Chapter 4 -- Transportation and Circulation Chapter 4--Transportation and Circulation 4.1 Introduction and Intent..................................................................................................................4-1 4.1.1 Coordination of Land Use and Circulation......................................................................4-1 4.2 Circulation Planning .....................................................................................................................4-2 4.2.1 Merced’s Historic Circulation Planning ..........................................................................4-2 4.2.2 Opportunities and Challenges..........................................................................................4-4 4.2.3 Coordination of Circulation System Planning .................................................................4-4 4.3 Elements of the Circulation System..............................................................................................4-7 4.3.1 Regional Circulation System ...........................................................................................4-7 4.3.2 Functional Road Classifications and Design Standards...................................................4-9 4.3.3 Streets and Highways.....................................................................................................4-11 4.3.4 Public Transportation Services ......................................................................................4-15 4.3.5 Private Transportation....................................................................................................4-20 4.3.6 Social Service ................................................................................................................4-20 4.3.7 Rail Service....................................................................................................................4-22 4.3.8 Bicycle/Trail System......................................................................................................4-24 4.3.9 Pedestrian Circulation....................................................................................................4-27 4.3.10 Air Service .....................................................................................................................4-27 4.4 Circulation System Improvement Issues.....................................................................................4-28 4.4.1 Level of Service (LOS)..................................................................................................4-28 4.4.2 Parsons Avenue..............................................................................................................4-32 4.4.3 Collectors.......................................................................................................................4-35 4.4.4 Bear Creek Bridges........................................................................................................4-37 4.4.5 At-grade Railroad Crossings..........................................................................................4-37 4.4.6 Interchange Upgrades ....................................................................................................4-39 4.4.7 Transitways....................................................................................................................4-39 4.5 Transportation System Management ..........................................................................................4-40 4.6 Transportation and Circulation Goals, Policies, and Actions .....................................................4-41 4.7 Issues Requiring Further Study...................................................................................................4-69 4.7.1 Station Area Planning at High Speed Rail Station.........................................................4-69 4.7.2 Transit Oriented Development.......................................................................................4-69 4.7.3 Non-Motorized Transportation Plan..............................................................................4-69 4.7.4 Climate Action Plan Development ................................................................................4-70 4.7.5 Financing Circulation Improvements ............................................................................4-70 4.8 Appendix.....................................................................................................................................4-72 4.8.1 Functional Road Classifications and Design Standards.................................................4-72 4.8.2 Intersection Spacing and Design Standards...................................................................4-84 4.8.3 Needed Transportation Projects.....................................................................................4-88 4.8.4 Roadway Level of Service (LOS) Data .........................................................................4-88 4-0 Chapter 4 Transportation and Circulation 4.1 INTRODUCTION AND The goals and policies presented here are INTENT intended to coordinate transportation/ circulation with land use and other pertinent The Transportation & Circulation Chapter is areas of the General Plan, while promoting a State-required component of the Merced the efficient movement of people, goods and Vision 2030 General Plan. Circulation is services within the Merced area. The concerned with the movement of people and overall public benefit is twofold. The public goods through and around the City. enjoys a broader choice of realistic options Transportation is concerned with the means for circulating through the urban area. by which these movements are made. This Secondly, their trips are easier and more chapter addresses the City’s major road efficient. system, local street patterns, air facilities, bus and rail transit, and bicycle and 4.1.1 Coordination of Land Use and pedestrian facilities. The goal is to identify Circulation the most effective ways to plan for The Merced Vision 2030 General Plan circulation while enhancing the community contains land use policies aimed at and protecting the environment. concentrating higher residential densities and major trip destinations in the vicinity of State law recognizes that circulation and major roadways and public transit corridors. land use are especially related and Such corridors also offer the option of emphasizes a definite correlation between effective transit routes. these two required General Plan Elements. California Government Code Section 65302 Specific goals and policies linking land use requires Circulation Elements to identify: to transportation/circulation concerns are “...The general location and extent of found in various locations within this plan, existing and proposed major including the Land Use, Urban Expansion, thoroughfares, transportation routes, and Urban Design Chapters. terminals, and other local public utilities and facilities, all correlated with the The location and intensity of development Land Use Element...” has an effect on traffic levels in the surrounding area and on the City as a whole. Transportation engineers have developed 4-1 Merced Vision 2030 General Plan Chapter 4--Transportation and Circulation several mathematical tools to monitor the However, with the passage of recent relationship between land use and the legislation designed to improve overall air transportation system. One tool is the traffic quality, including reduction of Greenhouse forecasting model. This model forecasts Gases produced by automobiles, and traffic volumes and simulates traffic significant increases in the cost of fuel, this conditions under future land use scenarios trend may be reversing based on a) estimates of traffic which will be generated by new development; b) streets 4.2.1 Merced’s Historic Circulation the traffic will use; c) and the amount of Planning new traffic the street system can ultimately accommodate. The City of Merced has grown dramatically in the past quarter century. The 1968 To evaluate the General Plan Land Use General Plan formally re-oriented proposed Plan, the City used a traffic model community growth from east-west to a developed by the Merced County north-south orientation. This change was Association of Governments (MCAG) for based upon significant environmental use in analyzing the effects of land use constraints as well as growth pressures. To development and roadway system this day, the City has a strong north-south improvements. The resulting roadway level growth pattern although some development of service capacity is summarized in the to the east and west has occurred in certain Appendix (Section 4.8.4). Major street areas. More growth to the east and west is projects contained in the 2007 MCAG proposed with this General Plan. Regional Transportation Plan (Tier 1), and roadway improvements that would be In 1997, certain features were incorporated constructed to support development of the into the Merced Vision 2015 General Plan. These features include: proposed land use plan are summarized in Table 4.1. The financing of these needed • a comprehensive system of arterial improvements is discussed in Section 4.7.5. streets in a one-half to one mile grid The resulting Circulation Plan (map) is system; shown in Figure 4.1. • an upgraded Highway 59 to serve as a beltway or “ring-road” to carry cross- 4.2 CIRCULATION PLANNING town traffic around established portions of the community; and, Historically people have tended to drive more