 will be open to the public for use. I would now like to introduce Stephen Grover, Stephen Grover and Associates who has been the architect on the 101 bike and pedestrian over crossing project since its inception in 2007. Stephen will provide a review of the status of the neck of the design process. Next slide please. Thank you Grant and thank you to everyone who has joined us tonight for an update about Santa Rosa's bicycle and pedestrian over crossing project. As Grant mentioned this project proposes to construct a bicycle and pedestrian over crossing of US Highway 101. The city has funding deadlines so we will be moving forward as quickly as possible to complete the detailed design and to prepare construction documents. We are designing for full ADA compliance with a width as Grant mentioned of 14 and a half feet between railings. The crossing is proposed for this location shown on the slide connecting Edwards Avenue on the west and Elliott Avenue on the east. Note that this aerial photo was taken in 2018 and since that time Santa Rosa Junior College's buildings in the lower right of this image have been demolished. The city of Santa Rosa has designated US Highway 101 as a scenic roadway. The visual character along northbound US 101 is open, flat, expansive with a view of the Shiloh Ranch Hills. In the southbound direction the view is equally open and airy with trees and greenery flanking both sides of the highway. At the over crossings west touchdown Edwards Avenue has a quiet mixed residential character with some commercial buildings near Cleveland Avenue and single family and multi-family homes westward towards Range Avenue. Key design considerations along Edwards Avenue are number one compatibility with this existing streetscape character and number two maintaining visual and physical access to and from the commercial buildings near Cleveland. On the east side of the highway Elliott Avenue has a pleasant tree lined character with a few single family homes on the north side and junior college buildings on the south. Design considerations along Elliott Avenue include number one ensuring that cyclist and pedestrian circulation integrates safely with the circulation within and around the Santa Rosa Junior College campus and number two minimizing impacts to the heritage trees along the street such as this large blue oak on the right. Thus for both approaches a key design goal is compatibility with the mixed residential character in other words avoiding bringing the materiality and visual character of the freeway into the neighborhoods. Over the course of this project the city has had numerous meetings with the community and other stakeholders on both sides of US Highway 101. On November 4th of this year the Santa Rosa Design Review Board reviewed the project and unanimously agreed with the design proposed for the main stand over Highway 101. To achieve Santa Rosa community's preference for a light, airy and modern bridge design that does not obstruct view sheds along Highway 101 this bicycle and pedestrian overcrossing proposes a single pylon offset from a wide mode separated traveled way. Here is the structural pylon and deck configuration as seen from a westbound user's view and here is an eastbound user's view. One thing to note is that for greater visual transparency and a more open user experience we will seek approval from Caltrans to use cable mesh instead of standard chain link fencing for the portions of the bridge over Highway 101. Here is what the proposed bridge looks like from the corner of Elliott and Armory and here's a view looking up at the main pylon a southbound freeway driver's view at sunrise and here is a northbound freeway driver's view. We think this bridge will become a landmark that is unique to Santa Rosa yet preserve the views of the Shiloh Ranch Hills as well as the views of the skyline in general and of the surrounding residential commercial and academic buildings. Recently following the environmental phase of the project the community expressed additional interests and concerns which are summarized on this slide. I will now discuss how the city and the project team are addressing each of these topics starting with parking. The community has stated that street parking on Edwards is quite difficult and that people often park in Dix parking lot especially at night. One of the main concerns of the community that we understand is that the project may could make street parking along Edwards even more difficult. I should note that the number of parking spots along Edwards will remain unchanged by this project. The city also plans to work with the neighborhood to implement a residential permit parking program to restrict unlimited parking by non-residents. On the east side there is no street parking along Elliot Avenue and the project will not impact Elliot. I'd also like to mention however that by working with the team that's designing the new Santa Rosa Junior College student housing in this area we were able to increase the number of parking spaces that were originally proposed for the housing parking lot. During the environmental phase we heard from residents expressing concerns about the bus stop on Edwards Avenue. The city has worked with Amtrak and MTA and it was determined that to improve service for riders this stop would actually be relocated to the downtown transit mall. So this bus stop will be removed from Edwards Avenue. In the past some community members noted that there are discontinuous sidewalks on Edwards Avenue. As shown here the project would touch down at the location of the star in the upper right and connect to an existing continuous sidewalk highlighted in green on the north side of the street. There is an ADA accessible connection approximately 400 feet west of the touchdown between Edwards Avenue and the Cottingtown Mall. The sidewalk on the south side of Edwards is discontinuous and the properties are already developed in this area. The city's normal method of constructing sidewalks is to wait until new development occurs on these properties but understanding that these sites will most likely not be redeveloped in the near future the city can seek separate transportation funding to close these sidewalk gaps. Where the over crossing connects with Edwards Avenue concerns were raised in the past about safety at the west touchdown adjacent to the Dix loading dock driveway. Pictured here is our proposed design from 2016 of the mixing area or landing area at the bottom of the ramp. This design allowed for straight ahead travel as well as entering the drive aisle of the parking lot as shown by the red arrows. In 2020 we refined this design to restrict travel paths eliminating direct access to the parking lot and to the driveway to reduce the potential for conflicts between users and vehicles. We also studied travel mode interactions and we added some other safety features. To facilitate bicycle travel along Edwards Cheryl markings circled here in green would be added to this street. Now here's a view of the same area at night. One important project goal design goal is to achieve light levels that are adequately bright for safety and security yet pleasant comfortable and context compatible in other words not harshly overlit like a gas station. As shown in this image a mid block crosswalk is recommended at the west touchdown location because cyclists and pedestrians on the south side of Edwards need a safe place to cross to the bridge entrance. Specific design details that the public has provided input on such as whether the crosswalk will be raised include a bulb out as shown here or include flashing beacons. All of those are still being worked out. Along Edwards Avenue we will be treating the walls supporting the lower portion of the approach to make them more compatible with the neighborhood