Colleyville Council resumes planning for Glade Road

The City Council resumed discussions about the Glade Road Project at a special work session held July 28.

In providing direction to city staff on the project's design, the City Council stressed a set of global design parameters. Those guidelines included:

▪ Leave as small a footprint as possible, while still addressing mobility and safety issues.

▪ Minimize right-of-way impacts.

▪ Minimize the impact to trees and use the existing arborist report to quantify the quality of any tree that may be impacted.

▪ Where feasible, preserve the existing infrastructure, including curbs, storm drains, trails, and sidewalks.

▪ Having pedestrian access (sidewalks and trails) on both sides of Glade Road is important but, when necessary, reduce the size. For example, having a 5-foot sidewalk on both sides of Glade Road in the Chelsea Park area — one of the narrowest sections of the corridor-is preferable to abiding by an engineering standard that might dictate an 8-foot or 10-foot sidewalk.

▪ A 5-foot sidewalk is the minimum set by the Americans with Disabilities Act. In areas where a 4-foot sidewalk is now in place, it must be upgraded to 5 feet.

In June, the Colleyville City Council approved moving forward with the design of the first phase of the project, from Bransford Road to Manning Drive. This phase had been agreed upon last fall and encompasses about one-fourth of the corridor, which stretches from the western city limit with Hurst to Heritage Avenue.

Phase 1 includes construction of roundabouts at both Bransford Road and Riverwalk Drive, realignment of the Bedford Road intersection, lowering the road at Bluebonnet Drive to improve the sight distance and removing the stops signs at that intersection; left-turn lanes where warranted; and addressing undersized box culverts under Glade Road at Riverwalk Drive.

It also includes pedestrian access on both sides of Glade Road, additional street lighting at intersections, and trail lighting.

Construction on Phase 1 is expected to begin after school lets out next summer. A public meeting is planned prior to the start of Phase 1 construction. That should happen next spring, city officials said.

Glade Road, from Manning Drive to Pool Road, constitutes Phase 2. This section includes engineered drainage, new pavement with left-turn lanes where warranted, and standard curb and gutters. The City Council had already chosen this type of curb — a barrier curb — because it uses the least amount of right-of-way.

The City Council previously discussed reducing the width of a planned trail on the north side of Glade Road from 10 feet to 8 feet and constructing it adjacent to the back of the curb to limit the potential impact to trees and right-of-way.

At the July 28 work session, staff was given the flexibility to further reduce the size of the trail, if necessary. Construction of a 5-foot sidewalk on the south side of Glade Road is also included in this section.

In Phase 3, from Pool Road to Heritage Avenue, key components are new pavement, turn lanes where warranted and the addition of a westbound lane from Heritage Avenue to Roberts Road, plus a southbound right turn lane on Roberts Road to alleviate backups there.

In addition, the City Council requested options be evaluated to address visibility concerns for left turn movements from Glade Road onto Prestwick Drive/Roberts Road. Phase 3 will also feature standard curb and gutters, continuation of the 10-foot trail on the north (with flexibility to reduce the size), and a 5-foot sidewalk on the south, along with additional street lighting at intersections and pedestrian lighting on the trail.

Key components of Phase 4, from Bransford Road to the western city limit with Hurst, include engineered drainage, a center turn lane between River Bend Drive and Bear Creek Drive, a 5-foot sidewalk on the south and a 10-foot trail on the north, along with dedicated turn lanes at Clear Fork Drive, Rockrimmon Court, Mill View Drive and Mill Creek Drive.

Funding sources for the project are revenue from the tax increment financing district (TIF), perimeter street fees, roadway impact fees and water and wastewater impact fees (in phases 2 and 3, respectively).

The city has no plans to issue additional debt for this project.

According to the current phasing plan, Phase 1 construction would start in mid-2016 and end in late 2017; Phase 2 construction is scheduled from mid-2017 through early 2019; and Phase 3 construction would start in mid-2018 and be completed in late 2019. Phase 4 construction is scheduled from mid-2022, with completion in late 2023.

More details are available on the homepage of GladeRoadProject.com.

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Colleyville Council resumes planning for Glade Road."