, Ellis, when it comes back, I'd like to see that this thing is fully funded or the funds there because I heard too much stuff. Well, the scope's there. We're getting money, some grant money here at the. And until it's well, here's a question for you. Are you gonna proceed even though it's not fully funded on certain project parts of this project?

Question to me?

Yes, ma'am.

So this project is fully funded with the exception of the RFP at Hollingsworth. And the reason why we're going to be seeking additional funds for that is because it is currently an uncontrolled intersection, and we're dropping in a crosswalk. And so I have great safety reservations about dropping in a crosswalk at an uncontrolled intersection, and the RFP will be

my solution for that.

Could you help

me with that acronym?

Rapid rectangular flashing beacon.

Yes. I would say that. Button? Yeah. So it's

a button you push, and then the flashing lights go off, and that alerts vehicles that there's a pedestrian crossing, and it's a safety measure.

Okay. And that's what's over there at Meritch? Correct. Okay. Okay. But

other than that, we're funded.

Greenlighted. Well, okay. How long is it gonna do to continue the scope? She says that we're gonna revise the scope. So when do you think this project will start construction?

So we are anticipating 2027, after obtaining Caltrans approval because it does require design approval and permits from Caltrans for the

So in 2027, do you think costs will escalate by then? Yes. And so are you putting in a inflation factor into your budget now?

We get we get estimates all along throughout the the phasing of a project. Right? So 30%, 60%, 90%, a 100%. We get updated cost estimates at that time. We will finish design prior to actual construction as as the team said because there is a gap for Caltrans approval, but the direction to the designer will be give us an estimate, you know, at the time that we plan to start construction. And so the intent is to come in well, the intent is for the bids to come in at the estimate and for the estimate to be within the amount of

money that we have.

I would add that as part of the capital improvement project every year, active active projects that are going into construction are reviewed specifically for inflation and cost adjustments. So at that time, staff recommends all of the projects that might need a bump in in in cost to to to get that. At this point, it's important to move forward because we have federal funding attached to this. So regardless of local concerns over an RFP, which might be in the order of a $100,000, we have about $22,400,000.0 in federal funding that that needs to be spent so that we can get the gain the benefit to the community. That that funding is potentially at risk.

Is that money always okay. That's I'll take that offline. But I'm just one of my big pushes from me as per council member is to always start looking at I've seen too many projects delayed and too branded prices going up. And even when you do it, that's a lot of money. So we're just that's a preaching from me. Okay. Let's

do I am coming on your comments.

Please go right ahead.

So I I love that you're journaling reviewing things. And I do agree that I like that we're doing bike lanes, you know, some east, west, and north, south, you know, some important streets. I do think what we should count, see, you know, how well they're being used. I think we should continually count. And I also think that we should make you know, review how we're spending money, and we should I don't think it's the same bucket of funds, but I do think that mass transit and how we fund our shuttle is important. I think those are all important subjects. So I'm glad you brought them up, but I still oh, and I also think it's important what you said, where you put your trees that you don't block visibility and lights. All the things you brought up, I think, are important, but I still stand by the question as I That's fine.

But I thank you for those comments. You're welcome. Are you gonna

say I wanna vote. Okay. You're the chair.

You have to

say all those in favor.

Well, let's the motion, let's review it and make sure that we get the motion correct because it's fair and limited.

It's the it's

the Approve the have

it written down.

Oh, approve the preliminary design. Is that correct? Is there another one? Preliminary design.

Yeah. We're in early early concept design, preliminary design. They're used interchangeably.

Okay. So that means budget could change. They approved the preliminary design for Ilmani Porter improvements project 20 1Dash38 and direct staff to advance project into final design.

Yes.

All in favor, raise

With special consideration on that intersection and on something else

that I said.

Yeah. Whether how to incorporate pedestrians and bicyclists into what was the slip.