context. We are proposing a battered wall that angles slightly inward as it goes up and a texturing of the concrete surface to soften it and provide more room for the sidewalk. We are also considering vines that require climbing structures so growth is self limiting and low maintenance. This treatment will also minimize large flat surfaces that could attract graffiti. Here's a view of the same area at night. One concern that has been repeatedly expressed is that the area under this structure could attract homeless encampments. Working with our lighting and landscaping consultants we understand how encampment and repose can be deterred by keeping these areas well lit at night and using rocks, burming, and drought tolerant plants that are nice to look at but not so nice to touch. The Santa Rosa Police Department has also confirmed that it will provide additional patrolling in this area. Now turning around 180 degrees to look east along Edwards we see how the over crossing passes over the sidewalk. The proposed sidewalk configuration serves to further activate this area to deter homeless encampment and to increase the pedestrian separation from vehicles. Here's the same area as seen from the second floor of the commercial building across the street. Now on the east side of Highway 101 the project will connect to Elliott Avenue near the new Santa Rosa Junior College student housing. The SRJC is still working out exactly how the land in this area will be used so the design you see here will be further refined as we continue to work with the junior college. During recent public meetings we have heard about the increasing interest in walking and biking on the SRJC campus. We have therefore carefully studied how to avoid conflicts where these multiple paths and different modes of travel converge. We will also be preventing vehicles from entering this touchdown area. You can see the ballards in this image. Here's a view of the east touchdown area from street level. Note we are able to save many of the existing trees along the street. We confirmed with the SRJC that no vehicles will need to use this entrance. So here again you see the ballards were incorporating to prevent vehicles from entering the east touchdown area. On November 4th as I mentioned earlier the Santa Rosa Design Review Board requested that the design team return in the future for a review of this east approach on Elliott after design coordination with the SRJC is further along. Finally some community members have noted a need for wayfinding signage around the touchdowns. Shown here are examples of Santa Rosa's existing wayfinding signage which could be adopted and used around Edwards and Elliott avenues to help direct people to nearby destinations such as the smart station and multi-use trail, Cottingtown Mall and the Transit Hub, the Schultz Museum, schools, swim center, county offices and the Mendocino Transit Corridor and Humboldt Bike Boulevard. Thank you. This concludes our presentation tonight and we look forward to your discussion. We will be happy also to answer your questions. For the sake of time we would particularly like to hear from anyone who is new to the project and we would like to hear input on anything that has not already been covered in tonight's presentation. Thanks again and back to you, Grant. Thank you Stephen. Next slide please. At this time we would like to hear from you to the public to receive your input so we'll now move to the question and answer portion of the meeting. We have a collection of panelists available this evening to answer questions. On the panel I'd like to introduce Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal with the City of Santa Rosa Fire Department, Nancy Adams, Transportation Planner with the City of Santa Rosa, Carmela Cecilio, Assistant Project Manager with BKF Engineers, Stephen Grover, Project Architect with Stephen Grover and Associates and Ahmad Rahimi, Regional Project Manager for Caltrans District Board. Steve Brown, before we begin can you please review how the public can participate by asking live questions and comments? I sure will, Grant. So once Grant calls for public questions or comments as host I will announce for anyone wishing to ask a question or comment to raise their hand and zoom. For individuals participating in the meeting by telephone you can dial star 9 to raise your hand. I will then call on the public one by one who have their zoom hand raised. Your microphone will be unmuted so you can ask your question. Once you've raised your hand and asked your question or shared your input your hand will be lowered and your microphone will be muted again. So our panelists may respond to your question. So we'll go ahead and begin. The first person and the cue is Thomas. Thomas your microphone has been unmuted. You can state your name for the record if you so choose then ask your question or make a comment. Hi, yes, my name is Thomas Ells. Can you hear me first of all? Sure can. And I am an anthropologist and a which is a sort of odd combination and a civil engineer and I did speak at the design review but I noticed here that and you know thank you for having a public hearing or public meeting on this. I didn't see anything that reflected the aerial utilities and I wonder if you've done an aerial utility conflict analysis with those you know utilities that are there. Thomas thank you for that question and you know it's a it's a very good question and I think it's I actually saw an email come that's come through from Cecilio or excuse me Carmelo Cecilio this today regarding utility conflicts so I'm actually going to hand that off to Carmelo. Can you please respond to Thomas's question? Yes Grant. Yes we did. We've done an analysis of the utility conflicts during the during the environmental phase and we are currently making contact with the utility companies who are in conflict PG&E, AT&T, Comcast and the city and are making arrangements for the relocation and in some relocation of the overhead lines and depending on their disposition may go underground in some locations. But to answer your question yes we have looked at the the footprint against the overhead lines on Edwards and Elliott. Thank you Carmelo and Thomas I hope that is it okay if I follow up that I was trying to find out if they have an idea of the who's the responsible party for the cost of that relocation and if they have an idea of the cost. So I'll speak to that so there are agreements in place that the city has master agreements in place with the different utilities which the city or these agreements identify the shared cost and so to answer your question yes the cost is shared for utility relocation in most instances as far as the specifics about what the cost sharing looks like I don't think I can provide you I might be able to provide you the answer I don't know if it'll be accurate and I believe at this point as far as I think I can give you a figure for overall utility estimated overall utility relocation cost and I believe that is on the order of about two million dollars Carmelo can you confirm that or feel free to correct me as well. Yes I can check on that I don't have that number in front of me but that sounds like the right the correct value. Yeah I guess and to clarify that the right-of-way base which includes any land acquisition and utility relocation so it's it's kind of a two there are two things going on in this in that I guess base is estimated to cost about two point three million dollars and a significant portion and that's why I said two million significant portion of that two point three million dollars is expected to go to utility relocation. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. Before you go to the next one I just wanted to add one last thing if you would like to ask a question through the chat we will also be monitoring the chat and we'll be responding to questions that come through the chat through the chat as well. Steve go ahead. Okay the next person in the queue is Steve Saldis. Steve I'm enabling your microphone and you may state your name for the record if you so choose and then ask your question or make your comment. Yes thank you for the time my name is Steve Saldis and I am the owner of the building at 1955 Cleveland Avenue around the corner of Cleveland in Edwards. First of all the design of the the bridge is beautiful I think it's going to be a great addition to the neighborhood but I do have some outstanding concerns I've asked it a couple of times and I want to hope that you guys would answer it but I think that they're punting a little bit let me give you an example homelessness the only thing I've seen so far is you say police will be offering to patrol more but that doesn't solve the problem when the city's policy is to do nothing about the homeless so again I ask what guarantees or assurances will the neighborhood have that prevents and keeps the homeless from starting or being able to who I know that you're going to do it by landscape but landscapes gets trapped on the plants can get smashed down what are we going to do to assure the neighborhood that the city's not just going to ignore it and allow it like they do with every other bridge in Sonoma County. I do have just a couple follow-ups but these are just questions you don't have to answer them today but just for notes parking when they built dicks they didn't I don't think the neighborhood really understood what was happening and they took away the entire parking on the north side of Edwards it hasn't come back right now as you probably know the parking lot is full of resident parking what's going to happen when dicks and Cottingtowns decides to prevent that from happening we are going to have a parking problem and the bridge is already built it's going to make it difficult to revisit the street and address the parking at that time don't you think this is a good time to address the parking prior to the big bridge going in and you can design parking for more cars on Edwards which will alleviate the problem that's going to happen in dicks down the future final two questions is assessing potential damage across the street we got a big underground parking garage what's going to happen if the property gets damaged from the constant pounding and it starts to crack is there going to be some type of assessment prior and after that would be able to that you know keep a lookout and we can address if there is potential damage from the construction and the final question is financial hardship I have tenants in therapies that teach therapy or work on massages or whatever it might be in here they're going to have to move out there's no way they can operate their business with the constant pounding while they're driving the pillars into the ground does the city have a program that helps compensate for hardship for people that businesses will suffer from the construction for the two years that's my four questions thanks Steve good to hear from you we're going to go ahead and say so while we don't want you know I guess we'll start with with your question about the homeless encampment possibility you know I don't want to I don't want you to feel like we're punting this but you know we do take this issue seriously and you know we want to you know improve conditions in the area by you know adding this structure and also you know keep the business and business owners and residents in the area in consideration through this so you know and this isn't the first time we've heard this this comment or concern and so you know I will go back to we have been working with Santa Rosa PD and you know they've committed to patrolling the area more ensuring that you know they'll be able to reduce loitering or you know long term I guess encampments and then Steven do you uh is there any more detail you want to add to the landscaping approach I know that Mr. Soldis mentioned you know plants will get trampled over time but I think that there are other elements as well that we're considering including you know beyond just just plants do you want to touch on that a little more sure yeah and we appreciate and understand and agree that you know plants have to be maintained and they may not get maintained and we need to design with the assumption that they may not so that's why we intend to make the ground surface not inviting by including large rocks that's another element that should not be able to be removed and built in lighting to the socket to illuminate those areas and make them a little less inviting in that way as well and then as I mentioned Steve we are also designing that space to activate it as much as possible with pedestrian activity rather than leaving large swaths of landscaping under the sheltered aerial structure and while I'm speaking I should also just mention on your third point about um pile driving we do not anticipate pile driven foundations for this project we anticipate drilled shaft foundations which would not result in the kind of vibration and pounding that you were talking about so that's that's the good news on that thanks Stephen for for you know bringing up that point on you know potential impacts because of pile driving I was also going to add that the environmental document identifies that if that was a construction method to that we were going to be using I believe one of the mitigation measures is to perform an assessment you know before and after the activity to ensure that there were no there was no damage caused as results to you know surrounding structures any one of the panelists or project team feel free to correct me if I'm wrong there but I do believe that was part of the environmental document so um Steve to go back to your comment on parking you know Stephen mentioned there will be no net loss of parking on the project and you know as an independent project the city is currently looking at making other improvements on Edwards to make it more inviting for or make it a more inviting connector for pedestrians and cyclists that are utilizing the over crossing and through that project we will also be considering potential other improvements such as adding parking where feasible and I will say that you know that while that project is still being programmed um we expect to have the two the completion of the over crossing and uh bike and ped improvements on Edwards Avenue completing construction around the same time so there's kind of a cohesive feel to go to go with the completion of the uh of the over crossing so and I'm hoping that uh the your question about financial hardship as it related to pile driving was addressed um considering the project team doesn't expect a pile driving to be construction method that we need to use for this project so great thank you very much appreciate your answers okay the next person in the queue is John Sutter uh John I'm going to enable your microphone and you should be able to uh talk your microphone has been unmuted hello yes you can state your name for the record if you so choose then ask your question or make a comment sure my name is John Sutter I live at 618 Victor Drive um one block north of Elliott I've lived here over 20 years um and I'm a strong supporter of the bridge um thank you and um I'm three blocks from the Elliott touchdown so um a number of little disconnected comments um I like the mesh idea versus chain link fencing chain link fencing and prisons seem to kind of go together in the same terminology um be bulb out I encourage that I think that's a great idea you know keep those travel distances for pedestrians as um short as possible and I I think of the comment of a major city urban planner who said if you