Title
Resolution Regarding Next Steps for Pedestrian Safety Improvements at Fuller Road Crosswalk
Body
Whereas, A December 2016 Road Safety Audit (RSA) conducted by City Staff identified several potential near term, mid-term and long term improvements at the Fuller Road crosswalk;
Whereas, The December 2016 RSA identified potentially re-locating the Fuller Road crosswalk from its current location at the Gallup Park entrance as a long-term recommendation;
Whereas, Subsequent to that December 2016 RSA, two new streetlights and an RRFB were installed at the crosswalk and Huron HS parents and students have indicated the RRFB and streetlights have improved safety at the crosswalk;
Whereas, Several of the initially-identified improvement actions have not been implemented including bumpouts and a refuge island that were listed as priority recommendations by A2SafeTransport as well as gateway treatments, rumble strips, a raised crossing, and potentially even road re-design;
Whereas, A follow-up RSA was conducted by the City October 25, 2018 which identified several potential improvement actions including widening the road and installing a refuge island, installing additional gateway treatments, and/or relocating the existing crosswalk to the west;
Whereas, Since the recommendation of re-locating the crosswalk was initially raised by City staff, Huron HS parents and students have consistently expressed the concern that after the crosswalk is moved to the west, students coming from Gallup will continue to cross at the Gallup entrance where a crosswalk no longer exists resulting in a less safe, not more safe environment;
Whereas, In the cover memo to Resolution No. 1 re-locating the Fuller crosswalk, the City acknowledged the safety risk, stating “feedback from these meetings stressed the need to direct pedestrians to the new crosswalk so that the old crossing location will not be used.”;
Whereas, A Road Safety Audit is a useful tool, but does not address behaviors and is not a traffic engineering study;
Whereas, The cover memo to Resolution No. 1 also acknowledged that “The meetings also identified issues such as road alignment that could warrant continued future study and could enhance safety, but these issues are not part of the current project.”;
Whereas, City council believes there are legitimate open questions regarding the safety of re-locating the crosswalk including the probability of immediate behavior changes and regarding the relative benefit of re-locating the crosswalk vis-à-vis other improvement actions possible at the existing location (e.g. bumpouts, refuge island, additional gateway treatments, raised crosswalk etc); and
RESOLVED, That City Council defers any further action on potentially re-locating the Fuller Road crosswalk;
RESOLVED, That City Council directs the City Administrator to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all of the possible pedestrian safety improvements at the existing Fuller crosswalk (additional gateway treatments, widening the road and installing a refuge island, raised crossing, road re-design etc) vis-à-vis re-locating the crosswalk including the pros/cons and likely cost of each, the projected benefit and necessary behavioral changes (if any) required to achieve the desired outcomes;
RESOLVED, That the City Administrator deliver to Council within 180 days a report of the results of the evaluation and recommendations including timing, cost, and funding source.
Sponsored by: Councilmember Lumm
As Amended and Approved by Ann Arbor City Council on December 3, 2018.