Title
Approve Cross Alameda Trail Preliminary Design for the Ralph Memorial Appezzato Parkway Section
Body
Joint Transportation Commission and Planning Board Special Meeting
February 25, 2015
Item 5
Action
Approve Cross Alameda Trail Preliminary Design
for the Ralph Memorial Appezzato Parkway Section
Background
Figure 1: Cross Alameda Trail Project
This segment of the Cross Alameda Trail project segment will run parallel to and south of Appezzato Pkwy in the abandoned railroad right-of-way, which is about 70 feet wide. Ultimately, the entire Cross Alameda Trail will extend between the Sea Plane Lagoon in Alameda Point and Tilden Way traveling through the Jean Sweeney Open Space Park, which is a total of almost four miles. The City also plans to widen Appezzato Pkwy to accommodate exclusive bus lanes between Alameda Point and Webster Street.
"Develop strategies to preserve and identify required rights-of-way.
1. Pursue opportunities to utilize the corridor of the former Alameda Belt Line railroad for transit, bicycle and pedestrian transportation."
"Develop a continuous greenway, east of Main Street...The greenway should include a tree belt and paths for walking, running and biking."
Consistent with these abovementioned plans and policies as well as the Bicycle Facility Design Standards <http://alamedaca.gov/sites/default/files/document-files/bikestandardsfinalcompiled.pdf> (2013), Public Works staff submitted a grant application for a multi-use trail project along Appezzato Pkwy between Webster Street and Poggi Street to the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) for Vehicle Registration Fee (VRF)/Measure B Bike/Pedestrian monies in March 2013. In May 2013, the City Council approved the submittal of the grant application and Citywide Developer Fees as the local match. In June 2013, the City received notification from the Alameda CTC on the success of the grant application. In May 2014, the City Council approved using the Federal Transit Administration and Transportation Development Act monies to extend the project limits further west to Main Street. Thus, the current trail project is a 0.8 mile segment along Appezzato Pkwy between Webster Street and Main Street in an abandoned railroad right-of-way.
In September 2014, the Transportation Commission approved a cross section for the Cross Alameda Trail along Appezzato Pkwy, which allots 38 feet for a separate bikeway, walkway, jogging path and rain garden areas (Figure 2). This cross section is an enhancement from the original grant submittal, which included only one multi-use asphalt path and a landscaping area along with a jogging path. The outreach effort that led to the cross section approval included six focus group meetings in July and August 2014 and a community workshop on July 28, 2014.
Figure 2: Cross Section of the Cross Alameda Trail Project:
Appezzato Pkwy Section
Discussion
The vision for the proposed segment includes the following main components:
a) Separate asphalt bicyclist and pedestrian paths;
b) Decomposed granite jogging path;
c) Connector paths to two intersecting streets: Fifth Street and West Campus Drive;
d) Fifth Street bike lane re-striping at Appezzato Pkwy to better align bicyclists and bicycle curb ramps on Appezzato Pkwy at Fifth Street;
e) Wayfinding signs at all the intersecting streets;
f) Bicycle lockers at Webster Street;
g) New trees (a minimum of 65 - 5 gallon) and rain gardens for landscaping and drainage improvements consistent with the Bay-Friendly Landscape Guidelines, the Urban Greening Plan and the City of Alameda Master Tree Plan;
h) Additional drainage improvements, as needed, for urban runoff control; and
i) Intersection improvements to ensure improved mobility and ADA compliance including accessible pedestrian signals, marked crosswalks and curb ramps with truncated domes.
Some features that are being considered include:
a) Seating in key spots (but not adjacent to residential areas);
b) Trash/recycling bin area (adjacent to seating areas);
c) Bike racks (adjacent to seating areas);
d) Trees to be initially watered by polymers or tree bags - no irrigation, and to be preferably additional coast live oaks or other native, drought resistant trees;
e) Existing coast live oak trees to be protected include three specimens west of Third Street, which are greater than 10 inches diameter at breast height;
f) Gateway plaza area on Webster Street at Appezzato Pkwy.;
g) Gate(s) connecting adjacent Summerhouse apartment complex and the trail;
h) Barrier by the schools on Third Street and Alameda Boys and Girls Club to ensure separation of adjacent motorists from the bike/pedestrian path;
i) Path designs that lead to marked crosswalks at existing signalized intersections.
Since the Transportation Commission's approval of the cross section in September 2014, Public Works staff hired engineering and design consultants - BKF Engineers and Placeworks in December. In February 2015, the team showed preliminary design concepts at a community workshop and to the Webster Street Business Association design committee, Bike Walk Alameda, Alameda Housing Authority, Summerhouse Apartments, Alameda Unified School District and their school tenants - Nea and the Alameda Community Learning Center - along with the Alameda Boys and Girls Club. Staff distributed outreach materials on the project via a press release, project web page, email list servs and neighborhood barricades. The compiled comments from the outreach meetings are shown in Exhibit 1, and reveal a general consensus in support of the preliminary design. The project team has begun evaluating these comments for potential inclusion into the project based on the implementation parameters, and already has begun incorporating them into the preliminary design.
The preliminary design is shown in Exhibit 2 as the PowerPoint presented at this joint meeting. This preliminary design represents the vision for the Cross Alameda Trail along Appezzato Pkwy. To implement this vision, the consultant team will estimate the costs of the desired trail features, and then will prioritize the features that will be able to be funded. The highest priority features are the ones that were in the original grant application for a multi-use path, jogging path and landscaping area. Besides cost concerns, other challenges of the trail project are as follows:
a) A sewer improvement project in the southern part of the railroad right-of-way is being timed before the trail project.
b) The contaminated soil needs to be mitigated before construction.
c) The federal monies need to be expended by December 2015.
The project schedule is as follows:
1) February 25, 2015: Request the Transportation Commission and Planning Board to approve the preliminary design;
2) Spring 2015: Request City Council to proceed with a construction bid process;
3) Summer 2015: Request City Council to award the construction contractor;
4) August 2015: Construction begins.
5) December 2015: Construction ends, which is the deadline to expend the federal monies.
Budget Considerations/Fiscal Impact
The budget for the design and construction of the Appezzato Pkwy section of the Cross Alameda Trail between Main Street and Webster Street totals almost $1.8 million. The project will be paid for by a Vehicle Registration Fee (VRF)/Measure B Bike/Pedestrian grant totaling $793,000, Federal Transit Administration totaling $787,440, Citywide Developer Fees totaling $198,000, Transportation Development Act totaling $20,000 and the Bay Area Air Management District totaling $30,000.
Environmental Review
In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), this project is Categorically Exempt under the CEQA Guidelines Section 15301(c) - Existing Facilities and 15304(b) - Minor Alterations to Land and 15304(h). In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, this project is a Categorical Exclusion under 23 Code of Federal Regulations 771.117(c): activity (c)(3) - Construction of bicycle and pedestrian lanes, paths and facilities.
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Transportation Commission and the Planning Board review and approve the preliminary design.
Respectfully submitted,
Gail Payne, Transportation Coordinator
Exhibits:
1. Community Comments on Preliminary Design (February 2015)
2. PowerPoint Presentation for the Joint Transportation Commission / Planning Board Meeting on February 25, 2015