want a successful downtown build it around the pedestrians not around cars um so just throw that out as for the homeless issue it's an issue everywhere once or twice a week I have to go out in front of my business on Central Avenue and clean up the debris that's left by the homeless and had a number of incidents it's a it's a statewide problem if not a nationwide problem part of the curse of having this wonderful client but of California is that it is inviting to the homeless um and uh it's we're not going to solve it with um uh you know minor changes to to to a structure like a bridge um it's a much bigger issue than that um as far as um the earth shaking from driving piles um I'm one block from the three-story uh science building being built on the JC and last summer probably for two months I heard this rada tat tat tat tat of piles being I don't think they're actually piles I think they were pouring in gravel and pounding the gravels as well as I could tell um the noise was annoying um as far as the ground shaking yeah no no ground shaking just kind of an annoying noise so um I I will just wrap up by saying Mr Grover I think you're doing a wonderful job that will be a credit to um our city for uh decades um I think this is going to be good for Cottingtown it's going to be good for SMART it's going to be good for the JC and it's going to make something memorable memorable on our freeway that help will will help it distinguish our city from other cities um on highway 101 and my final comment is I think it would be incredibly appropriate if somehow we can tie this bridge into this wonderful resource we have of the Snoopy Museum and our history of being the home to the creator of Snoopy and I don't have a specific suggestion um as to how that can be done but please design people there's got to be some way to make this Snoopy's bridge and that's my comments thank you thank you John uh I don't think there was a question there but I we really appreciate your comments and uh thanks for joining us this evening right the next person in the queue is Jan Ogren um Jan I'm going to unmute your microphone give you permission to talk you can state your name for the record if you so choose then ask your question or make a comment okay thanks my name's Jan Ogren and uh I'm a member of the bike coalition and this is really exciting to finally after so many years see it and it looks like a beautiful design um I was trying to see what the roadway actually looks like in one shot it looked like there are two bike lanes and one pedestrian and another one it looked like they're kind of two bike lanes and pedestrian two pedestrian so I was wondering if you have a detail of just exactly what the um the roadway will look like and then the other thing is wondering in terms of for biking uh how is the access to the smart train oh thank you there you and uh you know in terms of uh getting over to smart what are the other roads and do they have bike lanes and and all thank you thanks Jan for your questions um I don't know if we need to uh it sounds like your question about what the um the actual I guess surface will look like as far as the usability for bikes and pedestrians was answered by uh this extra slide here um as far as the connection to the smart station uh the closest um smart station is uh the station on Gernville uh road and the connection um I believe there is extending down Edwards um to range and then um along uh Gernville um but Nancy Adams our transportation planner if you want to add on to that uh feel free to and also add as Steven mentioned there will be way finding signage installed as part of this project and one of the destinations indicated on the way findings signage will be the that smart station okay yeah the uh next person in our queue is Dylan P Dylan P I'm enabling your permission your microphone has been unmuted you may state your name for the record if you so choose and then ask your question or make a comment hello yes yeah uh my name is Dylan Pindle uh I'm really excited for the project um it definitely is uh overdue and will be very beneficial uh in the future um the crossings at both Edwards and Elliott um so the the bridge will be a part of a network as a whole so I think it's very important that uh traffic calming uh is added um to these streets to allow bikes and pedestrians to safely get to the bridge and connect to the rest of the network I know that there's uh future plans for like armory for example which I don't think anyone would enjoy cycling down right now um and things like the the bulb outs um are very uh very welcomed um like I said needing to get people tuned from uh the way finding signs are also a part of a whole system as this bridge is uh I think the way finding signs we have could be updated um I know it's a part of a much larger thing that goes beyond the bridge um but they don't exactly stand out they don't have units of measure like distances uh between one feature or destination at another uh maybe some sort of graphic as well displaying active transportation um and you know more use of sharers or signs to help promote these uh pathways that you are intending for the way finding to route someone through thanks for your comments Dylan I don't think there was a question there but as mentioned the city is currently looking at performing some improvements along Edwards and you know with the primary focus on improving bike and pedestrian facilities and with those improvements that uh there's a high probability that we'll be adding traffic calming measures as well um I really appreciate your comments on way finding uh as far as indicating distances and possibly even using a graphic I think that that would go a long way with um users and and their sense of of I guess spatial sense as they use the use the over crossing I also wanted to make a quick comment here for those of you who needed the the closed captioning I wanted to make note that Jamie Smith has made a comment in the chat that provides the link to the the project website so by Friday I think Jamie said that that this video should be posted we'll have the captions on there and you can you know review the video at that time and if you didn't feel like you had an opportunity to ask a question or make a comment please feel free to contact me directly at the end of this slideshow there will be my contact information will be shown so all right sorry Steve let's go ahead move on to the next question okay sure the next person in the queue is David Harris David I'm going to enable your permissions your microphone has been unmuted you may state your name for the record if you so choose and then ask your question or make your comment thank you this is I can't count all of these types of sessions that I've participated in at this point I've been watching this potential for an over crossing since around 2000 and so I want to one raise a question and get some comment then I want to make another series after that I really appreciate the mode separation idea it's once you see it it's quite obvious but there are very few bike pedestrian paths that have accomplished that but I would like to ask you do the national guidelines or design organizations or caltrans any of them have you know guidelines for this type of separation or will caltrans even comment on this issue because it's not really on their property it's it's on the city's bridge but it crosses there right away is this an issue that will get reviewed by caltrans and one and two are their national guidelines or publications on this issue of mode separation in bicycle pedestrian pathways answer that now and move forward after that right yeah go ahead if you could comment on that now yeah so Stephen I could probably answer the first question first part of the question but why don't I I'll let you answer that both