Title
Presentation by Curt Devereux, President of Triangle Rails to Trails Conservancy (TRTC), on improving the safety of trail users at the O’Kelly Chapel Road Crossing of the American Tobacco Trail.
Abstract
Action Requested: Receive Presentation.
Introduction & Background:
• For at least the last two years trail users have expressed increasing concerns with this crossing due to the high speeds and large volume of vehicular traffic. In addition, sight lines for motorists approaching this crossing are far from ideal.
• In early May 2015 TRTC and NC DOT’s District 8 staff collaborated on a 9 day study to measure the hourly speed and volume of traffic over 24 hour periods while TRTC performed hourly counts of trail users crossing O’Kelly during selected 3 to 4 hour periods when usage is normally fairly high.
• Findings from this study documented that over the 9 days studied, speeds of over 60 mph were recorded in 17 of the 24 hourly periods. Motorists tended to drive slightly slower at periods of greater trail usage (4 to 7 pm on weekdays and 9 am to noon on weekends) however 47 to 48 mph is still a speed at which most drivers showed little inclination to slow down or stop for trail users waiting to cross. A high value of 76.5 mph was recorded between 9 and 10 pm on a week night.
• Besides the persistently high speeds seen at most hours, the average daily volumes during this recent study were about 7,200 vehicles, a figure about 10% higher than the 6,600 DOT measured in 2013. With the nearby residential growth already planned and the fairly steady growth in area businesses in both Durham and Wake Counties, it is fair to assume that daily traffic volumes on O’Kelly will rise to ~8,000 within two to three years.
• Our counts of users confirmed that usage of the Chatham section has increased sharply since the opening of the bridge over I-40 in January 2014. On Sunday May 3 and Saturday May 9 we counted 379 and 383 road crossers between 9 am and Noon with 65 crossing between between 10:15 and 10:30 am on May 3rd. We also saw cases where motorists in one direction were stopped to allow a user crossing but traffic from the other direction continued through before the crosser reached the middle of the road. Not a comforting situation, especially for parents with children.
• In addition to user counts, we also saw at least 27 “close calls”, situations where one or more vehicles passed through the crossing at speed before the user had reached the far side of the road. And finally we saw a small number of near collisions where the lead car in a group slowed greatly or stopped for a user crossing but those following did not anticipate this action and came close to rear ending the lead car.
• From our count data we did record some 107 instances of motorists actually stopping to allow a trail crossing during the 29 hours we were on site. Typical 3 hour counts of vehicles for 4 to 7 pm on weekdays were ~2100 and from 9 am to noon on weekends ~1100 vehicles. This behavior indicates to us that some substantial portion of drivers do not seem to recognize they are going through an area where some slowing should be anticipated due to a pedestrian crossing.
Discussion & Analysis:
Recent Signage Additions/Future Improvements
• Since the conclusion of the early May study, District 8 installed yellow 35 MPH placard signs in late May. Regulatory R1-5a (Yield to pedestrians) signs and black and white shark teeth (on the road surface) were installed in late August. These are certainly welcome additions to this crossing but we have no hard data to show if they are influencing driver behavior.
• For the future it appears that steps are needed to more actively alert motorists that pedestrians are present that desire to cross O’Kelly Chapel road safely. Towards this end we believe that user-activated amber lights would be a very useful tool. These types of lights are quite large and bright but only blink when activated by a trail user. Lights that are on all the time are thought to become part of the environment and ignored by many motorists. The cost of a pair of lights and activation posts including installation is ~$40,000. We are requesting that the County include them within the allocation for Discretionary Funds through the MPO.
• Finally, all indications from our study point to vehicle speeds as a major factor in reducing the safe crossing of O’Kelly Chapel. Our group would support any request to lower the speed limit on some or all of O’Kelly Chapel Road.
Budgetary Impact:
Recommendation: Receive Presentation.