REPORT TO BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Reduce Width of Lane Number One on Multi-lane Streets (Shariat/Puyehgar)
Report
BACKGROUND
In August 2023, Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Member Kratz requested a discussion on reducing the width of lane number one on multi-lane streets (Attachment 1).
DISCUSSION
The City’s roadway network enables the movement of people and goods. These roadways accommodate a mix of industrial, office, commercial, retail, and residential land uses, facilitating both local and regional auto, transit, truck, and emergency vehicle traffic, as well as pedestrian and bicyclist travel.
The City has over 590 lane miles of roadways, which are classified as principal arterials, minor arterials, collector streets, and local streets. The roadway functional classification system categorizes roads into different classes based on the type of service they provide. Each class of roadway follows specific guidelines established by federal and state regulations regarding aspects such as lane widths, shoulder widths, curve radii, and other design features. Existing lane widths typically range from 10 to 12 feet, with some exceeding 12 feet. The City references the Caltrans Highway Design Manual (HDM) as a baseline and current guidance generally supports narrower urban lanes. The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) identifies 10 foot lanes as appropriate in urban settings and 11 foot lanes on designated transit or truck routes. The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) typically requests the outside travel lane (slow lane) to be a minimum of 11 feet where there is a transit route along a corridor.
The City evaluates vehicle lane widths primarily on a case-by-case basis, considering the dimensions that best support multimodal circulation and the needs of the surrounding land uses. This evaluation considers factors such as posted speed limits, truck and transit routes, emergency access, roadway classification, roadway curvature, intersection operations, sight distance, and parking. Below are examples of the City's practices for establishing new lane widths or modifying existing ones.
With the city’s annual pavement maintenance and rehabilitation projects, staff investigate opportunities to reallocate existing roadway space to create new bike facilities and/or implement narrower travel lanes for traffic calming purposes without negatively impacting roadway access, circulation, or capacity. Where the right-of-way allows, staff prioritize a marked Class II or Class II buffered bike lane over widening the outside lane (the slow lane) for shared use.
Additionally, various bikeway planning studies are conducted to support the City’s bicycle master plan. These studies explore narrower travel lanes and reductions in travel or parking lanes to facilitate the implementation of proposed bike facilities.
When developing new specific plans for the city, the transportation and circulation components typically include the establishment of multimodal goals. These goals may involve setting standards that include narrower travel lanes and the addition of new bicycle facilities on future public streets.
In summary, staff routinely assess opportunities for lane reductions to facilitate the implementation of bicycle facilities, supporting the overall goal of developing complete streets. This practice follows the Council adopted Complete Streets Policy 18-8593.
Staff
Written by: Carol Shariat, Transportation Manager, Public Works and Ajmal Puyehgar, Senior Civil Engineer, Public Works
Approved by: Michael Liw, Assistant Director/City Engineer, Public Works
ATTACHMENTS
1. Topic Request Form - Member Kratz