Travis County Commissioners Court
November 23, 2004
Item 2
Number 2 is to consider and take appropriate action on request regarding
a traffic regulation prohibiting through trucks on yager lane between cameron
road and parmer in precinct 1. We had a discussion a few weeks back on this
item and there were some items that we asked for follow-up on. So this is
for a status report, follow-up comments and any other things that residents
would like to say.
>> thanks. Joe gieselman and david greer with the transportation
and natural resources department. Let me start by giving you a briefing on
conversations with the city with regard to cameron road.
>> i've talked with several different departments at the
city and basically have already done some work to cameron road. They've widened
the pavement over the low water crossing bridge by an extra two feet or so.
They're planning on installing some guardrail there. In the portion of designing
the guardrail right now because they've got to put in the solid concrete because
they recently put in a lot of concrete underneath the bridge to stiffen the
bridge andville in some voids under the -- fill in some voids under the bridge.
After that's installed they will put in striping, they are going to put in
curb warning signs and object markers. And we're putting up a street sign
at parmer and cameron which was requested two weeks ago. And they're also
clearing some vegetation along the roadway. They've already done some of that
more and plan on doing more vegetation clearing in the next couple of weeks.
They're planning on getting all this done by December 15th.
>> of this year?
>> this year, yes. [ laughter ] they're premarking the road
right now.
>> hooray, applaud to the city of Austin. And that's it right
there.
>> well, I don't know if there's any citizens here to speak
on this. And I i do know that there was really a concern when we did bring
this up before the Commissioners court, and the concern was, of course, dealing
with the regulations prohibiting through truck traffic on yager. Between parmer
and cameron road. However, there was a lot of concern that was brought up
by the persons that not only resided on yager lane, but also resided and lived
on cameron road and fear that that particular -- the fear at that particular
meeting was that, yes, we can basically look at and support the efforts of
taking through truck traffic off of yager between parmer and cameron; however,
that will divert and direct truck traffic on cameron road. Now, when -- when
you did speak with the city during this evaluation as far as the improvements
that they will be making on cameron road and also the city having the ownership
of cameron road between yager and parmer lane, did you ask them and state
to them the concern that the community -- that the residents have on cameron
road with through truck traffic there? Because it's my understanding that
the county, and according to legal, do not have any say of installing no through
truck traffic signs on streets that we do not have jurisdiction on or authority
to do that. So was this at all mentioned to the city of Austin?
>> yes, it was. And I even mentioned about maybe restricting
trucks on cameron road and what their thoughts were on that. They at this
time do not want to restrict trucks down cameron road. They want to evaluate
the situation after we restrict trucks on yager, if we do restrict trucks
on yager. They want to evaluate the impact on cameron road and then decide
if they want to restrict them on cameron also. At this time they don't want
to restrict trucks down cameron and they want to make the decision themselves
to do that. Okay. But I知 still -- I知 still at a disadvantage, and that is
hearing the folks that have been annexed in the city of Austin jurisdiction,
and of course being impacted by what we're doing here on taking trucks off
-- what we can take trucks off or however the truck traffic may be going through
another route, which will cause I think greater harm or more harm in this
particular area, but also relieving another situation. So I知 really concerned
about that. And I guess what I maybe need to do is get with the city of Austin
to find out when the evaluation will take place and when we can look at the
possibility of putting no through truck traffic signs on both those roads,
yaigered and also cameron. So that's where I need to look at, and I guess,
joe, can you tell me if there's any possibility we can maybe expedite this
as quickly as possible. I understand that the December 15th day as far as
the striping, sign striping and all for guardrails will be done by the city
in December, but is there any way possible for us to expedite and look at
how long it will take to evaluate two -- those no through truck traffic signs
on what we agreed to do?
>> it's my understanding on what david just said is it's
pred date kateed on this action of this court denying truck traffic on yager
lane. If we don't do that I don't see why they will do it from cameron road.
They will start their investigation after we have restricted truck traffic
on yager. So you have already caused the impact to occur with no knowledge
whether or not the city will restrict truck traffic on cameron. No one wants
this truck traffic, but you now have two routes and so it's for you restricting
trucks from any of the system that is a separate issue. In the absence of
that, if you have limited options and I知 afraid it going to be a choice of
the the best you can do with what you've got. If you do want to restrict trucks,
then you've got to tell them to do that. One decision of the court will be
not to restrict truck traffic at all.
>> I guess I need to hear from the folks in the community
also, but I did definitely hear the ones that lived on yager. I知 sorry.
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> I have two or three myself. Commissioner Daugherty?
