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Home My WebLink About04-17-19 City Administration Committee Agenda<HV To: Common Council From: Eric Hathaway, Transportation Engineer Date: April 3, 2019 Re: Summer Intern Request Tim Logue (Director of Engineering), Kent Johnson (Assistant Transportation Engineer) and I recently interviewed an exceptional Civil Engineering Student from Cornell named Andrew Nkubito. Our intention was to hire Andrew as a work-study student for the summer to assist with the Vision Zero effort and other project work. Andrew is originally from Kigali, Rwanda. His interest in Civil Engineering started several years ago when he read the strategic plan for Kigali and thought he could best serve his country by gaining the skills to one day be part of the engineering team that would turn that plan into reality. Unfortunately, after our interview with Andrew, it was discovered that Andrew’s eligibility is for a work-study program that does not allow for summer work. Without the financial assistance that Cornell offers their work-study students, we do not have the budget to hire Andrew for the summer. I am writing to request that Common Council use part of its discretionary budget to hire Andrew for a summer internship for a total of $6,250, with remaining $750 to be contributed by the Engineering Department. I firmly believe that Andrew’s skills will be a great help to the city and will equip Andrew to work towards his professional goals. Andrew’s minor in Computer Science will be of great value as we use advanced analytics techniques to evaluate trends in our crash history. Along with Cornell professors in the Planning, Public Health and Human Ecology Departments, we are applying for an “Engaged Cornell” grant that would enable us to fund students like Andrew for the next several years through a $40,000 grant. However, in the meanwhile, having Andrew work with us this summer would help to lay the groundwork for this future grant that would require no match from the City of Ithaca. Thank you for your consideration of this request. To: Common Council From: Eric Hathaway, Transportation Engineer Date: April 3, 2019 Re: Arterial Swap with NYSDOT - Update In August of 2018, I received your support to request a jurisdictional realignment through which the City of Ithaca would give NYSDOT our right of way on Route 13 (essentially the Elmira Road segment) in exchange for the segments of Route 79 that the State owns in the central business district (Green and Seneca Streets, from the Tuning Fork west to Meadow Street). I have attached those previous materials for your use. Based on NYSDOT’s feedback, I made some minor modifications to the previous request to resubmit for their consideration. Per the attached map, we are now requesting that the City take over the blocks of W Green Street and W Seneca Street between Fulton Street and Meadow Street, so as to create continuous ownership of these roadways within the City. I would also now like to request that the City take over ownership of the traffic signals at the intersections of Taughannock Boulevard (SR 89) with State Street and Seneca Street (SR 79), as the City already owns these intersections, per the attached map. If you agree with these recommendations, I ask that you endorse the attached resolution so that I can reengage with NYSDOT on this issue. 999999999999 999999999999 Page 1 of 4 A comparison of arterials under consideration for exchange with NYSDOT Physical Inventory City-owned portion of Elmira Road (Route 13/34/96) Length = 4,500 feet or 0.85 centerline miles. At 60 ft wide = 270,000 s.f. or 30,000 s.y. Two (2) lanes in each direction plus two-way center turn lane. 5 lanes over 4,500 feet = 22,500 lane feet or approximately 4.25 lane miles A 2011 traffic count on Elmira Road showed an AADT = 17,000. Four (4) traffic signals: Home Depot (ownership never transferred to City of Ithaca) Spencer Road Commercial Avenue Wal-Mart/Friendly’s (ownership never transferred to City of Ithaca) One (1) non-signalized intersection at Southwest Park Drive. Culvert for stream - Friendly’s/Honda to Wal-Mart parcel Culvert for creek at U-Haul (343 Elmira Rd)/Midas (347 Elmira Rd) Culvert at 371 Elmira Rd? Pedestrian bridge over Route 13 at City/Town line. State-owned portion of Green and Seneca streets (Route 79) From, and including, Tuning Fork to Meadow Street Length = 8,500 feet or 1.61 centerline miles. At 40 ft wide = 340,000 s.f. or 37,778 s.y. Two (2) lanes in each direction. Very short sections of 3 lanes in Tuning Fork. 4 lanes over 8,500 feet = 34,000 lane feet or approximately 6.45 lane miles A 2010 traffic count on Green Street showed an AADT = 7,196 and for Seneca Street showed an AADT = 8,309. Total AADT = 15,505. 