City of Berkeley Transportation staff held a community meeting on Wednesday, March 19, to discuss and take comments on the Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon proposed for installation at the Ashby/Hillegass intersection. The presentation document is available online (http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/uploadedFiles/Public_Works/Level_3_-_Transportation/HandoutAshbyHillegass_2014-03-19.pdf);  Project Manager Geoff Rubendall <grubendall@ci.berkeley.ca.us> is accepting public comments until April 30, 2014 at 5:00 PM.

Transportation Division Manager Farid Javandel provided an updated status report of all Highway 13 corridor settlement projects at the March 20 Transportation Commission meeting. The City completed two of the easy projects (installation of bike route stencils on Domingo/El Camino/Uplands and high visibility crosswalks at Ashby/Martin Luther King Jr. Way) earlier this year. Projects that require encroachment permits from Caltrans are in various stages of the approval process. Berkeley has been sharing the design concepts with and getting feedback from Caltrans from the start, so no surprises are expected. After Caltrans approves the final designs and issues the encroachment permits, staff will present the projects to Berkeley’s Transportation Commission and City Council for their final blessing.

Installation of traffic signal improvements at Ashby/Telegraph is planned for Summer 2014. Construction of intersection improvements at Ashby/Claremont, Tunnel/Uplands, Ashby/College, Ashby/Hillegass, and Ashby/Ninth is expected to begin during Fall 2014. The remaining two projects at Tunnel/Oak Ridge and Tunnel/Domingo are planned for Summer 2015.

Staff are confident that their construction cost estimates are on target and that all of the projects can be built as budgeted. Highway 13 Corridor Improvement Project cost estimates and background details are posted on the Transportation Division website: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/SubUnitHome.aspx?id=14498.