>> let me make sure I understand this. We do have the authority
to restrict truck traffic on yager, but we do not have the authority to do
it on cameron road because it's the city of Austin, right?
>> right.
>> now, having said -- or, joe, you saying that we don't
have really a legitimate roadway out there that can accommodate truck traffic,
that does not include parmer lane to -- parmer lane to 290 is certainly those
roads are adequate for truck traffic. And david, I think we identified last
week that the additional miles were -- were between three and six miles?
>> it's a difference of three miles.
>> it's a difference of three miles. My gosh, I don't believe
that we've got to hear from everybody. They said loud and clear two weeks
ago or whatever it was, it is bother some to me that we clearly need to restrict
truck traffic on yager lane. And we have that -- I mean, me personally, I
would say that if I had the same situation in my precinct, I would at least
say to the city of Austin, I would hope that you would also restrict it on
cameron road and force this traffic -- I mean, six miles -- I don't mind going
to the end of the street and saying, folks -- because most of it is -- most
of the truck traffic is -- I say most. Maybe it's not most. A lot of the truck
traffic is going to the landfills, and so I think that we have a legitimate
way to get there in that a little -- is it a little more costly? Probably.
Because the three miles to me is insignificant. We can do it on yager. I would
like to say that I would like the city of Austin -- there's no doubt if we
do it on yager, it will push it to cameron. So I would think that the city
-- I don't know what their thoughts are, but if you're going to go out there
and even upgrade this -- you've got to upgrade this road a whole lot to get
it to accommodate the truck traffic. I respect whatever opinion they have.
>> judge, when we conclude I have another question I need
to pose.
>> right now if you'd like.
>> gentleman, I guess legal I need to ask tom this. Do we
have any force -- are we on any portion of cameron road -- I really need to
look at this for what it is. The full length of cameron road from yager to
parmer, do we own any stretch of that or does the city own the entire length
where it intersects at yager?
>> there's a section maintained by the county, I think approximately
five hundred, six hundred foot. Somewhere around there.
>> so is that at the -- if you're looking at the map, is
that at the -- just east of yager where yager and cameron road intersect?
>> yes. Actually, there's confusion between the city and
Austin, which how much the road belongs to which, because according to our
records, just a small portion of cameron road just east of the intersection
belongs to us and the rest belongs to the city. The city thinks right now
according to their records that about half of the road belongs to the county
and half belongs to the city.
>> well, I don't know. That argument hasn't been settled
I guess what they think and what we think. But my question I guess is to legal
at this point. Between yager and cameron lane, can the county, if there's
no through truck traffic or through truck traffic on that portion of the road
on cameron?
>> yes. You can put a traffic regulation on any county road,
any road under your jurisdiction.
>> okay.
>> obviously the issue is going to be a more actual one of
enforcement because all the way down cameron road before they reach county
jurisdiction, and that's the first time they'll see a no trucks sign.
>> but if a truck -- no through truck traffic sign was placed
right at the intersection, right at that portion right there, did (indiscernible)
at that particular intersection if someone were was see that?
>> I don't know. You're asking me a nonlegal question whether
it would discourage that. [overlapping speakers]. You're asking for regulation
on any county road.
>> we're not set up for that portion of the discussion, but
I would like to investigate to find out, number one, how much do we really
own. We have two different opinions here as far as&o# ownership. And half
of the road by -- the city -- what do we really own? In the meantime, we need
to be ready in my opinion to approve what we have. And there's a lot of other
questions that still need to be fleshed out. Do we tell that traffic on the
other roads too?
>> no, we don't. We do not designate truck routes.
>> so we think based on the roads in this that yager would
be the logical one for a truck driver to take. If they're restricted from
a particular segment of yager.
>> there are portions and destinations, yes.
>> and our engineers make a determination that cameron is
in fact sufficient for truck traffic?
>> you're asking the truck traffic is primarily driven by
speeds and noise along and how it affects the adjacent lane use. We do not
do it paced on the capacity of the road to handle truck traffic.
>> i've got several pictures.
>> those were provided to us by (indiscernible).
>> we have to distribute them.
>> this is cameron prior to any work.
>> as a result, we can widen the road by how much?
>> the road wouldn't be widened any. It might be perceived
to be wider because the vegetation is cut back. They are widening a little
bit over the bridge.
>> what's the staff recommendation today?
>> truck traffic on yager lane effective in January after
the city has looked at cameron road.
>> okay. We'll take that action today and realize six months
from now that restriction was a big mistake.
>> I guess how do we fix it?
>> in terms of the city you could just rescind the traffic
restriction.
>> do we have a right to do that any time we believe our
decision to be -- [overlapping speakers].
