R2015-10 EXPENDITURE OF CITY FUNDS Traffic Counters

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PUBLIC WORKS MEMORANDUM NO. 2015-06 DATE: January 23,2015 TO: Honorable Mayor McElroy and City Council FROM: Gregg D. Zientara, Interim City Manager Richard G. Marley,P.E.,Public Works Director SUBJECT: Resolution Approving the Expenditure of City Funds to Purchase Traffic Counters SUMMARY RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council approve the attached resolution authorizing the expenditure of$25,611.50 for the purchase of sixteen(16) Portable Traffic Analyzers (traffic counters), and that the Mayor be authorized to sign said resolution, and the City Clerk to attest. BACKGROUND: The City performs traffic counts for transportation planning, street design, pavement design,to determine the need for stop and yield signs, and when reviewing traffic signal operations. The ability to perform a single traffic count around a large intersection greatly improves the accuracy of the count. If half of an intersection is counted on one day, and the other half is counted another day due to a lack of traffic counters,the results are skewed by the make-up of traffic from one day to the next. The City's current traffic counters are 10-15 years old and no longer function reliably. At this time the City has only two functioning traffic counters. The Decatur Urbanized Area Transportation Study(DUATS) has offered the City the opportunity to purchase traffic counters and provide 80%Federal reimbursement and 20% State reimbursement totaling a full 100%reimbursement of City costs. The traffic counters would be owned by DUATS but controlled and used by the City to perform traffic studies in support of City operations. The City has used the type of traffic counters proposed for the past 20 years. These counters log the number of vehicles,their speeds, and the type of vehicle (i.e. various truck sizes and cars). These results answer all of the common questions and requests from the public and are necessary for designing and timing traffic signals, designing streets and pavements, and determining the need for traffic control. Accurate traffic counts greatly expand the ability of City staff to make good design decisions and provide informed recommendations regarding the operation of traffic on the City's streets. Page 11