Updates...
5/31/2006 - this material was presented by Dan Baker to Council in a Petition from the Floor requesting consideration of Safety issues of proposed design.
6/20/2006 - Councilor Heldmeyer put the issue on Public Safety Comm. agenda for discussion. In a nutshell, the committee voted to request Staff to supply analysis and recommendation at the July 18th meeting of PSC regarding the current design compared to configuring the u-turn protected by the signalized intersection at Zia.
7/18/2006 - PSC votes to support consideration of the alternate u-turn location. Since PSC is an advisory body, they have asked City Staff to bring the issue up with CityManager to decide how to proceed.
7/25/2006 - City Staff met with City Manager and decided to recommend that Council consider ammending the project traffic plan to design the u-turns to occur at Zia rather than the current design....
9/13/2006 City Council voted to approve alternate of the offsite traffic plan to move u-turning traffic from the proposed new median cut to the intersection at Zia, where it can be controlled and protected by the turn arrow. Many thanks to all of you who contacted Councilors, thanks to Councilors for doing the right thing to take action and mitigate safety concerns by responding to Public Safety Committee request for re-consideration, and special thanks to Councilor Heldmeyer for putting the issue before the PSC committee after the period for appeal on a Planning Approval had passed as well as a special thanks to Chapman Builders for their willingness to accept a design change this late in the game.
News - Plazas at Pecos Traffic Plan, Santa Fe
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Editorial by Dan Baker, 5/24/2006, updated as noted. This article is to alert you all about the proposed Traffic Plan for Plazas at Pecos on Old Pecos Trail in Santa Fe, and how it will affect motorists and cyclists. The development and offsite plans have made it through the Planning Process, and the subdivision itself is under construction... so the only method we have to make a last ditch effort to modify the planned off-site hazards that will be introduced to Old Pecos Trail is by Petition from the Floor in a regular session of the City Council, and by phone, letter, and email communication with Councilors and Mayor Coss. What's the problem?! The planned access to the new 'Plazas at Pecos' subdivision includes a new uncontrolled U-turn through the median between Zia and St. Mikes for vehicles exiting the subdivision and wanting to head north on Old Pecos or West on St. Mikes. This manuver will require vehicles to merge across two lanes of Southbound traffic on Old Pecos, wait in a left u-turn 'bay', and pull a u-turn in the face of northbound traffic on Old Pecos Trail. Probably everyone can visualize the added risk to motorists attempting this in the face of morning rush traffic... but for cyclists, the added impact is that the length of the current right-turn lane northbound bearing right onto Old Pecos toward downtown will be doubled in length to allow for the u-turning vehicles. This will result in cyclists sandwiched between two lanes of traffic moving at 45+ mph for almost 1000 feet. Ironic that coincident with the dedication of Old Pecos Trail as part of official State Bike Route #9, these planned development changes will introduce huge additional safety risks to cyclists using the route!
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click on image to enlarge...
Location - Old Pecos trail between Zia and St.Mikes 
Traffic plan for access and u-turn 
Development Site Plan |
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What's the alternative?! At this stage of the game, the only real alternative would be to disallow the uncontrolled U-turn through the median, and upgrade the Old Pecos/Zia intersection to accomodate u-turns. This would probably requiring an extension of the left-turn bay to allow for a few more vehicles, maybe changing the turn signal trigger to a video/demand system, and changing the timing of the left-turn arrow based on demand. The positive result would be that the extension of the northbound right-turn lane of Old Pecos would not be required, and u-turning vehicles would not have to face northbound traffic without protection... saving a lot of construction headache, money and preventing adding to the length of 'the Gauntlet' for bikes. What did we do about it?! (updated 9/14/2006) We called, wrote, emailed, and faxed Councilors and Mayor Coss requesting that the planned uncontrolled u-turn for Plazas at Pecos be disallowed in favor improvements to accomodate u-turns at Zia. Guess what, it worked!
I am hoping that with faith in the system and a growing grassroots organization willing to be vocal and get involved, that we can continue to encourage much needed changes, improvements, a more bike-friendly city.
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