Our project focuses on redesigning Hoover Street between Westminster Boulevard and Hazard Avenue to improve safety and comfort for bicyclists, pedestrians, and drivers. The existing corridor mainly supports vehicle traffic and only has limited bicycle protection through Class III bike facilities. This creates safety and comfort concerns for people who want to bike or walk through the area. Our project matters because a safer street design can encourage active transportation, reduce conflicts between cars and cyclists, and make the corridor more accessible for the surrounding community. The people most affected are cyclists, pedestrians, nearby residents, students, drivers, and anyone using Hoover Street to reach local homes, schools, businesses, and nearby destinations. Our final design proposes a safer corridor with a Class IV two-way protected bikeway, improved pedestrian crossings, updated signal timing, and new traffic signal equipment.
Hoover Street Bikeway and Signal Redesign
Summary
Technical Approach/Methodology
To solve the problem, our team first evaluated bicycle corridors in northwest Orange County and selected Hoover Street as a strong candidate for improvement. We then studied the existing roadway layout, traffic conditions, and bicycle facilities to understand what needed to change. Our proposed design uses a road diet approach by reducing the number of vehicle lanes and using the available curb-to-curb width to add a protected two-way bikeway separated by a landscaped median. This protected bike lane separated by a median is called a Class IV bikeway. We also reviewed design alternatives, created street layout concepts, and used AutoCAD, Streetmix, Synchro, and SimTraffic to develop and test the design. For the signal portion, we calculated minimum green time, yellow time, all-red time, walk time, flashing don’t walk time, and minimum split values for vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. The design also includes updated detection technology, bicycle signal heads, accessible pedestrian signals, and improved signal phasing so that the new bike movement can operate more safely with the rest of the intersection traffic.
Outcomes
By the end of the peoject, our team produced a conceptual redesign proposal for Hoover Street that improves bicycle safety while still keeping the project within the existing curb-to-curb roadway space. The main deliverables include corridor evaluation results, proposed roadway striping and layout, 2D and 3D street design visuals, traffic signal and electrical improvement plans, signal timing calculations, Synchro and SimTraffic analysis, cost estimation, project schedule, and final recommendations. The proposed design keeps on-street parking, adds a Class IV protected bikeway, includes a landscaped median for separation and traffic calming, and updates the signal system at Hoover/Westminster and Hoover/Hazard. The traffic analysis showed that the proposed design did not create a major negative impact on intersection operations, with Hoover/Westminster remaining at LOS D during AM and Noon and LOS E during PM, while Hoover/Hazard improved to LOS C during the PM proposed condition. Overall, the project produced a realistic active transportation improvement concept that supports safer travel for cyclists and pedestrians along Hoover Street.