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Transportation Data

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At the February 28, 2023 City Council meeting, staff was directed to pursue a one-way pilot project on West Cliff Drive between Columbia Road and David Way, collect data on the roadway and surrounding neighborhood, and develop a neighborhood traffic calming toolkit. To achieve this, the transportation team completed data collection and analysis from pre- and post-storm travel patterns in the study area. The results of this study were presented at the Transportation and Public Works Commission on Monday August 21, 2023. The presentation can be found here.

The key findings were: 

  • In general, transportation volumes overall decreased in the study area between 2019 and present, though. As the result of the roadway failures and the Bethany culvert full closure, specific streets experienced higher volumes. 

  • The conversion to one-way westbound (towards Natural Bridges) resulted in an overall decrease of eastbound (towards the Wharf) traffic along the West Cliff outside the closure area. It’s difficult to fully quantify the change with only roadway counts, but we observed approximately 1,020 fewer daily westbound vehicles at the Lighthouse, a 35% reduction with the one-way pilot than what would be expected with a two-way roadway open. 

  • The largest impacts from the one-way pilot were felt from the concentrated study area (Columbia to David Way) and the hard closure of Bethany Culvert. A larger study area would likely have diluted the traffic volumes over a larger area, lessening the concentrated impact on any one street.

  • The shared-use-path within the pilot area saw 1,700 people in a typical weekday and 2,360 people on the weekend. Using the “Shared-Use Path Level of Service” calculator developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA),. The the existing 10-foot wide shared used path is a Level-of-Service E or F depending volumes analyzed. That score, which is consistent with the persistently reported complaints of vehicle-bike conflicts. 

  • To improve the shared-use path level-of-service to B at current volumes would require an 18 foot wide trail. The cheapest and quickest way to achieve that improvement is to convert the existing pathway to a sidewalk and reallocate anconvert one auto lane to a separated bikeway as was completed during the pilot.  

  • In public outreach of various roadway cross section scenarios, people overwhelmingly preferred options that gave-up either parking or auto lanes to improve the recreational experience. In practice, this is only achievable with a conversion of an auto lane to a cycle lane 

  • In public outreach aimed at drivers, of the 136 vehicles we engaged with, 36% liked the pilot, 25% disliked it, and 39% did not respond. The outreach in the pilot area showed it was overall favored by those surveyed 

  • As part of the West Cliff 50 Year Vision, the team will continue investigation about how our community values the allocation of space on West Cliff. Future transportation options should continue to evaluate all possible transportation scenarios.  

  • The shared-use-path within the pilot area saw 1,700 people in a typical weekday and 2,360 people on the weekend. With the pilot in place, people primarily walked on the multi-use path and people primarily biked on the roadway, except where there were pinch points around the cliff failures. People appreciated this separation as noted below in the public engagement. The experience can also be measured with the Using the “Shared-Use Path Level of Service” calculator developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The the existing 10-foot wide shared used path is a Level-of-Service E or F depending volumes analyzed. That score, which is consistent with the persistently reported complaints of vehicle-bike conflicts.  

  • To improve the shared-use path level-of-service to B at current volumes would require an 18 foot wide trail, and reduce those conflicts, the trail width would have to be increased to at least 18 feet wide. The cheapest and quickest way to achieve that improvement is to convert the existing pathway to a sidewalk and reallocate anconvert one auto lane to a separated bikeway as was completed during the pilot.  

  • In public outreach of various roadway cross section scenarios, people overwhelmingly preferred options that gave-up either parking or auto lanes to improve the recreational experience. In practice, this is only achievable with a conversion of an auto lane to a cycle lane.

  • In public outreach aimed at drivers, of the 136 vehicles we engaged with, 36% liked the pilot, 25% disliked it, and 39% did not respond. The outreach in the pilot area showed it was overall favored by those surveyed.

  • As part of the West Cliff 50 Year Vision, the team will continue investigation about how our community values the allocation of space on West Cliff. Future transportation options should continue to evaluate all possible transportation scenarios.