75C - PH - BRISTOL EIR FROM WARNER TO ST. ANDREW

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The proposed upgraded street lighting system will also greatly enhance traffic and pedestrian safety along Bristol Street. Providing lighting levels in accordance with the Illuminating Engineering Society standards will assure good roadway visibility for motorists on Bristol Street. Pedestrians would also greatly benefit from the security of a well lit roadway and sidewalk area. Raised center medians are recommended on Bristol Street in accordance with both the Orange County General Plan and the City of Santa Ana's Circulation Element. Raised center medians greatly enhance traffic operating conditions by decreasing the traffic accident potential and increasing roadway capacity. Raised center medians also afford the opportunity for landscaping to improve the overall aesthetics along the corridor. A substantial reduction in the accident frequency can be expected through the use of raised medians. Medians effectively eliminate left turn movements from mid -block locations and serve to concentrate left and U -tum movements at signalized intersections 'where right -of -way is controlled. During the previous sixteen month period ending May 11, 1987 there were 106 reported mid -block accidents between Memory Lane and Warner Avenue which could have been prevented by raised center medians. A twelve percent reduction in reported accidents could have been realized between Memory Lane and Warner Avenue through the use of raised center medians. Experience indicates that this elimination of left turns at random locations along a major highway can have a positive effect on traffic safety through the reduction in accident potential. Raised center medians also serve to better channelize traffic along the corridor. By reducing the number of locations which movements can be made across the major through street, medians also aid in improving the flow of traffic. The improvement to these operating conditions serves to increase the overall traffic capacity which a roadway can accommodate. The construction of a raised center median on Bristol Street will, however, alter Circulation patterns and access to land uses that front on to Bristol Street and to neighborhoods that adjoin it. At minor streets through which the median is constructed and at driveway locations along Bristol Street, turning movements will be restricted to right -in and right -out maneuvers. The raised median will divert and concentrate turning movements at the median breaks. To evaluate the extent of this impact on circulation along Bristol Street as well as on the adjoining minor side streets, the restricted movements were redistributed to adjoining intersections which will retain median breaks. These turning movement volumes were based upon current turning movement counts, adjusted by a one percent per year growth factor for twenty years, and assignment based upon natural gravitational characteristics. In most cases IV -63 75C -198