Meeting_Body
PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
JANUARY 20, 2021
Subject
SUBJECT: DORAN STREET CROSSING GRADE SEPARATION
Action
ACTION: APPROVE RECOMMENDATIONS
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
AUTHORIZE the Chief Executive Officer to:
A. EXECUTE Modification No. 12 to Contract No. PS2415-3046 with HNTB Corporation to provide professional services in order to complete final design for the Doran Street Crossing Grade Separation Project in the amount of $2,390,316 increasing the total contract value from $5,969,654 to $8,359,970.
B. EXECUTE all necessary agreements and task orders with third parties to support this project.
Issue
ISSUE
A contract modification in the amount of $2.39 million is needed to modify and complete the final design for Doran Street Crossing Grade Separation Project that includes a two-way interim configuration to support the business stakeholders within the Atwater Village area in the City of Los Angeles. In addition, the final design will include quiet zone ready improvements at the Doran Street Crossing as requested by the Pelanconi Estates Home Owner’s Association in the City of Glendale and the City of Glendale.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
In working with the Atwater Village and Pelanconi Estates communities, the two-way interim configuration concept with quiet zone ready improvements at Doran Street crossing will replace the one-way interim configuration concept at Doran Street issued by the California Public Utilities in 2012. At the request of the business stakeholders in the Atwater Village in the City of Los Angeles to address the potential localized traffic congestion and limited circulation issues with the one-way interim configuration concept, staff modified the design to a two-way interim condition. The CPUC approved the two-way interim configuration concept with unanimous approval from Pelanconi Estates Home Owner’s Association in the City of Glendale and the cities of Glendale and Los Angeles in 2019. The approval of this action will modify and complete the final design to bring it shovel ready status and enhance the potential opportunity for local, state and federal grants.
Background
The CPUC identified the Doran Street at-grade crossing as one of the most hazardous intersections in the City of Glendale and the City of Los Angeles. With 18 recorded pedestrian and vehicular incidents by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the CPUC had an initial ruling that Doran Street should convert to a one-way westbound movement until the at-grade crossing can be closed permanently when the grade separation is built. In 2014, the Broadway/Brazil crossing improvements were completed to provide the first safety enhancements for the project area. Due to the West San Fernando Road and Broadway/Brazil Street signalized intersection changing from stop control to a signalized configuration, the crossing experienced significant traffic congestion and a high volume of complaints from the public and business owners. Due to this congestion, the number of vehicles started utilizing the West Doran Street crossing and required a process to start a petition for modification of this initial 2012 CPUC ruling.
Doran Street and Broadway/Brazil Grade Separation
In 2017, The Metro Board approved the Doran Street and Broadway/Brazil Grade Separation. That proposes the elimination of two at-grade rail crossings at the Doran Street and Broadway/Brazil Street intersections to alleviate traffic delay and congestion, reduce train horn noise and improve vehicle and pedestrian safety and mobility. To maintain vehicle and pedestrian access there will be two grade separated structures for vehicular movement and two grade separated structures for active transportation movement through the project area. The first structure shall extend from West San Fernando Road and Doran Street to the Fairmont Avenue Bridge over the Verdugo Wash. The other structure shall be an overpass near Salem Street and Sperry Street that spans over Wilson Avenue, San Fernando Road, Metro rail right-of-way and West San Fernando Road. There will be one pedestrian bridge over the Verdugo Wash connecting the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk Trail to the east bank of the Los Angeles River. The other pedestrian bridge will span over San Fernando Road and the railroad corridor at Doran Street.
Quiet Zone Ready Improvements
The City of Glendale currently has three consecutive at-grade crossings at Sonora Avenue, Grandview Avenue and Flower Street approximately 1.7 miles north of the Doran Street that are now identified as a quiet zone. A quiet zone is a section of a rail line at least one-half mile in length that contains one or more consecutive public highway-rail grade crossings at which locomotive horns are not routinely sounded when trains are approaching the crossings after the installation of federally required and approved supplemental safety measures.
The Board’s approval of staff’s recommendations will allow staff to complete the final design with quiet zone ready improvements at Doran Street. Once constructed, Doran Street Crossing Grade Separation Project will include quiet zone ready improvements that will meet the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) approval of future Quiet Zones should the City of Glendale wish to file the Notice of Intent (NOI) for Quiet Zone. Thereby, there will be a total of (4) four consecutive at-grade crossings in the City of Glendale with the longest quiet zone corridor for Los Angeles County. Quiet Zone ready improvements are additional supplemental safety measures (SSM) that mitigate the need for trains to sound their horns. These SSMs include improvements such as flashing lights, quad gates, center medians, etc., to enhance vehicular and pedestrian safety at the crossing.
Determination_Of_Safety_Impact
DETERMINATION OF SAFETY IMPACT
This Board action will not have an impact on safety. The Doran Street Crossing Grade Separation Project is being designed in accordance with Metro and SCRRA standards, state and federal requirements and in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Financial_Impact
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Board approval Modification No. 12 would bring the total commitment to complete the final design phase of the Doran Street Crossing Grade Separation Project from $8.6 to $11 million in Measure R 3% funds.
Of the additional $2,367,513.96, only $500,000 is required for fiscal year 2021 and already included in the adopted budget in cost center 2415. Since this is a multi-year contract, the cost center manager, and Senior Executive Officer of Regional Rail will be accountable and responsible for budgeting the cost of future fiscal year requirements in department 2415, Regional Rail, Project No. 460091 as shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1 Preliminary Cashflow
|
Fiscal Year |
Projected Amount to be Spent |
Budget % |
|
FY-2021 |
$500,000.00 |
21 |
|
FY-2022 |
$1,500,000.00 |
63 |
|
FY-2023 |
$367,513.96 |
16 |
|
Total |
$2,367,513.96 |
100% |
Impact to Budget
The source of funds for this request is Measure R 3% Transit Capital. These funds are not eligible to be used for Metro bus/rail operating or capital budget expenses.
Implementation_of_Strategic_Plan_Goals
IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS
Recommendation supports strategic plan goals 1, 2 and 4. Goal 1: Provide high-quality mobility options that enable people to spend less time traveling. Goal 2: Deliver outstanding trip experiences for all users of the transportation system. Goal 4: Transform LA County through regional collaboration and national leadership. This project requires close collaboration with many local, regional, state and federal partners including City of Los Angeles, SCRRA, LOSSAN Authority, Caltrans, California High Speed Rail Authority and Amtrak.
Alternatives_Considered
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED
The Board may elect not to approve the staff recommendation to execute Modification No. 12 and not advance the Doran Street Crossing Grade Separation project. However, this will not adhere to CPUC ruling in order to close these two at-grade crossings causing significant delays and operational challenges to the other commuter and intercity rail projects along the Antelope Valley and Ventura County lines north of this project location.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
Upon Board approval, staff will execute Modification No. 12 to Contract No. PS2415-3046 with HNTB Corporation to provide professional services to complete final design for the Doran Street Grade Crossing Separation Project.
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - Procurement Summary
Attachment B - Contract Modification/Change Order Log
Attachment C - DEOD Summary
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Brian Balderrama, Senior Director, Regional Rail, (213) 418-3177
Jeanet Owens, Senior Executive Officer, Regional Rail, (213) 418-3189
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: Richard Clarke, Chief Program Management Officer, (213) 922-7557
Debra Avila, Chief Vendor/Contract Management Officer, (213) 418-3051
