Received July 16, 2013 Jul 23 2013 Ventura Countygrand Jury Honorable Brian J. Back, Presiding Judge Ventura County*

set at "a constant speed" along Victoria Avenue. The nature and character of Victoria Avenue changes along the corridor. As required, each of these differing character segments must be considered separately for the purpose of setting speed limits. See additional detail in attachments 4 and 5,

southbound US 101 connection.

actually been a decrease in traffic volumes along the Victoria Avenue corridor. See Attachment 2. Caltrans published data shows a reduction of highway traffic between 2008 and 20011 (2011 Traffic Volumes on the State Highway System, Caltrans). "Very Heavy" in reference to traffic flow is a subjective description and not a

quantitative factual statement. Victoria Avenue is classified as a principal arterial roadway and, as an eight lane facility, is designed to carry higher traffic volumes. The City Council has adopted a peak hour level of service threshold of "D" for intersections in the City. The level of service at all of the intersections along the Victoria Avenue Corridor are better than this threshold standard (2009 VCTC Congestion Management Program). Poli Street • P. O. Box 99 • Ventura, California 93002-0099 • 805.654.7800 • cityofventura.net There is no supporting evidence in the report, nor has the City received

Recommendations R-o1: Speed limits in the City are set according to the California Vehicle Code (CVC) and California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (CMUTCD) as follows: CVC Section 627 • CVC Section 22358 • CVC Section 22358.5 • CVC Section 40802 & 40803 MUTCD Section 2B.13 Setting speed limits arbitrarily so that they are "constant" and "unchanging" along the entire corridor is not in conformance with State law. See Attachments 4 and 5 for details. Traffic signal synchronization is a traffic engineering term used for isolated corridors and not complicated a grid system of roadways such as are in the City of Ventura. All traffic signals in the City are timed using a system called traffic signal coordination. Coordination timing is set to minimize traffic delays across an entire traffic roadway network rather than managing corridors separately. Traffic signal coordination timing in the City is currently managed through a traffic signal system that controls all 136 traffic signals. The coordination timing is set so as to not be in violation of CVC Section 22401. The City has on its work plan for the 2013-2014 work plan a project to re-evaluate the traffic signal coordination timing along several primary arterial corridors in the City, including Victoria Avenue. Setting Victoria Avenue as a primary synchronized arterial will have negative impacts to public travel along Telegraph Road, Telephone Road and other local roadways. For this reason, the City sets its traffic signal timing as a coordinated system rather than an isolated corridor.

complaints from the public to substantiate the statement that "there is confusion among drivers along the corridor..." There is no supporting factual evidence in the report to substantiate untrained

"observation" that traffic on streets paralleling Victoria Avenue is speeding. Victoria Avenue does not have a parallel, non-arterial, street network that is a viable option for most drivers of the corridor, nor has the City received any complaints from those adjacent neighborhoods about the proliferation of speeding traffic on streets parallel to Victoria Avenue. "Heavy" in reference to traffic flow is a subjective description and not a

quantitative factual statement. Kimball Road and Johnson Drive are classified as principal arterial roadways and are designed to carry higher traffic volumes. The City Council has adopted a peak hour level of service threshold of "D" for intersections in the City. The level of service for all of the intersections along the two corridors are better than this threshold standard (2009 VCTC Congestion Management Program). "Very Heavy" in reference to traffic flow is a subjective description and not a

quantitative factual statement. Wells Road south of State Highway 126 within the City is classified as a principal arterial roadway and, as a six lane facility, is designed to carry higher traffic volumes. The City Council has adopted a peak hour level of service threshold of "D" for intersections in the City. The level of service for all of the intersections along the Wells Road Corridor within the City are better than this threshold standard (2009 VCTC Congestion Management Program). The reference document is not related to the "issues" raised in the preceding

statements regarding traffic speed, traffic volumes, and traffic flow. The reference document is a policy related to yellow and all-red traffic signal change intervals. There is no supporting evidence in the report, nor has the City received

complaints from the public to substantiate the statement that there are "...confusing left turn arrows..." at any of the traffic signals along the Victoria Avenue corridor. There is no supporting evidence in the report, nor has the City received

complaints from the public to substantiate the statement that "drivers have complained that quick breaking may result in a rear-end collision...". The report is correct that other jurisdictions have increased their traffic signal

yellow clearance interval times. However, City staff review of the Grand Jury reference documents and discussions with staff at one of those agencies indicate that they were done only to come into compliance with State law and traffic engineering professional recommended practices. The City of Ventura's traffic signal yellow clearance interval times are already in compliance with State law and traffic engineering professional recommended practices. Findings The City has the following responses to the Grand Jury findings: