Title
Receive an Update on Caltrans' State Route 61 Otis Drive/Doolittle Drive/Broadway Preventative Maintenance Project and Future Project for Otis Drive from Broadway to the Bay Farm Island Bridge (Discussion)
Body
To: Honorable Chair and Members of the Transportation Commission
From: Lisa Foster, Secretary to the Transportation Commission
Allen Tai, Planning, Building, and Transportation Director
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
With this agenda item, Caltrans staff will provide an update on their State Route 61 Otis Drive/Doolittle Drive/Broadway Capital Preventative Maintenance (CAPM) Project, as well as plans for studying a future traffic calming project on Otis Dr from Broadway to the Bay Farm Island Bridge.
This staff report provides background information about Otis Drive and actions involving the City of Alameda (City) staff to date. As of the writing of this staff report, City staff have not seen the Caltrans presentation, so it is not summarized here.
BACKGROUND
Caltrans manages select streets in Alameda as part of State Route 61, including Otis Drive from the Bay Farm Island Bridge to Broadway. This is a 0.6-mile residential-fronting corridor classified as a Neighborhood Connector, Transit Route, and Truck Route in the City of Alameda Street Classifications. About 23% of this segment fronts Krusi Park, which connects to Otis Elementary School and is home to school and recreational programs.
Otis Drive has a high Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) volume at 43,000 vehicles per day, per counts at Bay Farm Bridge and at Otis Drive/Broadway. This street is a four-lane roadway with uncontrolled crossings at key pedestrian and bicyclist access points. The Alameda Active Transportation Plan includes Neighborhood Greenway connections at Otis Drive/Mound Street and Otis Drive/Bayview Drive in the 2030 Low-Stress Bikeway Backbone Network (Exhibit 1).
The City of Alameda Vision Zero Action Plan identifies this stretch of road as a High Injury Corridor, largely due to pedestrian-involved collisions as well as motor vehicle collisions. The Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) shows this corridor in its 2024 Active Transportation High Injury Network as well as its 2024 Proactive Safety Network. The Proactive Safety Network identifies roadways with risk factors associated with injury and fatal collisions. Information about factors evaluated is available in Exhibit 2.
DISCUSSION
CAPM Project on Otis Drive: Road Safety Considerations Timeline
• 2020: The City requested that Caltrans evaluate a road diet on Otis Drive as part of its upcoming CAPM project, to improve safety for people walking and bicycling. A letter from the Mayor recommended additional funding for sea level adaptation, bikeways, and roundabouts. Also in 2020, the City repaved Otis Dr from Park St to Broadway and added painted corner bulbouts and several high visibility crosswalks.
• 2022-2023: Caltrans studied a road diet that included the signalized intersections on either end of this corridor segment (Broadway and Fernside Blvd), as well as bike lanes. They found that the traffic volumes for this design were above Federal Highway Administration recommendations for road diets, and there would likely be significant diversions to other streets and parking loss. Their report noted that implementing a road diet between these two intersections (but keeping the signalized intersections in their current configuration) could potentially serve existing motor vehicle volumes, pending further study.
• Summer 2024: Caltrans presented this project to the Transportation Commission, receiving extensive written public comment focusing on safety concerns.
• Fall 2024: City staff provided Caltrans with markups and comments on their four-lane design, including requests for pedestrian median islands at Mound Street and Versailles Avenue with the planned RRFB’s, a widened sidewalk east of Bayview Drive to connect that upcoming Neighborhood Greenway with the Bay Farm Island Bicycle Bridge, and bulbouts at Bayview Dr and Otis Dr. City staff also recommended hybrid road diet designs for further study, which could potentially increase safety without causing substantial auto diversion, such a road diet without bike lanes that excludes the signalized intersections.
• Winter 2024/2025: Caltrans submitted a proposal to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) for more funding to allow further study of road diet options, but CTC staff declined to move the request forward. In response, Caltrans began considering studying a potential separate, future traffic calming project.
• Spring 2025: Caltrans determined that the City-requested pedestrian median islands at Mound Street and Versailles Avenue would not accommodate turning movements for a 60’ truck design vehicle, and that expanding the sidewalk east of Bayview Drive would require acquiring additional right of way and tree removal, and would therefore be outside the scope of a CAPM project. City staff recommended updated design concepts to accommodate trucks and allow for pathway expansion into the existing roadway, and noted design flexibility allowed in the 2021 Caltrans Complete Streets Policy.
Caltrans will provide a presentation about the CAPM and a planned future traffic calming project.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact to the City for this Caltrans presentation.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
Otis Drive is identified as a High Injury Corridor in the Vision Zero Action Plan. Between Bay Farm Bridge and Broadway, Otis Drive is Tier 2 for all modes, Tier 2 for pedestrians, and Tier 3 for people in motor vehicles.
Otis Drive is designated as a Neighborhood Connector Street, Transit Route, and Truck Route in the Street Classifications map of the General Plan as well as the Active Transportation Plan Pedestrian Street Types. Doolittle Drive is a Gateway Street.
The Active Transportation Plan’s 2030 Infrastructure Plan and 2030 Low-Stress Bikeway Backbone Network include Neighborhood Greenway connections at Otis Drive/Mound Street and Otis Drive/Bayview Drive.
The Active Transportation Plan’s Bikeway Vision Network also proposes a regular striped bike lane on this section of Otis Drive and a separated bike lane on Doolittle Drive. However, neither is included in the Active Transportation Plan 2030 Infrastructure Plan and is not prioritized for near-term implementation.
RECOMMENDATION
Receive an update on Caltrans' State Route 61 Otis Drive/Doolittle Drive/Broadway Preventative Maintenance Project and future project for Otis Drive from Broadway to the Bay Farm Island Bridge.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Foster, Transportation Planning Manager
Exhibits:
1. City of Alameda Active Transportation Plan 2030 Low-Stress Backbone Bikeway Network
2. Alameda CTC High-Injury Network & Proactive Safety Network Report