By MICHAEL R. ALTHERR
Transportation Board Member
The Los Alamos County Transportation Board met of Dec. 7, 2023, with all members in attendance. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. and the agenda was approved. There were no general public comments and the minutes from the November meeting were approved with a minor amendment.
The first item on the agenda was a discussion of the DP Road Phase II Project presented by Keith Wilson. Mr. Wilson explained that initial project call attracted only a single bid that exceeded the proposed budget. Subsequently the County conducted a value engineering assessment to identify ways to reduce the overall cost of the project. The present budget for the project is $8 million in CIP funding. Presently, the project is expected to be broken into five phases in an effort to minimize the impact on the existing business community. As part of the project, local landowners will have the option of converting their legacy septic systems by connecting to a sewer line.
Several business owners expressed a variety of concerns especially with regard to business access during the project and the proposed plan for parking near the business sites at the completion of the project. Mr. Wilson expressed an interest in listening to community concerns, but any concerns need to be conveyed to him soon. It is expected that the project design will be closed on Dec. 23, 2023, and put out to bid on Jan. 24, 2024. It is anticipated that Phases I-III (those with the greatest impact on the local businesses) will be completed by the end of summer 2024; and the entire project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2024.
The next item on the agenda featured a presentation on a bike sharing program called ROAM. The presentation was made by Michael Kolakowski and Benny Foltz. They described their current experience and ROAM operations in Nebraska and Southwest Iowa including the municipalities of Omaha, Lincoln and Valentine. They suggested that Los Alamos is a community that could readily adopt a bike share program. Current costs to use the system are $12/day for 60 minutes of ride time. There are substantial reductions for monthly and yearly contracts. Infrastructure costs are $60 thousand per station that includes 10 docks with bikes and $15 thousand in operating costs annually.
The following agenda item was an analysis completed to assess the implementation of a continuous pedestrian phase recall at all signalized intersections. The analysis was conducted and presented by Aaron Park, the County’s Traffic Manager. The analysis was completed in response to a request to change all signals to activate a “pedestrian phase” every cycle regardless of the presence of a pedestrian. The bottom line was that activating a pedestrian phase with every signal cycle would significantly increase signal cycle length and traffic delays even in the absence of pedestrians. Several members of the T-board expressed skepticism with regard to making such a change, and there did not appear to be any support for such a change.
The next item presented by Keith Wilson described a pilot project in response to recommendations presented by the Bicycle Working Group. Goals of the Bicycle Working Group include improving bicycle transportation options and increasing rider safety. The pilot project will be conducted at the intersection of West Road and Diamond Drive. The pilot project will consider changing the location of the cross walk, modifications to sidewalks and curbs, green lane road markings and signage, and indicator lights. The Board members were generally supportive of the proposed efforts.
During the Chair’s report, Mr. Heavner encouraged staff to push a bit harder on the e-Bus vendor to get our bus on site and in operation. Several members acknowledged the effectiveness of the County’s recent snow removal efforts. Member North commented that, in response to several citizen’s concerns regarding changing traffic patterns on Canyon Road, he observed what he believed to be speed violations and suggested there might be a need for increased enforcement.
Following a brief staff report the Chair adjourned the meeting.