To: Campus Community

From: Highway 217 Review Committee

Re: Update on planning for Highway 217

It is likely that Ward Memorial Highway (SR217) soon will be decommissioned as a state freeway and turned over to the control of the County of Santa Barbara. The County plans to construct two intersections with traffic lights on SR217 between Hollister Avenue and Sandspit Road, where SR 217 crosses Ekwill and Fowler Streets. Both of these streets would be extended from SR 217 to Fairview Avenue to serve southern parts of Goleta Old Town. . The proposed change in the status and design of this highway will necessitate a reduction in the speed limit from 65 mph to 45 mph. The total cost of these intersections and road extensions is $19,423,000 and the County has received state/federal grants for this construction. The final design for Highway 217 is scheduled for completion this year (2000), and construction is scheduled to take place during 2002 and 2003. (See slides #11 and #12, ).

Santa Barbara County has completed a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Project Study Reports (PSR's) which address the proposed intersections. Because these reports omitted considerations of the impacts of these intersections on the UCSB community, Chancellor Yang formed the Highway 217 Review Committee, which consists of students, staff, faculty, and administrators, to study, in part, the impacts of the intersections on UCSB. The Committee has retained consultants, including the HNTB Corporation of Irvine, California, to study the safety, health, environmental, and traffic impacts of the proposed changes to SR 217 on UCSB, as well as to offer alternatives to the proposed intersections. Specialists in traffic and civil engineering at HNTB are currently studying a variety of issues related to the intersections. Because the County's plans have advanced very far, and because Goleta Old Town representatives and County officials have stressed the need for promptness on the part of UCSB, HNTB has focused, at first, on providing an evaluation of the University's concerns about the intersections, and on proposing alternative, preliminary roadway designs that would address impacts on the UCSB community.

On Feb. 18, HNTB presented the Committee with a draft report, and preliminary engineering drawings of alternative roadway designs. On the same day, representatives of the Committee shared the report and design with Santa Barbara County staff, in a positive and constructive meeting.

A brief summary of the HNTB draft report findings and the alternative roadway designs follow.

Concerning Santa Barbara County's plan for the two intersections, and the development of the area south of Hollister which is bounded on the west by Fairview and on the east by State Route 217 (SR217) and Patterson, HNTB reported that:

• Auto accident rates are typically 50% higher on signalized expressways (the proposed condition) than on grade-separated freeways* (the current condition).

• There is no new connection provided across SR217 from the west side of Old Town Goleta to the east side of Old Town Goleta

• Delays introduced by the new traffic lights would cost travelers $1.1-1.2 million per year in lost time, using the standard cost estimate of $10/hour for travel time**

• The Fowler Road intersection and extension form a low priority element of the plan, because Fowler would carry only about 1/4 the number of trips that Ekwill or SR217 would carry. The proposed Fowler Road would have light traffic and would have very little impact on traffic congestion on Hollister Avenue; consequently, the construction of this road does not appear to justify the cost.

• The close spacing between Ekwill and Fowler (1,500') would violate minimum spacing criteria for an expressway

• The plan identifies short-term impacts, but it does not address longer-term regional transportation needs.

HNTB evaluated a number of possible roadway designs, and made preliminary engineering drawings for the two best alternatives. (See slides #17 and #18.) Their preferred alternative (slide #17) would:

• Raise SR217 where it crosses Ekwill. Ekwill would stay at its current elevation, and would traverse the elevated SR217 via an underpass.

• Add a ramp for southbound SR217 traffic to exit onto Kellogg, just north of Ekwill

• Add a new intersection where Ekwill meets Kellogg on the West Side of SR217

• Add an additional northbound lane to Ward Drive from Ekwill to Hollister

• Close the ramp from Hollister to southbound SR217 due to its proximity to the new southbound SR217 exit just north of Ekwill. This on-ramp to southbound SR217 carries about 1/10 the number of daily trips that currently use SR217.

The HNTB alternative would address many of the features found in the County plan.

The HNTB alternative would remove the need for stoplights on SR217, and would unify the east and west sections of Goleta Old Town with a new road that traverses SR217.