parts if you're comfortable doing so sure so this type of mode separation was first used in the bay area on the first bridge I was involved in the Berkeley bike bridge around 20 years ago and it was approved by caltrans for that project and we've subsequently used it on a number of other projects I'm the chair of the caltrans pedestrian advisory committee and I guess it must be about four years ago now that we did an international study of mode separation around the world and presented that to caltrans staff so I guess the short answer is caltrans is in the process of improving the highway design design guidelines for pedestrian and bicycle facilities in many respects and one of the things that they are looking at with the advice of the committee that I chair is most there are many many precedents for this and I'd be happy to share them for for this type of mode separation I'd be happy to share them subsequently via the project website okay thank you so the caltrans will actually be interested in this even though it is oh absolutely right okay oh yes they they are very interested in every detail okay okay well so the other comments I want to make are with regard to the construction time I think the planning time has been extended on this certainly appears to me to some degree related to the fact of the cable state design is more involved than a more off-the-shelf alternative of a trust design a tight arched trust I've made that comment in the past but I would like to ask about the you know there's a two-year timeline for this construction and I'd like a little more detail and discussion it seems to me that the cable state each section has to be placed one at a time right and what's it how many cables how many sections is that deck going to be composed of and and how what's the timeline that once you've got the tower and are ready to start placing sections how long is that going to take I mean is that going to take a good bit of the two-year timeline or what is the timeframe for the and the process for actually assembling cable state deck across the well highly traveled the 101 freeway Stephen I'm gonna or Carmelo I'm gonna defer that question to you as well I I can't say that we've developed the correction process scheme in detail however we do anticipate that this will be that each section will be approximately 28 feet long and there will be temporary supports with lane closures just individual lane closures the entire freeway would never get shut down and I would anticipate a matter of weeks for the actual erection over the freeway maybe maybe months but not much longer than that Carmelo do you want to add to that or the only thing I could mention is that we do require the closure of 101 at night that's to erect and remove any temporary supports for the superstructure rule that'll sit on and then then traffic is open so that's only done at night like not in both directions at the same time but it's staged that way but as Stephen mentioned it will be staged so that there's always access through through Elliott and Edwards and only will there be temporary closures and traffic routed for the temporary supports required to support the structure while it's being installed David I hope that answers your question did you have any follow-up questions oh I had gotten muted but no I guess I will leave it at that but the the two-year timeline where is the time the approaches the east and west approaches are gonna take months each I could suggest we could follow up with a little bit more of a preliminary breakdown on the construction schedule and post it on the website to provide the detail that David's looking for at least to the extent that we can anticipate it at this stage well I will add to comment that you know getting people back on to public transit and involved in also the transportation the sooner the better and a two-year timeline if anything could be done to shorten this and you know smarts next tax measure will be on the ballot in 2024 and this bridge is with the current schedule it's shown will be a year after that that it gets finished anything that would show that we are making progress toward making our public transit infrastructure more usable would be a positive in influencing the public with regard to the utility when it takes us so long to get access to the smart station on the west side there it's that's the concern thank you David we are always looking for ways to expedite our our design and construction schedule and we are certainly you know cognizant of of the of the time so appreciate the comment and yep we'll we'll I think we'll move on to the next next commenter thank you okay our next person in the queue is eris weaver eris I'm going to enable your permissions and unmute your microphone you may state your name for the record if you so choose and then ask your question or make a comment hi thank you eris we've run the executive director of the Sonoma county bicycle coalition and we have been pushing for this project for about the entirety of our 20 year existence so I'm so happy to see further movement towards it getting done and I'm really happy with the design um many of the things that other callers have spoken about like traffic calming and wayfinding and finding ways to make sure that the path is used for the purpose for which it is intended and need our global problems everywhere not just in this project and other parts of the city um I did want to speak to the question about getting to that um uh north smart station it may not be as bad as I've never walked it I only tried to bicycle it and it is really hairy uh in fact if I have meetings up at that end of town say at the county center or whatever I will actually ride my bike to the downtown train station rather than that train station because it feels safer um if you're going from Coddingtown west to go to the train station you are on the north side of the road but the train station is on the south side so you have to pass the station use the light to make a either make a u-turn or do a two-stage crossing with the crosswalk uh and then come back east to get to the station or what I will admit everybody even though it's not technically legal and we're just you know other people do is ride your bike the wrong way on the sidewalk um to get to the station it's really hairy traffic wise there so I'm really hoping that the city um in conjunction with smart to figure out some uh connector to that train station that would be more friendly and I'll tell you I've never seen very many people especially very many bikes at that station compared to some of the other ones but all of that nitpickiness aside I just want to say how thrilled I am this project is moving along and I hope it's finished before I retire so that I can ride on it during my work day thank you thanks Harris so appreciate the comment and um we'll we're definitely taking into consideration uh ease of access to the smart stations as we anticipate this over crossing to be a prime connector for bike and pedestrians to another to to the smart stations so thanks for your comment Steve are there any other um comments or questions uh I don't believe so but I see that um uh oh there there is one more two more our next person in the queue is is Thomas uh Thomas I'm going to enable your microphone and you may state your name for the record if you so choose and ask your question or make your comment yes thank you it is uh Thomas else again and I'm glad it's a meeting and not a public meeting and not a public hearing um that way I can ask another question we have been following this you know as long as eras and and before with the transportation land use coalition and um I was at the the sort of two design surettes one was involved with the downtown in in about I about 2000 or so I think and um a number of it was a rudat