MINUTES
TRUCKING ISSUES SUBCOMMITTEE
of the
Citizens’ Transportation Advisory Board (CTAB)
March 17, 2009
City Administration Building, 30 S. Nevada Avenue
4th Floor Conference Room, Suite 401 Large
1. CALL TO ORDER/ESTABLISH QUORUM: The meeting was called to order at 3:07 p.m. by
Chairperson David Munger.
In Attendance
CTAB:
David Munger, Chairperson; Gene Bray and Jim Ramsey
At Large Members:
Jan Doran, Rick Hoover and John Nuwer
Trucking Industry Members:
Don Schley
City Staff:
Craig Blewitt, Comprehensive Planning Division Manager
Colleen Dawson, Civil Engineer
Robin Kidder, Roadway Engineering Manager
Sgt. Phil LeBeau, CSPD
Gaye Smith, Transportation Planning Analyst
County Staff:
Victoria Chavez, El Paso County Dept of Transportation
Others:
David Chaffee, Old Garden Ranch HOA
Ron Doak, Colorado Springs Christian School
Liz Lancaster, Cragmor Village N. A.
Blake Keller and Nan Stilwagon, Historic Platte Avenue
Neighborhood Association
Absent TISC members:
Jane Dillon, CTAB alternate; Dick Hansen, City Planning
Commission; Kris Kaltenbacher, Trucking Industry
2. CITIZEN COMMENT: None
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the February 17, 2009 meeting were presented.
Subcommittee members had questions after reading the minutes:
Q. Will staff coordinate with the County on the revised truck route map?
A. Yes. Staff is coordinating with Victoria Chaves, County transportation planner, so that
county truck routes and City truck routes are accurately reflected on the new truck
route map.
Q. What public meetings have been held to date?
A. Dave Munger and Jan Doran will make a list of meetings.
Q. Is City Engineering checking on subsidence questions raised at the February meeting?
A. Craig Blewitt said that the City has maps that show the assessment of subsidence risk
in the area around Circle Drive and North Union. The maps rate the risk as high,
moderate or low for future subsidence.
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Jan Doran asked if Robin Kidder was following up on a reported subsidence event at the
Lutheran Church on Union, north of Fillmore Street that took place in the late 1980s or
early 1990s, as the minutes did not reflect this. David Munger noted that TISC is looking
for a definitive engineering judgment. If this is not possible, the Subcommittee will have
to make a recommendation without that information. He asked if this could be provided
for the May meeting. Robin responded that it would be a stretch to point to the collapse of
a mineshaft as being triggered by trucks. There is no clear connection between
subsidence events and truck traffic, or any vehicular traffic.
Jan Doran moved to approve the meeting minutes. John Nuwer seconded the
motion, and the minutes were unanimously approved.
Absent: Hansen, Kaltenbacher and Schley.
4. ROADWAY DISCUSSIONS: Dave Munger said that he would like to reorder the agenda to
allow Jim Ramsey to give his report.
5. MITIGATION OF TRUCK TRAFFIC: Jim Ramsey said that he felt that consideration should
be given to mitigating truck traffic on roadways that are designated as truck routes, or are
being added to the truck route system. These roadways should be reviewed for possible
deficiencies that should be addressed, such as pedestrian, bicycle and trail safety, crosswalks
at intersections or mid-block, traffic calming, sensitivity to neighborhoods, physical roadway
deficiencies, or traffic accident history. Jim supported staff efforts to continue to look for
issues on roadways that need to be mitigated and suggested that TISC might want to
consider formalizing a recommendation regarding mitigations. Chairperson Munger asked Jim
if he could draft a motion for TISC’s consideration at a future meeting.
- - - Subcommittee Member Schley arrives - - 6. TRUCK PARKING: Don Schley led the discussion on where legal truck parking could be
designated within the City. There are several commercial properties, such as the Golden Corral
and some Wal-Mart parking lots, where trucks currently park. A big problem is whether it is
commercially viable to buy property for truck parking, when truckers will attempt to find a location
where they can park free of charge. TISC would like to know what the zoning issues are and what
the City’s parking policy is for trucks, both on public streets and off-street. Craig said that there
are existing regulations regarding truck parking on streets, which he will bring to the next meeting.
4. ROADWAY DISCUSSIONS:
Platte Avenue – An update on the Platte Avenue Safety Project, dated March 9, 2009, was
included in the meeting packet. Colleen Dawson explained the preferred construction options
agreed to in the public process and said that staff is still working with Walgreen’s to accommodate
their access concerns. Blake Keller asked if Platte Avenue could be given the same consideration
as Nevada Avenue with regard to the restriction of trucks to a certain number of axles. Dave
Munger said that could be a consideration for Platte Avenue from Union Boulevard west to
downtown. Dave expressed interest in what the implication would be for truck traffic if those
restrictions were in place for the downtown area and what the traffic model might show.
Constitution Avenue – TISC’s original recommendations from May 15, 2007 were contained in
the meeting packet, along with a motion from the June 17, 2008 meeting that Constitution from
Academy to Powers not be considered for addition to the truck route network until defects
identified in the original recommendations were corrected. The contingencies to adding this
segment of Constitution to the truck route network were: Widening Constitution to four 12-foot
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lanes, and vertical and horizontal roadway realignment so that curvature near Lazy R meets
standards, to include curb and gutter work. Subcommittee members were asked if they felt this
was still sufficient to be included in a recommendation to Council. The general consensus was that
this recommendation would suffice.
30th – 31st Streets; Allegheny – Residential growth in the area has left no viable way to get
from 30th Street to 31st Street and on to Highway24 west. Dave Munger said that he would come
up with language to explain why TISC is not considering adding these roadway segments, and
Allegheny, to the truck route network.
7. TESTING FINAL TRUCK ROUTE SYSTEM PROPOSAL BY MODEL: Dave said that the
engineering firm, Felsburg Holt & Ullevig, has been hired to perform the truck route modeling.
Cost will be shared between the City and the Surface Transportation Advisory Coalition.
8. REVIEW OF PROPOSED CITY CODE CHANGES: Craig Blewitt provided a memo containing
TISC’s proposed changes to the City Code that would make the “trip chaining” provision clearer
and less subjective, and that would relax the rules for truckers regarding the point at which a
trucker may leave a truck route to travel to a destination off the truck route, in order to make that
route more direct. Craig said that the proposed new language has been sent to the City Attorney’s
Office for review.
9. STAFF AND SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS: None.
1O. NEXT MEETING SCHEDULE AND TOPICS: The next meeting of the Trucking Issues
Subcommittee will held on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. at the City Administration
Building, 30 S. Nevada Avenue, Suite 401 (Conference Room 401 Large).
11. ADJOURNMENT: Chairperson Munger adjourned the meeting at 4:47 p.m.
Submitted by Gaye Smith
Transportation Planning Analyst
City of Colorado Springs
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