Napa, American Canyon move to update traffic calming programs

Two Napa County cities are making moves to ease the ability of local residents to identify traffic problems in their neighborhoods and get them fixed.

Napa and American Canyon this month are moving to adopt updates to their traffic calming programs, established in 2005 and 2011 respectively.

The American Canyon City Council on May 7 voted unanimously to approve an update. And on Tuesday the Napa City Council is slated to finalize its own update.

One means of reducing speeding cars and traffic cutting through neighborhoods, as well as improving safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, are engineered solutions known as traffic calming measures. They include speed cushions and traffic circles, for example.

Local traffic calming programs seek to give residents the tools to both identify traffic problems and then work toward an appropriate solution with the city.

Ashley Takushi, a traffic engineer with consultant Fehr & Peers explained at the May 7 American Canyon council meeting that the city’s update builds upon the current petition-based system, and adds:

• Linkages to plans and programs that have come into effect since the initial program began, including the Napa Valley Transportation Authority’s Vision Zero Plan, along with the city’s complete streets safety assessment and local roadway safety plan.

• A more streamlined, four-step process.

• A toolbox of traffic calming measures categorized by functional classification, essentially a menu of options.

• How to fund various projects via state and federal grant funding sources.

Steven Brown, vice president of Fehr & Peers, said at the meeting the changes don’t represent a huge shift from what’s been done previously in the city. But it does clean up that process, he said, and puts the traffic calming document in alignment with recent planning efforts.

The upcoming Napa update will represent a substantial shift from the city’s 2005 guidelines, given that those were designed as a “self-help program,” according to city transportation planner Lorien Clark.

That means most of the onus of having a project happen has been on local residents. Julie Lucido, Napa’s public works director, has previously said the 2005 guidelines resulted in very few projects.

But the new guidelines will shift much of the burden to the city — including on “data collection, design, funding, construction and maintenance,” according to Clark. And the city has budgeted $200,000 as initial funding to implement the program and get started on projects.

One area of change with both cities’ updates is the level of support needed from residents of an area where a traffic calming measure would go.

Napa’s 2005 plan requires at least 80% support, via signatures, from the surrounding neighborhood for all requests. The new draft proposes a 20% level from residents residing within 500 feet of the location where the measure would go for initial support, with that requirement rising up to 60% support for more complex measures, such as a single lane roundabout.

American Canyon’s 2011 program requires signatures from at least 66% of affected property owners to move toward implementing a traffic calming request. But the new plan takes that requirement down to 30% of area residents or business owners.

American Canyon council member Mark Joseph said the 30% response rate threshold seems low, and he suggested a rate closer to 50%.

Brown said communities are requiring a range of response rates, anywhere from 25-50%. But he said it’s tough to get the needed number of responses to get a project going when the threshold is placed at that higher range.

“If you can get more, great, and every vote would be counted,” Brown said. “It’s just what we found with that 50% bar is, it was really tough to get that level of response.”

You can reach Staff Writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or edward.booth@pressdemocrat.com.