and the intent people thought that this was before smart we were trying to get transmission land use is the one that paid for the study to get uh Peter Calthorpe to do this two county study and so on and uh to get smart and um uh no pun intended there get smart with never mind um uh but the design surettes then people were talking about having the next northern station from the downtown station would be just above college and there'd be an over crossing that came over bear cub so on and that was that station tried to communicate to them that station was too close to the downtown it would never be there smart would never make a station that close and so the over crossing at bear cub could not be done and that's why we have elliot and that's much better and it conjoins if you will or does join to the northern station which is at gernville road and if it had been at bear cub then it would have been a lot further to go and much more complicated as far as the traffic regarding the the bike way along smart and people to get to the actual smart station because it never was going to be a bear cub um so it has been a long process we're really glad that it's moving uh but one thing i think that is maybe missing and i'm going to ask and i know that it's a challenge is that it's been said that there's not a something here that identifies sanarosa or sinoma county or the red you know like for instance the redwood highway is what we've been forever and there were redwoods along the highway and there have been a lot of efforts to remove these redwoods but that was a thing that identified us the redwood highway and and the the redwood area here and um we don't have something with this bridge that that does that and that's why we proposed some art to be on it and that art was submitted to the design review board um but it wasn't considered and they said at that time they said well we didn't receive any art so we really couldn't consider any art um but that was it was a submittal of that art and to be placed on there that does relate to snoopy and it does relate to smart and the question is if it's done tastefully and you know um artistically and and not overwhelming but minimally can that be considered we want to have that considered that that art could be on there that connects both smart and the Schultz museum uh the places that makes it a place making structure and that's my question in a way thank you thanks thomas um so i think to to boil on your question is um can art on the structure be considered uh or will it be considered and um to i guess to to be more specific would um art relative to schultz uh and peanuts animations be be considered so um what i'll i'll kind of just regurgitate what was stated at the design review board um design review board members felt that the over crossing itself um should be the the art piece the actual structure spanning the the 101 um where the designer review board members felt that art would have a place with this project um could be at the landings um however and that's not really within the designer review board's purview to make a decision like that and so that's why i mentioned the staff will be going staff in the design team will be going to the art and public places uh committee in uh february and providing an update and um soliciting input from the committee about their feeling uh on how art could be included uh well af art should be included and be if so how it should be included and um i what i'll say is i don't think just because the designer review board made made a comment um stating that you know the span structure itself should be the art that it completely um rules out the possibility for for our work on the structure um but i i do expect that the art and public places committee will take their comments into consideration when um considering uh how art could be uh how and if art uh can be included in the project itself um and i guess to to get a little bit to talk about the peanuts um artistic uh i guess style or the inclusion of the peanuts um animations the way that the process has been described to me is uh as part of this meeting committee meeting that we'll be going to in february we will be uh giving a background uh asking input for how and if the um uh art should be included and then also you know if we receive input uh that yes we should include art and you know what the parameters of the artwork inclusion should be um we will then prepare requests for proposals of artists and then um go back to the art public places committee and they will uh ultimately review and approve that solicitation which will then be released and um through that rfp we will i guess collect proposals uh on i guess different ways art could be included and i guess through that process uh the schultz foundation um could certainly um supply a proposal which would be evaluated for inclusion on project okay our next person in the queue is jenny bard jenny bard i'm going to enable your permissions your microphone has been unmuted you may state your name for the record if you so choose and then ask your question and make your comment hi thank you yes i'm jenny bard i live at 641 oak street and i am very excited to be here again to support the overpass and the design i think it's amazing and wonderful as others have said we've been waiting for the bridge for um for more than 20 years so it's it's um quite um momentous i would say so i've lived in san aroza for 35 years mostly in the jc neighborhood and um i'm also currently the president of the snowman county bicycle coalition yeah so many people did speak at the design review board for the opportunity to explore how we can showcase our city's world-renowned schultz snoopy connection and designs were shared with the peanuts gang peeking over the bridge with which i thought were wonderful and i uh would love to see bicycle and other art and other creative design elements incorporated so that the bridge pathway the entrances the exits showcase cycling and walking and it's not just because of the importance of of walking and cycling as much as that would be enough unto itself but we really need to showcase as a city our commitment to addressing climate change and perhaps place making art can do that the bridge is a bold statement and yes it is i mean you you board said that the bridge itself is art but the passersby are not going to know that necessarily um you also mentioned that you are working with srjc design the landing with safety of pedestrians and cyclists in mind and i would love to know more about that and if what public process could be made available to that as others have pointed out especially eras and um dylan i'd like to ask uh what additional bicycle infrastructure will be considered to make bicycling safe and inviting such as protected bicycle lanes lower car speeds on the key corridors and connectors so that cyclists of all ages and abilities will feel comfortable and safe riding from their home on a bicycle to and from the bridge so uh i am also thrilled to see this project come to fruition and um just wanted to thank you all for being a part of it and having this meeting thank you jenny um i sounded like there might have been a question or two in there um but i don't know if did uh were you expecting a response to the questions or did you just want to make a comment let's see am i still muted nope we can hear you oh okay yeah no i um i i guess i was asking about the the process for designing um safe infrastructure in and around the landings and also the um the potential for the bridge to to be a bolder statement to the city's commitment to address climate change right um so i'm actually going to ask steven uh as the project team has been working with the jc's housing development team to i guess iron out uh what that approach is going to look like in the um i guess uh ways we're going to you know improve the interaction between the different modes uh so steven um i know it's only recently that we met with the that team and i don't know if you have an update that you can share uh that came out of that meeting well the the purview of that coordination is the immediate touchdown area and i think jenny is really asking about connecting to the touchdown areas like along elliott along edwards am i am i correct jenny oh she's muted again uh yes and a wider connections not just those but the the major corridor is leading to those streets so i think it's back to you grant budget right um so i don't want to repeat myself so i can talk about you know the way finding and the improvements that are planned for future projects but um i i think that you're probably aware of that so i'm actually going to ask uh nancy adams here on the line i don't know if you want to add to any anything uh or if you have anything to add to um beyond the way finding and um you know future projects independent of the over crossing we have planned hey nancy yep we can hear you can you hear me yes yeah so thank you so just as an as an introduction nancy adams with the transportation and public works department and so you know there's been a lot of questions about connectivity and i saw in the chat um you know jenny's crossing is also a project that we have in our capron permit program and as i don't know if many of you know but we we tried to get that constructed um a few years back and we got the capronia public utilities commission to do that um we actually had to get that refreshed um because it expired this year so we have two more years to potentially build an at grade crossing at jenny's there at the tracks and right now you know if you're a cyclist you know there's there's options i i know that grant talked about using girmable road but you know as a cyclist and pedestrian it's a little bit of a longer trip can go can go down jenny's it's a it's a it's a bike boulevard and it can get you right to jenny's and the smart path um and go on up either way you can you know a cyclist can go north to the station or south um downtown so so that's an option um you know girmable road right now because of the crossing not existing at jenny's we we um we have installed some signs a couple years ago that wayfinding signs that help you know the pedestrian get along girmable road you know knowing that they can't use um to the jenny's crossing so um you know that ideally i think getting the jenny's crossing is really a big piece of this puzzle and that that's like the long-term goal to to get that um to make that east-west connection really you know locked in um so and then on the on the east side we are actually um we we're in the process of designing uh like a a class or cycle cycle track or kind of a separated facility on armory drive which would connect up to to elliott there so that that provides some connection there on the east side um you know once you get to mendicino it's you you can take some choices through the jc neighborhood and humble bike boulevard you know most riders won't won't choose to use mendicino it's a little more high volume speed limits a little higher so people could noodle through the jc and get to to humble bike boulevard a little a little calmer straight for for the less experienced cyclist so and that gets you downtown um as well so you know it's it's a work in progress and and i know there's several people on this call jenny one of the speakers i know she was really involved when we were working on the humble bike boulevard but it's a it's a work in progress and this is i mean this project that we're talking about now is like of the lynchpin right to to kind of bring all these little incremental components that we've been working on um you know in terms of overall network connectivity for cyclists and pedestrian so i hope that answers your question and i i can say to you that um i just texted um my boss rob sprinkle and he advised me that i believe that there's going to be a crossing that smart um i think is potentially going to be putting on gernville road just east of the station there and i think um i'm not sure what the schedule is on that but i was unaware of that so i think that's something that smart will be putting in and i i think eventually will connect to their to the pathway north of gernville road which has not yet been constructed so i think you know we're we're all working on this um and um like i said i hope that answers some of these questions about connectivity um for this project so yeah that that's all for me right now grant thanks thanks nancy i really appreciate your response and uh jenny you had one other question about how the project can be a bolder statement to the city's commitment to climate action um to to be you know completely honest with you i haven't um i personally haven't considered it i don't know um what consideration has been made by the rest of the project team at this point but it's certainly a question that um you know we're going to take i'll take from this meeting uh back to you know the internal city staff team as well as our design team and um you know look at ways and and how we can um you know make uh make that statement uh about climate action and uh so yeah thank you for the question i'm sorry i don't have a better answer for you at this point uh grant i could just mention that uh it's a small thing but one thing that we have been looking into we've been we've been speaking with um a number of companies that provide automated counters of bikes and heads and um we're looking to find a way to incorporate those uh in the project so that the project can you know announce itself as to how much it's helping get people out of their cars it's a small thing but it's one little piece that's it that's a great great point steven thank you and i think that extra that recommendation actually may have come from a community member so yep all right uh steve do we have any other hands raised uh in the in the audience or were there any questions that came through in the chat i see no more hands raised grant um oh hold on one just went up the next uh next person in the queue is judy kennedy uh judy i'm going to enable your permissions and unmute your microphone you can state your name for the record if you so choose and then ask your question or make your comment can you hear me yes yes thank you um i have listened very carefully to um some of the proposals around um art i'm here as an art advocate and um i do see this over crossing as a incredible opportunity to make a statement about santa rosa about art and about commitment to climate change commitment to climate action as jenny bard pointed out so when it came to the different speakers that that like the the project very very much and they would like to see snoopy somehow um embedded in the project and i just want to say that i don't think snoopy is going to make a statement about santa rosa's commitment to climate action but i do think that we can use whatever screening is going to go across the um the freeway whether it's um the screening that was described earlier or chain link fencing that can be utilized to create that meaningful statement not a cartoon character but a meaningful statement um i don't know what cal trans has as far as um words or movable parts or whatever they have a lot of restrictions i know for what goes across because they don't want to interfere with the motorist but i think simple figures somehow can be incorporated that can that can stay santa rosa's commitment to climate action and have the pedestrian and bicycle over crossing that brings both the west and east together you know it's a beautiful opportunity and i don't want it wasted i do want to see art and i don't want to see snoopy and i and