Project Timeline
Beginning June 16, the project team adjusted the curb extensions to address community feedback and better accommodate large vehicles. The team also adjusted bollard locations to ease bicyclist passage through the painted areas, while still maintaining minimized pedestrian crossing distance across East Avenue. Vehicle speed and volume data, and intersection vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle counts have been collected. The project team will use this data to assess whether there have been changes in vehicle speeds since the pilot project installation, or if the installations have encouraged increased pedestrian travel at the intersections included in the pilot area. Additional data collection will occur to capture changes associated with the adjusted design.
The project team is seeking community feedback on the project adjustments via an updated online survey and continuing our discussion about the adjustments with LAVTA and the Fire Department.
Once the data is collected, catalogued, and analyzed, the project team will evaluate the data and use it to guide future adjustments and recommendations. The project team will include this data in the final East Avenue Report, which will be presented to the City Council this fall at the conclusion of the pilot project.
The City has published a set of FAQs and has been publishing educational content about the design interventions and their intended impacts in response to requests for more project communications.
From April 10-14, 2023, the City of Livermore, Street Plans, and community volunteers installed pilot pedestrian improvements at six intersections along East Avenue as a part of Tactical East Avenue, Phase II of the East Avenue Corridor Study. The goal of the project is to test pedestrian safety elements like curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalks, painted medians, and protective bollards to reduce crossing distances for pedestrians, increase pedestrian visibility, and slow the turning speeds and through movements of cars at the intersections. The purpose of the pilot is to learn and adjust temporary and less expensive installations prior to permanent infrastructure improvements.
Design Elements
Curb Extensions
You’ll see this design element at all intersections along East Avenue. Curb extensions are painted areas of underutilized asphalt, reinforced with vertical bollards. Curb extensions function to increase pedestrian visibility, reduce pedestrian crossing distances, and slow the turning movements of cars. When installed with painted medians, these areas help to visually narrow the field with the intent to slow car travel speeds. While the curb extensions are not dedicated bike facilities, they do provide greater visibility for bicyclists at the intersections, and approximate alignment with potential future bike lane design.
Painted Medians
This design element can be found at Maple, Jensen, and Estates Streets. Painted medians do not narrow travel lanes. The existing, striped median has been painted and reinforced with bollards to create a perceived sense of friction to encourage cautious movement through the intersections. When combined, painted medians and curb extensions at these intersections substantially shorten pedestrian crossing distances. At unsignalized intersections (Estates and Jensen Streets), In-Street Pedestrian Crossing Signs remind drivers to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.
Recessed Stop Bar
You’ll see this design element on Dolores Street. The stop bars have been moved back from the crosswalk for both pedestrian safety, and to ease LAVTA bus right turns onto Dolores St. from East Ave. Cars turning left or going straight should stop at the stop bar and await the green signal before moving through the intersection. Cars making a right should first stop at the stop bar, and can then inch forward to make a right turn on red, keeping an eye out to yield to any crossing pedestrians.
High-Visibility Crosswalks
You’ll see these crosswalk markings at Maple and Estates Streets along East Avenue, at Livermore High School and East Avenue Middle School crossings. These markings make the crosswalks more visible to drivers, and emphasize that pedestrians have the right-of-way when crossing. These markings already existed across East Avenue at Estates Street, but were added to both crosswalks at Maple Street, and to the crosswalk across Estates Street.
The installation process - thank you to our community volunteers!
Project Approach
This method is derived from Tactical Urbanism, a method of city-building that uses low-cost, temporary materials to create ‘renderings in real-time’ of proposed permanent improvements. All project elements are installed within the existing roadway and striping.
Tactical East Avenue will be an opportunity for the City of Livermore and the community to experience proposed and/or new changes to the street before large investments are made that will impact the corridor for years to come.
Upcoming Events
Check back soon for upcoming events.
Past Events
Tactical East Avenue Build Week
Save the Date! - April 10-14, 2023
From April 10-14, 2023, the City of Livermore, Street Plans, and volunteers implemented pilot pedestrian intersection improvements as a part of Tactical East Avenue, Phase II of the East Avenue Corridor Study. A grand opening event to celebrate the improvements was held at East Avenue Middle School from 4pm-6pm on Friday, April 14th.
Improvements like curb extensions, pedestrian refuge medians, and high visibility crosswalks will be evaluated for six months at the intersections of Maple St, 7th St, Dolores St, Jensen St, Estates St, and Hillcrest Ave. During the evaluation period, the City will monitor the project, collect data, and solicit public feedback to determine how the project is functioning.
Part of what makes this process fun is working with community volunteers to build the project! Volunteers played a pivotal role in building the safety improvements, alongside the City team.
Tactical East Avenue Design Week
September 19-22, 2022
The City of Livermore and consultant Street Plans facilitated multiple days of planning and design activities to design intersection safety pilot projects at six intersections on East Avenue between Maple Street and Hillcrest Avenue.
Design Week consisted of the following activities:
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A kick-off workshop for the community to provide feedback on priority intersections and types of improvements.
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Stakeholder meetings with businesses and organizations along the corridor, including both schools and multiple City departments.
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A drop-in design studio for community members to have informal conversations with the project team.
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A final "pin-up", where the community indicated which of the final designs and locations they wanted to see included in the pilot project.
If you weren't able to attend a Design Week event, view the event materials.
Tactical East Avenue | Public Workshop #1
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM PDT
The project team held a public workshop to kick-off public engagement for Tactical East Avenue, Phase II of the East Avenue Corridor Study. If you missed the workshop, view the recording of the presentation and see a summary of the feedback we received below.
Click the buttons below to view PDF scans of the mapping exercise. Please note the files may take a few minutes to download.
Segment 1 (Livermore Avenue to Estates Street)
Segment 2 (Estates Street to Madison Avenue)
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