>> judge, i'd like to move approval of this particular motion.
And on January 15th, and that is to approve the traffic regulation prohibition
on yager lane between cameron road and parmer lane, and that is to be in effect,
what did you say, joe, January what? And along with that i'd like to make
sure that the staff is directed to investigate the ownership of cameron road
between yager lane and also parmer to maybe look at further truck traffic
prohibition as far as through trucks for this particular area. So trying to
find out -- the city said they own half of it, and we'll say we don't own
that much. So I think it's something we need to look at also to investigate
that ownership. So I like that to also go with the motion.
>> if we could have your chair. Now, residents have come
down to communicate with us today. Would you please come forward. Assume we
remember what you told us last -- what, two weeks ago when you gave comments.
And we welcome any new information that may assist in this decision. We have
room no three more. The way this goes is you give us your name and comments.
>> I知 joyce betts, I live in northeast Austin and I appreciate
the fact that you do remember what we said two weeks ago. I drove to the area
of cameron road that was in question that is owned by the city yesterday morning
at 7:00 o'clock, I did take some picture. Unfortunately, it was raining so
hardy couldn't go and get them developed. There was a barricade up on the
south end of cameron road. The city's portion of the road begins or actually
just a little further down. I drove around to the other area on parmer and
there was a barricade up at parmer because as we mentioned earlier, there
are a couple of high water crossings. The city has indeed cut down some of
the brush. However, the road is so narrow that had trucks been there in the
position I was, they would have had to back up a substantial distance in order
to pull into someone's drive to turn around and go back the other way. So
it is very problematic with that particular section of road. It's still far
too narrow to accommodate truck traffic. So our contention still is that neither
of those roads is suitable for truck traffic. I think Commissioner Daugherty's
assessment of the situation is one we would like to support. And that is a
several distance of two and a half or three miles is not much compared to
the safety issues of the people who live in that area. And that would would
be our stance. We also understand that the county does in fact control the
southern portion of cameron road. This portion is attached to a city subdivision.
The remainder of the road is not. It is attached to county property. So we
also would like to have some clarification on that. Thank you.
>> so yesterday that would have been --
>> either yager lane or parmer lane to 290.
>> but [overlapping speakers].
>> my name is Ron miguel and I live on yager lane. We appreciate
your concern and it looks like they're actually going to take the action to
make our neighborhood better and safer to live in. Just to reiterate the section
of road for an alternate route, I don't know if this information is being
relayed to the companies involved or not. There's a lot of discussion about
it. The road was closed yesterday and I知 90% sure it's closed today. And
as we stated here, there's not a turnaround for anybody, and you get down
down the road aways at least where they put barricades now and they're not
employed where you can get out of it easily where you had more than a normal
vehicle: and another thing again just to reiterate, there's a section of cameron
road past yager that goes to blue goose, which is actually where everybody
is going. You get to the landfill and so on. So that's a possibility when
looking at restricting traffic. It's not the section owned by the city, but
it is county property. Again, we appreciate your concern in trying to look
after our interests, thank you.
>> thank you for your comments.
>> my name is tom mcdaniel and I live on yager lane, and
I really started this whole deal with my neighbors and stuff, writing letters
to y'all. And getting everybody involved because it is really a dangerous
situation. One thing i'd like to add is at the bfi dump site there is a huge
sign that says all drivers, trucks must turn right to 290 and if that's their
policy they're turning right and going to blue goose and coming through our
neighborhood. And it's -- the speed that they do is really -- I appreciate
your concern on this.
>> anybody else? If so, please come forward. This will be
the last opportunity. We have four chairs available. Anybody else give comments
today? Please come forward now.
>> morning. I live a yager lane myself.
>> what's your name?
>> ruben quinos. I live at the corner of cameron and yager.
When they come into our neighborhood, that's where all the noise factors start
because they have that amount of space to pick up noise levels. And it goes
on until two, three, 4:00 o'clock in the morning. We like the no through at
blue goose and cameron. There was a county name assigned there where you're
talking about -- if I go down cameron road to blue goose. There's another
sign that says the county maintenance ends and the city starts. So I知 under
the impression that county begins all the way to blue goose and down cameron
road. That's the assumption I get. That's about all I have for right now.
Would you like to have these? Irks staff recommendation is to approve the
restrictions?
>> that's correct. Yes.
>> and do we think that the city of Austin is waiting to
see what action we take and what impact the action has?
>> yes. It's basically what they told us, a what the staff
is telling us that they want to see what the result is first.
>> any more discussion? All in favor. That passes by unanimous
vote.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 3:03 PM