Intersection Improvements Along California Ave

Zoomed-In Image of the Proposed Traffic Signal Improvement at California Ave/Innovation Dr

Summary

This project forecasted and analyzed the traffic impacts at two intersections along California Ave, which is expect to increase due to two future developments: a 2500+ housing unit area and a research park. Overall, the team recommends to build a traffic signal at California Ave/Innovation Dr and install a right turn overlap at California Ave/Academy Wy because without these improvements, they are both projected to fail to meet City of Irvine’s minimum level of service (LOS) when those developments open to the public in 2028. With these improvements, the intersections are projected to exceed the minimum LOS required, implying that these improvements will alleviate heavy traffic congestion at both intersections.

**Disclaimer: The housing development is real and is currently in development. However, the research park is a hypothetical scenario. The both the residential project and the research park have some hypothetical assumptions made - This study is for educational project purposes only.

Technical Approach/Methodology

To determine the traffic impact of the proposed and cumulative projects, the traffic impact study was conducted for four (4) scenarios: existing conditions, existing with proposed project, opening year without proposed project, and opening year with proposed project. The existing volumes were pulled from StreetLight, which collects volumes based on aggregated cell phone data. The proposed and cumulative project volumes were projected based on the ITE Trip Generation Manual's 12th edition and trip distribution values, which is the expected percentage of cars going straight, turning left, or turning right, from engineers at the RK Engineering Group. Additionally, for the opening year scenario, the team considered an ambient growth rate of 2%, which was provided by the RK Engineering Group based upon previous studies in the area.

From the team’s study, both study intersections will fail to meet the minimum level of service (LOS) outlined by the City of Irvine Standard Plans during the opening year scenario, so the team identified and designed improvements. LOS is a measurement of traffic congestion at an intersection. The LOS was determined based on the Highway Capacity Manual 7th Edition methodology, and the performance of the study intersections was simulated by Synchro and SimTraffic.

Because the California Ave/Innovation Dr is currently has stop signs for its minor street, the intersection was analyzed with the 2026 California Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices warrants. If the intersection passes the warrants, then a traffic signal is justified to be installed at that location. From the team's analysis, they found that a traffic signal was warranted at the California Ave/Innovation Dr. The team drafted a traffic signal and a signing and striping plan by following the 2025 Caltrans Standard Plans, City of Irvine Standard Plans, Caltrans 2020 Electrical Systems Design Manual, ADA and Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines, and the 2026 California Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. AutoCAD was utlized to create the plan sheets.

Outcomes

The team produced a Level of Service (LOS) report for both intersections before and after installing our proposed improvements. The reports was generated through SimTraffic, which simulated the operating conditions during our study scenarios. The City of Irvine sets the goal LOS to be D. Before installing our proposed improvements, California Ave/Academy Way performed at LOS D during the AM time period and LOS E during the PM time period, while California Ave/Innovation Dr performed at LOS F during both the AM and PM time periods. From this analysis, the team suggested improvements to both intersections to improve the LOS to achieve the City of Irvine's goal LOS of D.

California Ave/Academy Wy is currently a 4-way intersection with a traffic signal. The team proposes to install a right turn overlap on the west-bound right turn approach. In tandem, the team also proposes to prohibit u-turns for the south-bound left turn approach to prevent potential vehicle conflicts.

California Ave/Innovation Dr is currently a intersection with stop signs on the minor street. The team proposes to install a 4-way traffic signal at California Ave/Innovation Dr. A traffic signal plan and a signing and striping plan was drafted to depict the proposal.

After installing these two proposed improvements, California Ave/Academy Way performed at LOS D during both the AM and PM time period , while California Ave/Innovation Dr performed at LOS C during the AM time period and LOS B during the PM time period.

The team created a Gantt Chart outlining the project schedule. From the design to construction phase, the project is projected to last 48 weeks.

The team also estimated the cost of installing these proposed improvements, which is projected to be around $485,000.

Due to the limited resources and time of this project, the team identified additional studies and potential recommendations for the client to conduct before and after installing the proposed improvements. Such studies include a parking study, a line of sight study, fair-share analysis, air quality study, noise pollution study, and a post-construction performance review.

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