99999999999 Page 2 of 4 Nine (9) traffic signals: Green and Plain streets (flash mode/IFD pre-empt) Green and Albany streets Green and Cayuga streets Green and Tioga Tuning Fork system Seneca and Aurora Seneca and Tioga Seneca and Cayuga Seneca and Albany Six (6) non-signalized intersections: Green and Corn Green and Fayette Green and Geneva Seneca and Geneva Seneca and Plain Seneca and Corn There are no bridges or culverts in these segments. Financial considerations for swap CHIPs funding For city, the swap yields 0.76 more centerline miles (1.12% of our existing 67.84 centerline miles) and 2.2 more lane miles (1.63% of our existing 134.88 lane miles) In 2017, the City of Ithaca received $438,481 in CHIPs funding. The City would likely receive about $4,300-$6,500 per year more with additional centerline and lane miles. For example, a 1% increase in CHIPs funding over our 2017 funding would be $4,300 per year; a 1.5% increase in CHIPs funding would be $6,500 per year. CHIPs funding has increased by $139,000 since 2007, or 26 percent. Arterial Maintenance & Repair Agreement Assuming NYSDOT wanted the City of Ithaca to enter into a maintenance agreement for Elmira Road and the square yards for Seneca and Green streets were deleted from the agreement: Page 3 of 4 Net 7,778 s.y., reduction @ $0.85/sy/yr = $6,611 less per year However, we did change the terms of the agreement in regard to traffic signals. Each signal in the agreement is worth 195 sy x $0.85/sy = $165.75/yr. In the exchange, there is a net decrease of seven (7) signals (the two un-licensed signals can be licensed and annual maintenance payments would be made by the developer), so this would add $1,160.25 back into the agreement. So the total annual reduction in arterial maintenance payments would be $5,450.75. Other considerations City completed project to mill and pave Elmira Road for approx. $280,000 in 2007. The two city-owned signals (Commercial Ave & Spencer Rd) are in need of replacement at a cost of approx. $300,000. The other two signals have not been licensed yet. 8 of the 9 state-owned signals on Green & Seneca were built in 1988. The 9th signal (the Tuning Fork) was built in 2006. Though the poles and mast arms may last another 10 to 15 years, the signal controllers and cabinet would need to be replaced for this swap. NYSDOT would likely want (and we do not want) their 2070 equipment; the City would want to replace with NEMA equipment. The value of this trade out is on the order of $30,000 per signal, so approximately $270,000 in total. NYSDOT has completed a project to mill & pave Green & Seneca streets between the Tuning Fork and Meadow Street in 2012. This work is valued at approximately $400,000. Summary of Annual Costs + for City - for City Annual CHIPS $4,300 Annual Arterial Maintenance - $5,450 Net Annual Change = approximately - $1,150 By this accounting, the exchange is basically a fair trade for annual costs. Page 4 of 4 Capital Cost Comparison For planning purposes, NYSDOT uses a figure of $1.68M/lane mile to estimate the cost for road reconstruction projects. This is for an urban section with curb, closed drainage, sidewalks and utilities. The construction costs for urban traffic signals are on the order of $100,000. Using these figures the capital value of these roadways would be: Elmira Road = $7,340,000 Green & Seneca Street = $11,736,000 For preventative maintenance, NYSDOT uses $36,000/lane mile for a vender placed pavement type treatment and a $70,000/lane mile cost for a one course mill and pave. Adding one of each of these over a 40 year life adds: Elmira Road = $480,000 Green & Seneca Street = $683,700 For a total cost of: Elmira Road = $7,790,500 Green & Seneca Street = $12,419,700 A Capital Recovery Factor uses a discount rate (time value of money) and a useful life estimate to determine an annual amount that would be needed to replace the asset. For this analysis, it is assumed that the useful life of the pavement is 40 years. Using a 7% discount rate, the annual “cost” to own the roads would be about $580,000 for Elmira Road and $930,000 for Green/Seneca. Using a 4.5% discount rate (a little closer to our cost to borrow money), the annual “costs” would be about $425,000 for Elmira Road and $675,000 for Green/Seneca. In the former case, the difference is $350,000; in the latter, it is $250,000. In the long run, owning Green & Seneca streets has a larger capital cost. EAH 7/18/2018 999999999999 Portion of NYS Route 79 Owned by the State of New YorkUnder Consideration for Exchange with City of IthacaFrom Fulton Street to and including the Tuning ForkApproximate Length of ArterialUnder Consideration is 9,600 feetTuning ForkCommons Portion of NYS Route 13/34/96Owned by the City of IthacaApproximate Length of City of Ithaca ROW onRoute 13 is 5,200 feetApproximate Limit ofCity of Ithaca Maintenance Jurisdiction (to South) and NYSDOT Maintenance Jurisdiction (to North) To: Common Council From: Eric Hathaway, Transportation Engineer Date: April 3, 2019 Re: Transportation Innovations Grant Proposal I have identified a grant available through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) that I believe will enable the City to vastly improve traffic signal operations through the use of advanced detection equipment and crowd-sourced travel information. The grant is offered through their Accelerated Innovation Demonstration Program. The grant requires a 20 percent match from the local sponsor, which in this case I estimate to be $150,000. Signal Detection Equipment The existing signal system in the City of Ithaca is primarily a pre-timed system, meaning that traffic signals do not respond to traffic demand. I have found this to be inefficient, especially during off-peak times when demand on main and side streets is more equally balanced and unpredictable than during peak times. By adding advanced detection equipment to traffic signals primarily in the urban core, the traffic signals would be able to respond to demand changes from pedestrians, bicycles and automobiles. I believe this change would improve safety and efficiency and significantly reduce idling. Detection equipment is now sophisticated enough to differentiate bicycles from automobiles and gives practitioners the opportunity to program traffic signals to respond appropriately to each mode. The detection equipment would also automatically count all modes of users to give us an accurate picture of mode share and how it varies throughout the year. In coordination with a funded 2019 capital project that will allow the City traffic signals to communicate with each other, this technology would allow us to know, in real time, when a traffic signal loses power, or malfunctions. This knowledge would greatly reduce response times to these potential safety threats. In addition, by reacting to changes in pedestrian, bicycle and automobile demand, I anticipate that delay for all of these modes will be significantly reduced. Crowd-Sourced Traffic Data It is now possible to analyze a robust set of transportation data for all modes by collecting crowd-sourced data. This data includes travel time and speed, volume of traffic, as well as origin-destination information. I propose that we would invest in one year of data from one of several companies that offer this service. This would allow the City to make more informed planning and engineering decisions. Not only will this give us a better sense of seasonal variation in traffic conditions through the City, but will provide information previously impossible to decipher. For instance, this data can tell us what percentage of traffic entering the City on Route 13 is traveling though, versus traveling to points in downtown or other neighborhoods. It can also help us to quantify concerns that we hear from neighborhoods about cut-through traffic. It would allow us to analyze long-term speed evaluations at any time of year, which our existing equipment cannot do. Conclusion By investing $150,000, the City can receive $700,000 in traffic signal equipment and strategic data to inform our future decisions. Ithaca Babe Ruth, Inc. To: City Administration Committee From: Tim Logue, Director of Engineering Johnathan Licitra, Sidewalk Program Manager Date: April 3, 2019 Re: Request to an Engineering Technician to the Personnel Roster We have hired a seasonal Engineering Technician each year for the past five years of the Sidewalk Improvement District (SID) program, primarily focused on sidewalk inspections, investigating complaints, and inspecting sidewalk repair and construction. We have been lucky enough to have a returning seasonal employee a couple times, but rehiring and training a new person is an otherwise time-consuming process. As our work has grown, particularly with recent grant award successes such as Hector Street and South Aurora Street, we have come to the conclusion that there is plenty of work to do through the winter and it would be appropriate to convert the seasonal position to a permanent rostered position. We believe there are a number of reasons to create a permeant position: 1. Reduces the need for out-of-house costs associated with small topographic surveys and engineering drafting for sidewalk replacement or new construction 2. Having the same person year after year will increase familiarity with City of Ithaca and NYS DOT construction standards and DPW personnel – better coordination across DPW divisions 3. Efficiency in preserving institutional knowledge and procedures. 4. Hiring an out-of-house consultant for construction inspection is very expensive (on the order of $75,000 for 6 months ), so it makes sense for us to do this in-house. Having the person on the roster eliminates the “winter furlough” and provides better continuity with planning and budgeting, designing, and bidding, and then heading into construction season. Funding for this position has been budgeted within the 2019 SID Work Plan under the Construction Inspection/Engineering Technician line item. No additional funding is needed to bring this position on full-time. Jeanne Grace Shopping Cart Ordinance Update Residents (particularly downtown) have identiﬁed abandoned shopping carts as a blight to neighborhood aesthetics, a hazard to the public, and an obstruction to pedestrian and vehicular trafﬁc. City staff ﬁnds the current ordinance time-consuming and ineffective. We have proposed ordinances changes and received initial feedback from retailers. Council would like a well- researched and well-vetted recommendation for updates to the existing ordinance. - Gather feedback from retailers on the proposed ordinance change - Gather feedback from people most likely to take shopping carts and/or the organizations that work with them - Propose a change in legislation (likely based off draft already presented to City Administration) - Propose ways to mitigate the impact on populations who need ways to transport their groceries Jeanne Grace, the city forester, and her crew are responsible for picking up abandoned shopping carts when they’re unable to perform other work. Jeanne can provide insight into the shortcomings and issues with the current shopping cart ordinance and what her preferred solutions would be. Alderperson Nguyen presented a draft of a new shopping cart ordinance to the City Administration Committee, sent letters summarizing the changes to retailers known to have signiﬁcant shopping cart inventories, and has feedback from two of those retailers. The Twitter account @ithacascenery documents abandoned shopping carts around the city. Ithaca Housing Authority operates Titus Towers, which houses one of the largest collections of shopping carts in Ithaca outside of a retailer. Their residents have a clear need for ways to transport their groceries. 06/2019 07/2019 08/2019 08/2019