To: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Kristin Read, Assistant Town Manager
Title
Update: Street and Lane Closure Communications
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
Staff received Councilmember feedback recently regarding the Town’s street and lane closure communications. The purpose of this memo is to update Council on current and planned practices in this area.
To ensure common understanding of terminology used in this memo, a street closure occurs when all lanes on a roadway are closed, prohibiting travel through the closed area. During a lane closure, only a lane or lanes are closed, allowing traffic to be reconfigured and still pass through the area without a full detour around a closure.
Discussion
The traveling public depends on accurate, up-to-date information on street - and to some extent, lane - closures to enjoy as positive a driving experience as possible within Town. Staff has put in place several practices to ensure adequate communications occur for Town projects - as well as projects completed on Town rights of way by developers, franchise holders and others - including:
• Weekly street/lane closure reports emailed by Public Works to various internal and external stakeholders, and associated updates posted to CRgov.com/Roadwork
• Requiring the installation of notice signs on site at least seven days prior to any approved street closure
• Requiring the provision of notice to adjacent property owners 24 hours in advance of all street and lane closures
• For Town projects only: developing communications plans or content, which are tailored to the specifics of each project, as deemed appropriate
Being as the Town is a continuous improvement organization, staff is seeking to improve these efforts in the near term in a few ways:
• Requiring the installation of notice signs on site at least 48 hours prior to any approved lane closure on any collector or arterial street; for developer, franchisee or other non-Town projects, proof of installation will be submitted to the project’s Public Works Inspector
o Along with this, for any lane closure on a collector or arterial street with only two lanes, the Public Works Inspector will discuss with Community Relations staff the necessary Town communications to be issued; this will be determined on a case-by-case basis
• During construction season, Community Relations plans to provide more routine Town communication updates about the availability of up-to-date street and lane closure information at CRgov.com/Roadwork
o This is to include in 2021 production of a video PSA notifying the public about this information resource
• Periodically checking to ensure inclusion on the commuting mobile application Waze the Town’s roadwork information
o Through partnership with Douglas County, the Town’s roadwork information generally is available on Waze; staff will periodically check to ensure this information remains available and will work with the County to remedy any issues experienced
Worth noting is that for emergency repairs and closures related to items like water line breaks and storm damage, best public notification efforts will be made while prioritizing public safety and getting traffic back to normal as rapidly as possible.
Staff is hopeful these efforts will help improve drivers’ experience during the 2021 construction season and beyond. The team welcomes Council’s feedback and direction on how communications in this area might be further improved from the residents’ perspective.