South Pasadena Considers a Redesign for Monterey Rd.

October 2017 - The South Pasadena City Council will once again discuss design alternatives for Monterey Road at its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday October 18. Council Agenda item #18 will review alternatives, including receiving and filing a lengthy staff report on the history of the roadway, citizen's design committee process, and possible next steps (see agenda packet page 224). 

An important east-west corridor within the community that provides direct access to the City's sole high school, Monterey Road has a posted speed limit of 35mph and 85th percentile speed of 40mph. The latter is an important piece of information as it relates to state law on setting local speed limits. If the City wants to conduct legally defensible radar speed enforcement along Monterey Road the state of California requires that the posted speed limit be aligned with the 85th percentile average speed, in this case 40mph. However updating the posted speed limit to allow for enforcement may have the unintended consequence of making the problem worse, as drivers are likely to exceed the new speed limit by several miles per hour in light traffic conditions.

The stakes for public safety and health are high. The likelihood of serious injury or death in a collision involving a pedestrian and a vehicle increase exponentially as speeds rise from 20 to 40mph (see graphic below). 
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Members of the public may comment on the project and design alternatives via email or in person at the October 18th meeting.

• What: South Pasadena City Council Meeting | Agenda Item 18 | Monterey Rd Redesign
• When: Wednesday October 18th (7pm) - Agenda item 18 likely to be heard around 9pm
• Where: Council Chambers, 1414 Mission St., South Pasadena 91030
  
• Emailed comments should be sent to: cco@southpasadenaca.gov

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February 2015 - After several years of study and deliberation, the City of South Pasadena has released the results of a feasibility study (viewable below) for potential Complete Streets improvements, including wider sidewalks and bicycle lanes, along a stretch of Monterey Road. 

A significant minor arterial in the City, Monterey Road cuts east-west from the border of Los Angeles at the York Ave. bridge to the San Marino city limits in the east. However, only the four-lane western stretch of Monterey Rd (widened by LA County in the 1970s) between Fair Oaks Ave. and Pasadena Ave. are currently being studied for improvements. 

Image courtesy of Minigar and Associates

Key Figures - Existing Conditions for Monterey Rd. Study Area

• 1.1 miles - stretch of Monterey Road between Pasadena and Fair Oaks Avenues being studied
• 4-lanes - (2 in each direction) current roadway configuration along this stretch of Monterey
• 60'-84' - existing roadway width 
• 35 mph - posted speed limit 
• 40 mph - 85th percentile average speed 
• 3000 - peak traffic volume weekday afternoons
• 15,700 - average daily traffic volume 

In 2012, the South Pasadena City Council commissioned a citizen committee to work hand-in-hand with an independent traffic consultant to identify alternatives for a feasible future design of this segment. The working group identified a wide array of potential improvements, including adding bicycle lanes, widening sidewalks, relocating utilities, implementing traffic calming measures, coordinating traffic signal, installing higher visibility crosswalks, adding exclusive left- and right-turn lanes to selected intersections, restricting on-street parking in certain areas, and implementing a 4 to 3 lane roadway reconfiguration. On the latter recommendation the citizen committee was evenly split 4-4.

In 2014 the South Pasadena City Council authorized staff to hire an independent consultant to conduct a roadway reconfiguration impact study to help the City make a more informed decision in selecting a final design. The consultant was asked to study the impact and feasibility of removing a travel lane to accommodate a center turn lane, reduce speeding, and improve safety for people on foot and bike.  

The consultant then compared a "no-build" scenario with two "Complete Streets" alternatives:

Alternative 1

• Add a center turn lane between Fair Oaks Ave. to Pasadena Ave to smooth traffic flow and facilitate left-turns into residential and commercial properties

• Add Class II bicycle lanes in each direction
• Remove a travel lane in each direction 

Alternative 2

• Same configuration as Alternative 1, but limited to the sections of Monterey Rd. west of Orange Grove Ave and east of Meridian Ave.
• Retain 4 auto travel lanes with bike lanes mid-stretch, but remove on-street parking to fit bicycle lane

After reviewing the City's goals to improve walkability, safety and all road users access, as well as the perceived positive and negative impacts of a 4-3 lane roadway reconfiguration, the authors of the study formally recommended that the City move forward with a roadway reconfiguration pilot to determine the true impacts of the change before investing the final improvements. 

Consultant Recommendation - Pilot a trial roadway reconfiguration through minimal re-striping of specific, shortened portions of Monterey to test real world impacts on peak hour vehicular traffic, vehicle speeds, queue lengths, and left-turn and bicycle interactions.

Update (2/12/15)

After receiving verbal comment in support of and against the addition of a center turn lane and bicycle lanes, the 4 members of the South Pasadena Public Works Commission adopted the following motion:

1. Recommend that the City Council not proceed with a roadway reconfiguration on Monterey Road due to conflicts with the Gold Line crossing.
2. Recommend that the City Council proceed with sidewalk improvements on Monterey Road for ADA compliance.
3. Recommend that the City Council emphasize El Centro as the east-west bike lane/route alternative.
4. Recommend that the City Council proceed with efforts to improve traffic safety and traffic flow on Monterey Road, which includes installation of a signal at Orange Grove and left turn pockets at Diamond & Meridian.

 The item will next move to the South Pasadena City Council for further review/consideration.