Grandview Shared Road Project - Council Site Visit



Grandview Shared Road Questions – City Council

On July 7, 2016 at 12:30 pm the Ashland City Council and the residences of Grandview Drive visited the location of the proposed shared road project for Grandview Drive. The following questions were asked pertaining to the shared road project and the un-permitted guardrail in the proposed area. Public discussion did not take place.


Will only this section (where guardrail is) of Grandview be a shared road?
No the expectation is to convert the whole section of Grandview down to Scenic into a shared roadway. This will be phase one of the project.

Has an engineer looked at adding a guardrail to extend further down the road?
Not yet, this will be evaluated with the engineering done as part of the next phase.

Is the curve further down the road any safer than the one that has the guardrail?
This will be evaluated as part of the engineering work done with respect to the next phase.

Designating this shared road is not necessarily in a hierarchy, is the traffic higher than a typical shared road?
The most recent average daily traffic for Grandview was 565 cars per day. A shared road per the standard allows up to 1500 cars per day.

Is the guardrail built to standard?
Yes, the guardrail is built to ODOT standards as verified by an engineer.

How deep are the pylons holding the guardrail?
Per the installer the posts are 6’ and 8’ deep, depending on their location in the embankment. 

Six of the support structures are timber, did the engineer take that into consideration?
The timber posts are part of the specifications and required as breakaway posts for when a vehicle strikes the end terminal.

Is the only place that shared roads are authorized and conceptualized are the in the Normal
Neighborhood plan that meet the criteria for a shared road?

No, there are numerous streets identified in the 2012 TSP that classified as shared roads.

Are refuge areas required on both sides?
Yes

Where does the 5 ft. of refuge start?
The 5’ refuge starts at the beginning of the project at the start of the guardrail.

Will there be a speed study done?
There have been numerous speed studies done. The most recent develop an 85% speed of 26.x mph near the guardrail.

Will the company who installed the guardrail have to retroactively apply and pay for a permit?
This will be determined by the attorney.

Has a geotechnical report been done and if not, when will it be done?
A geotechnical engineer is developing a final technical memo on the guardrail.

What are the differences for a fill and a solid bank?​

How will the City address the other dangerous blind spots?
This will be evaluated as part of the engineering work done with respect to the next phase.

Where the does project start and stop?
The current project starts at the beginning of the guardrail section and ends just west of Ditch Rd.  Please refer to the drawings in the Council Communication from June 21, 2016.

Is this in the current CIP?
No. Staff had planned on moving forward with this project in the next budget cycle, but the installation of the guardrail has speed up the project. Staff believes this shared roadway project is important.

Will there be parking along the proposed area?
No.

Has the City looked at budgeting to find money to fix other parts of the road that need work? How do we know this is the worst part?
This is phase 1 of the project and the City is working on the engineering design of the rest of the project which will assist in the budget development.

How was this chosen over other projects?
Staff had planned on moving forward with this project in the next budget cycle, but the installation of the guardrail has speed up the project. Staff believes this shared roadway project is important.

Why not speed bumps?
Speed bumps have not been analyzed for the project.

Has there been discussions for building a wall up where the guardrail is now?
Yes, but based on the geotechnical analysis a large portion of the roadway would need to be excavated and reconstructed to allow for shifting the guardrail. The general engineers consensus is the cost for this would be 3-4 times what is current proposed.

Where would the legal guardrail be?
Per the engineers analysis the guardrail would be placed in the same position.

Is it legal to have a guardrail this close to a driveway? Are there standards on how far away a guardrail needs to be from a driveway?
Per the engineers analysis the guardrail would be placed in the same position.

What will the refuge area be?
The refuge area will be constructed with decomposed granite and will represent a visual difference between the chip seal.

Why does the guardrail have double posts?
It has double posts as required by the construction standards.

Since the guardrail was installed un-permitted, who is responsible for replacing if it is damaged?
Typically when something is damaged such as a guardrail, the owner’s car insurance will cover the costs.

Will the refuge area be marked?
The refuge area will be decomposed granite and the edge of the chip seal will be marked with a white “fog” stripe to delineate the two areas.

What will happen to the bank?
The bank will be excavated to widen the roads cross section.

Is the project in our right of way?
Yes.

How tall will the retaining wall be?
The retaining wall will between 4 and 12 feet in height depending on the location along the embankment.

Will the refuge areas be a specified length? What is the consistency of length for the refuge areas?
Please refer to the set of plans provided in the Council Communications from June 21, 2016.

How will the refuge areas transition into the existing road?
The refuge areas are meant to continue through the whole length of Grandview. The current phase of the project will terminate to the west of Ditch Rd.

How far will the bank be cut into?
The bank will be excavated according to the detached plans which specify the distance of the refuge areas.

Why is the guardrail sharp to touch?
These are standard materials used in guardrail construction.

What about speed bumps at the beginning of the road to slow down traffic approaching the area?
We have not evaluated speed bumps, but the traffic engineer is looking into the installation of a 4-way stop at the start of the project.

What purpose do the 8” blocks along the guardrail serve?
The purpose of guardrail blockouts is to reduce the possibility of “wheel snag” on a guardrail post when a vehicle interacts with the guardrail.  These are typically made of wood or recyclable plastic.

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