and i think that jenny's on the right track here with um something that makes that that climate action statement thank you very much thank you for your comment jenny steve is there another hand raised at this point i do not see any uh attendees hands raised but i do see uh oscar one of the panelists says hand raised oscar i think you may have a question or comment from the chat yep i've been monitoring monitoring the chat and there are a few of the comments that have come in so i'll read them for everyone and the interpreters uh roberta writes thank you for separately designating travel paths for pedestrians and folks on wheels uh roberta also wrote regarding connecting to the smart station the west end of edwards ends at herbert the missing piece is a connection to the smart trail that is a short distance from the end of herbert i'm guessing there is a right-of-way issue related to the codding town mall apartments it appears that there are perimeter driveways very close to the smart trail could something be negotiated for the use of those and what is in that gap between those driveways and the trail such that it cannot be used to create a connector so i'll leave that question there to see if um any panelists want to respond to roberta roberta that's a good question i i i'm having trouble picturing exactly where it is you're you're referring to um but so i don't think i can answer the question appropriately i don't if anyone else on the panel would like to respond i'll i'm happy to open it up if roberta would like to come off of mute she could clarify her question if she raises her hand oh yep i see her hand raised okay roberta i'm gonna unmute your mic and um you can state your name for the record if you so choose and uh then ask your question or make your comment hi there i am i have to unmute myself too um thank you uh roberta delgado uh also a member of the bicycle coalition in sinema county biker chips i've ridden a lot in that area i used to live in uh northwest san rosa i'm really glad to see this bridge so when you and i confess i was looking at google maps and i've only ridden to the end of of herbert a couple of times trying to find the way um so but so if you just look at a map you can see that the cutting-town apartments are near there and they're unnamed draw what appear to be then driveways that circulate around those apartments and it's all just tantalizingly close to where the um the smart trail is so i just not sure what you know i i haven't i don't have direct vision recently to know what is in that space between either those driveways or her birds that it can't be used or as a connector so i am looking at that google view google aerial image right now and i do see where you're referring to um without too much knowledge other than you know pretty general my suspicion is that the um you know that's all that's private property that we as the city have not considered as a connector to the to the smart trail but we will certainly take your comment and question into consideration especially when we start looking at the different potential connections to bike facilities along edwards and to the smart station thank you so grant this is nancy yeah that that i think came up as part of the north stationary specific plan conversation and and you're right that is private property and and therein lies that you know the the the conversation around how how you know what if there's an opportunity to have any kind of public access across that so um you know it's certainly something that is still a question i think adding nancy appreciate that oscar were there any other comments or questions uh because i came to the chat there are additional comments and i'll read those um if people have any other questions they'd like to ask they can raise their hand as i'm reading uh julie wrote this has been such a long time coming thank you to all those who kept up the pressure to make this project happen julie also wrote yes to traffic calming referring to the crosswalk across edwards michael wrote i hope the city realizes that unhoused people will probably still camp out under the over crossing hostility against homelessness needs to end until this country can fix the problem and that santa rosa pd can't fix the problem uh steve wrote uh the pd cannot fix the problem the city should set policy that prevents outside camping on public property and instruct the pd to enforce it uh john wrote directional signs are a great idea uh michael agreed that it's not easy getting to smart going westbound on a bicycle uh robin agreed with eris regarding access to conningtown smart uh robin says the only safe reasonable access at the moment is to use the sidewalk on the south side of currentville road steve wrote art is a nice art is nice and adds value but this is not a schultz bridge there are many art concepts that can be considered and should be looking and should be looking into after the bridge is built uh steve also agreed with julie a d woltering wrote the overall structure as proposed appears quite artful and would bring positive attention to the city of santa rosa other forms of art could be at the landing points uh john wrote the city needs uh planning traffic routes at each end of the bridge to concurrent with the bridge planning jenny wrote a bicycle counter is a great idea steve wrote a small few people who love snoopy should not be directing what arched be on the bridge this should be a community as a whole once we determine where the art should be placed the bridge should be clean and the design as it is displayed in the proposal is a nice art piece he writes do not turn this into an entrance into dizzy land with cartoon characters d woltering wrote that perhaps the screening could depict a range of bicyclists and pedestrians and michael wrote cartoon characters can get a meaningful message across but agrees that demonstrative art should be placed at the landings uh john and lastly john and judy who agrees with john uh brings up the rainbow paint on the tunnel north of the golden gate bridge as an art example and that is the comments that i see thanks oscar and thank you all uh who commented through the chat we will catalog the comments and take into consideration from the design steve brown are there any other hands raised at this time at this point grant there no more hands raised okay well with no further questions i'd like to express my sincere appreciation and thank members of the public all the panelists interpreters and host for participating tonight next slide please we appreciate your attendance and hearing your input on the santa rosa highway 101 bicycle and pedestrian over crossing project as i mentioned earlier in the meeting uh the next steps include moving into the detailed design of this project which we expect to complete in july of 2023 and construction to begin in uh october 2023 as well with the project construction timeline expected to take about two years uh the city anticipates completion of the over crossing in the fall of 2025 when it will be open to the public for use i want to remind everyone that we have a project specific web page for this project at srcity.org it's or g forward slash bike ped over crossing so srcity.org forward slash bike ped over crossing and it looks like this recording should be posted by friday and we will include captions on the the recorded version uh and again for those of you who may have um questions or comments um after the recording has been posted please feel free to contact me um at the contact or through the contact information posted on the slide um also on the web page you'll see information on project status uh and you also have the ability to subscribe to receive email updates like that uh i think that concludes the meeting and so i want to thank everyone again and wish you a good night