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ST9902-CS061010 MEMORANDUM TO: FROM: Ken Griffin, P.E., Director of Engineering/Public Works DATE: October 10, 2006 REF: Issues Response 1 The city designed the improvements to Whispering Hills and then hired Dallas County to construct the work. Because Sandy Lake Rd. is classified as a major road by the county, the county pays for 1/2 the cost of the work. In this case, the work cost $52,944 and the county only charged the city $26,472. The city also is currently obtaining bids from a minimum of three companies for the installation of a temporary traffic signal at Whispering Hills and Sandy Lake Rd. The future widening of Sandy Lake Rd. does call for a traffic signal at that location. Our goal of placing a temporary traffic light is to attempt to use components that can also be reused when the permanent signal goes in with the construction of Sandy Lake Rd. The city has been working on several projects that were approved in the 1999 Bond Election. The initial approach was to design all the street projects and then begin working on the ones thats issues were resolved first and coordinate projects so that there was still traffic movement while roads were being constructed. West Sandy Lake Rd. was divided into two parts initially. The first part was through the industrial area because the area was developing quickly and most of the right-of-way was in place via platting of adjacent property. In March 2000, the City of Coppell submitted West Sandy Lake Rd. to Dallas County for some additional funding participation. Dallas County approved 1.3 million dollars worth of funding for West Sandy Lake Rd., but it was available beginning in physical year 2006. The city approached Dallas County in 2003 requesting that the county consider moving all or a portion of the 1.3 million dollars forward for use on the construction of a portion of West Sandy Lake Rd. In October 2004, Dallas County declined to reallocate the money to an early year. In August 2005, Dallas County informed the city that the funds would be available prior to FY 2006. Apparently, there had been some additional savings on some projects that Dallas County had participated on throughout Dallas County. All final agreements were approved with Dallas County in January 2006 and the west section of Sandy Lake Rd. was awarded for construction and started shortly thereafter. Since that time, the city has received additional funding from the federal government for a portion of Sandy Lake Rd. Because the additional money is federal money, we subdivided the remaining section of West of Sandy Lake Rd. so that the federal money would only apply to a small portion of Sandy Lake Rd. This is important because when the project has federal money it has to be completely redesigned to federal standards and then constructed to federal specifications. Therefore, the section of West Sandy Lake Rd. between Coppell Road North and Coppell Road South was broken out as a federal project. We are currently in the process of working with our design consultant to redesign that section as a federal project. The preliminary plans have been designed for the section of West Sandy Lake Rd. from Coppell Road South to Denton Tap Rd. That section does have several problems associated with it as far as start of construction. The removal of trees are a concern to the city. We have discussed several times with the subdivisions to the south the opportunity to place sidewalks behind the row of trees. As of yet, we have been unable to come to any resolution as far as placement of sidewalks behind the row of trees on the south side of Sandy Lake Rd. We have met with an arborist to discuss the trees and their proximity to the future Sandy Lake Rd. Also, there have been several meetings with the adjacent property owners along Sandy Lake Rd. and it is quite conceivable that the acquisition of right-of-way could take a prolonged period due to the potential for the use of imminent domain to acquire the necessary right-of-way. Response 2 You suggested that a crosswalk be added across Sandy Lake Rd. somewhere east of Whispering Hills. Several problems face the city in trying to construct a crosswalk: 1) A crosswalk should never be constructed where there is a uncontrolled crossing. A controlled crossing is one either controlled with a stop sign or a signal light; and 2) To place a crossing you have to have adequate pathways to get to the crossing. Your suggestion is placement of sidewalks along the south side of the roadway against the subdivision fence. That is private property. When those subdivision along the south side platted they were required to plat landscape easements in front of their screening walls. As previously noted in the prior paragraph, that is an area that was discussed with the HOA numerous times about our ability in the future to place sidewalks there in an attempt to save some of the trees. To date, we have been unsuccessful in obtaining permission to access that land with sidewalks. Therefore, there is not an appropriate corridor on the south side to place sidewalks. The city's right-of-way on the south side consists solely of a barrow ditch and a row of trees. There is inadequate right-of-way on the north side because that consists solely of a barrow ditch. Also, any sidewalks and/or pedestrians crossings constructed along this section will also have to be constructed to be ADA compliant. So currently, we do have an opportunity to place an ADA compliant sidewalk leading to a crosswalk to get from the south side of Sandy Lake Rd. to the north side of Sandy Lake Rd. There have been conversations with other residence that have concerns about children crossing Sandy Lake Rd. at Whispering Hills. With the traffic signal there may be gaps created in the flow of traffic to allow pedestrians to cross Sandy Lake Rd. at Whispering Hills. However, a crosswalk cannot be constructed there because of the fact that there is no sidewalk leading up to the crosswalk and no place to land the students on the north side other than a barrow ditch. Response 3 Portions of Sandy Lake Rd. east of Denton Tap Rd. especially near Heartz Rd. do continue to show signs of deterioration. That section of Sandy Lake Rd. has been in question since it was initially poured in 1999 and to date the city has not paid that contractor final payment for that contract. Response 4 The railroad crossing on Royal Lane is in your words horrendous. That is a Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) crossing. In March 2004, the city's attorney sent a demand letter to DART requesting that they repair the crossing on Royal Lane. Dart's response was that it was the City's responsibility and that that would be more than willing to repair it if the city paid them in the neighborhood of $35,000 to $40,000. Each crossing of the DART line in Coppell has an associated license agreement. Royal Lane license agreement was executed in July 1987 and clearly states that the railroad is responsible for maintenance between two feet outside the rails on each side. Recent contact has been made with DART representatives again requesting maintenance of the Royal Lane crossing. Response 5 The crosswalk on Heartz Road from the parking lot to the First United Methodist Church has been discussed numerous times in the past years. A mid-block crossing is not a safe crossing. Patrons using the parking lot crossing Hertz Road should cross at the intersections of Heartz and Bethel School or Heartz and Vanbebber. Freeport Parkway, as have several streets in our industrial area, has deteriorated more rapidly than other streets in town due to the increased truck traffic. The City of Coppell Police Department is in the process of purchasing scales so that 18-wheelers can be weighted to insure that they are within the proper weight compliance. It is our belief that numerous trucks are overloaded and placing additional strain on the streets in the industrial areas.