The San Marino City Council recently passed a motion 3-1 to accept the revised Citywide Traffic Circulation Study, prepared by a consultant services company and the Traffic Task Force, which included recommendations to improve traffic safety throughout the city.
Parks and Public Works Director Amber Shah, who also serves as city engineer, shared the locations where potential intersection improvements are warranted and staff believe more review is necessary. There were 30 intersections that were analyzed during the study.
The intersections that staff plans to evaluate more thoroughly include San Marino Avenue and Huntington Drive, Los Robles Avenue and Mission Street, and Sierra Madre Boulevard and Robles Avenue. They also will begin to implement the “quick fix” considerations offered in the report.
“I think those [‘quick fix’] recommendations they made are all worthwhile and are consistent with the things we would need to do to help improve traffic safety citywide,” Shah said.
At the San Marino Avenue and Huntington Drive intersection, the study identified concerns over pedestrian crossing times, with walkers needing up to 64 seconds to cross Huntington Drive. Additionally, two southbound lanes of San Marino Avenue on the north side of Huntington Drive merge within a few hundred feet into one southbound lane south of Huntington Drive, creating congestion and potential for collisions.
To resolve this, the consultancy group Iteris suggested the city consider the construction of curb extensions to reduce pedestrian crossing distances across Huntington Drive. Additional measures could include reducing through-lanes and adding turn-only lanes.
At Los Robles Avenue and Mission Street, the study found that the intersection is skewed, resulting in longer crosswalks and pedestrian crossing times than if the streets intersected at a 90‐degree angle. According to Iteris, the north leg crosswalk is about 80 feet long and the west leg crosswalk is about 88 feet long. The tight angle formed by the two crosswalks also restricts traffic flow.
The proposed solution involves the construction of curb extensions at the northwest corner of the intersection to reduce pedestrian crossing distances. Iteris also suggested adding curb extensions to the northeast and southeast corners of Los Robles Avenue and Mission Street.
Meanwhile, the Sierra Madre Boulevard and Robles Avenue intersection also was found to be problematic, with pedestrian crossing deemed “challenging with high traffic volume and no marked crosswalk” in this location. Robles Avenue is the east/west road on the northside of San Marino High School and is used to reach the school from the west side of Sierra Madre Boulevard.
To counter this, Iteris proposed the installation of marked crosswalk (with no signal) across Sierra Madre Boulevard. As part of the improvement, the study recommended that a rectangular rapid-flashing beacon control with a pedestrian push‐button be installed along with curb extensions for enhanced visibility of pedestrians.
The Traffic Task Force weighed in on these recommendations in the report, supporting some, but disagreeing with others. City staff will investigate each intersection and potential avenues for improvements to ensure that “we’ve fully considered the full scope of that analysis,” Shah explained.
Iteris also included “quick fixes,” or “best practices,” as Shah referred to them. The solutions set forth by the consultants were welcomed by staff. Some of these include the implementation of automated pedestrian safety lights that will not be enacted until all cars clear the intersection, and installing new, reflective traffic signal backplates that are more visible.
Separate from the report by Iteris and the Traffic Task Force, staff is working on the development of a Residential Streets Traffic Management Policy as part of the Citywide Traffic Improvements Priority Initiative for 2023-24. Staff will take the recommendations in this section of the report into consideration for potential inclusion in the policy.
The 2023-24 approved budget includes $75,000 for the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program. Staff will use this budget to begin implementation of the “quick fix” items. Additional funding required to complete the “quick fix” items, and for the analysis of the potential intersection improvements will be requested as part of the 2024-25 budget process.
During the public comment section of the meeting, Public Safety Commission Chair Al Boegh took the microphone as a private citizen.
“I do want to compliment director Shah on her efforts, and I’m glad to see we have finally reached this point after four years. … Let’s see if we can make San Marino safer.”
First published in the Feb. 29 issue of the San Marino Tribune
