Meeting_Body
PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
NOVEMBER 16, 2022
Subject
SUBJECT: SR-14 TRAFFIC SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE status report on the SR-14 Traffic Safety Improvements Project.
Issue
ISSUE
In August 2022, the Board approved Motion 10 (Attachment A), authored by Directors Najarian, Butts, and Barger, which asked the CEO to direct staff to work with Caltrans to find a path forward to correct non-standard freeway configurations at 3 locations along State Route 14 (SR-14), including the development of a funding plan for the environmental clearance phase of the project, and to provide monthly progress updates to the Board.
Background
BACKGROUND
In January 2019, the North County Transportation Coalition (NCTC), a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) consisting of the unincorporated areas of North Los Angeles County (5th District), City of Palmdale, City of Lancaster, and City of Santa Clarita, initiated a planning effort to evaluate potential traffic safety improvements on SR-14, through the North Los Angeles County region.
In collaboration with NCTC, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) prepared a Traffic Safety and Operational Analysis Report (TSOAR) to examine the operational conditions on the SR-14, from Interstate 5 (I-5) to Pearblossom Highway/ Angeles Crest Highway. This study identified safety, operational and environmental benefits that would result from adding a general-purpose lane between the bottleneck gaps.
Within the study limits, the number of lanes on SR-14 fluctuate roadway between 2 to 3 lanes in each direction. These lane "drops" increase the number of merging conflicts, resulting in sideswipe, and rear-end collisions. Fatal and fatal-plus-injury crash rates on both northbound and southbound SR-14 exceed the state average. The fatal-plus-injury and total accident rates for both northbound and southbound direction increase at th...
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