The HNTB alternative provides excellent access for southbound traffic on SR217 to the planned Page Hotel (on the West Side of SR217 adjacent to the existing Ekwill), and good return access from the Page Hotel back to northbound SR217 (through Ekwill and Ward).

HNTB estimates that the increase in cost, after accounting for elements common to both the HNTB alternative and the County plan, would be 4.9 million dollars. Some Committee members believe they have identified further cost savings that could reduce the cost increase to $4.0 million.

HNTB notes that $4.0 million could be saved from the County plan by deferral of the County proposed low-volume Fowler intersection and extension. Committee members have further noted that of the $19.423 million projected expenditure for the County plan, $5.096 million is budgeted for acquisition of right-of-ways. Additional savings of several million might be found by realigning the west end of Ekwill, where Ekwill intersects Fairview.

The HNTB alternative removes the Hollister on-ramp to southbound SR217. That on-ramp is so close to the alternative's planned off-ramp just north of Ekwill that merging traffic meets an unacceptable hazard. HNTB notes an option to provide a southbound on-ramp to SR217 at Fowler would help mitigate this loss, and would cost an additional $0.8 million. Some Committee members have suggested Thornwood Avenue as the optimal location for new on and off ramps, because it is further from Hollister, and indeed nearly halfway between the two existing SR217 interchanges at Hollister and Sandspit.

HNTB's analysis of the impacts of the proposed intersections on UCSB commuters and of alternatives to the signalized intersections was presented to Supervisor Marshall's staff on Friday (Feb. 18). These staff members assured Committee representatives that the County had suspended planning for Highway 217 until the University's studies and input were completed. Furthermore, these staff members said that they would work with the Committee in convening meetings of UCSB faculty, staff, and consultants with the County's staff and consultants to discuss HNTB's findings and alternatives, and to find solutions to the design of Highway 217, which serve Goleta Old Town without impeding traffic flow on SR 217. Committee members are now in the process of scheduling these meetings. Feedback from those discussions will be used to further optimize alternative solutions.

Footnotes:

* Increased accident rates. The HNTB report notes that accident rates for signalized expressways are typically 50% higher than for grade-separated freeways. Committee member David Coon, Director, UCSB Environmental Health and Safety, has analyzed the data on accidents on Highway 217. Here is his report: "Based on the CHP Information Systems Report for the last five year (1995-1999), there were a total of 82 accidents along and involving Highway 217. Of these, 54 involved only damage to property and 28 were injury accidents with 40 people injured. There were no fatal accidents."

"Using the raw data, and my best guesses/understanding of the CHP coding system, I was able to make a very quick estimate of the precise location of about 60 of these accidents. From this (admittedly not precise) estimate, it appears that about 3.3% of the accidents occurred at each of the Highway 101 on ramp, campus entrance, and Hollister to Highway 217/101 on ramp. The on ramp to Highway 217 accounted for 1.7%. The main accident locations were along 217 proper, between Highway 101 and the campus (36.7%), the Hollister off ramp (just after the overpass) (16.7%), and the Sandspit cluster of ramps (on and off ramps on each side of Highway 217) (21.6%)."

"Using the assumption that the traffic signals would directly affect the region where approximately 36.7% of the reported accidents occurred, I would project that accident rates would increase from 6 to 9 accidents per year on Highway 217 between Hollister and Sandspit." Of course, such rates will accumulate to substantial numbers over longer durations (e.g., 30 per 10 years). Also, it is not clear how signalized intersections on Highway 217 between Hollister and Sandspit will affect accident rates in other parts of this system.

** HNTB used the County's estimates of traffic delays along Highway 217 caused by the stop lights and then multiplied by the number of trips accommodated over longer periods of time (e.g., one year). The results simply show that cumulative costs can become very great. Committee members have also performed the following calculation. If we assume that a student, staff, or faculty member makes one round-trip to UCSB each workday and the County's estimates of time delays per trip caused by the stop lights are correct, then the cumulative lost time for each person would be approximately 10 hours per year. This probably is a minimum estimate because many University personnel leave and return to UCSB each day for lunch, meetings, and appointments.