For City Council Meeting March 11, 2025
TO: Honorable City Council
APPROVAL: Tanya Williams, City Manager
FROM: Tim Sullivan, Assistant City Manager
Title
Request City Council to: 1) Authorize Staff to Submit an Application to San Bernardino County Transportation (SBCTA) for the Development of Smart Arterial Corridors in the San Bernardino Valley; and 2) Authorize the City Manager or Their Designee to Execute all Documents.
Body
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Authorize Staff to Submit an Application to San Bernardino County Transportation (SBCTA) for the Development of Smart Arterial Corridors in the San Bernardino Valley.
2) Authorize the City Manager or Their Designee to Execute all Documents.
BACKGROUND:
On January 14, 2025, SBCTA released a Request for Information to Local Jurisdictions in the San Bernardino Valley for the Development of Smart Arterial Corridors in the San Bernardino Valley.
The purpose of the Request for Information (RFI) is to award up to $5 million in funding to local jurisdictions in the San Bernardino Valley for investments in upgrades to traffic control equipment and signal coordination on up to five arterial corridors.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION:
As part of the recently completed Smart County Master Plan (SCMP) by the San Bernardino County Council of Governments (SBCOG), one key focus was to establish a set of smart corridors within the San Bernardino Valley Coordinated Traffic Signal System (SBVCTSS). These corridors will prioritize upgrades to traffic controller technology and communications to enhance traffic flow.
The City currently utilizes a semi-actuated signal system with standard video detection on major corridors. This system operates on a traditional time-of-day based signal timing with coordination on certain corridors. The current practice is common across Southern California. However, changes in technology, particularly, “Intelligent Transportation System” (ITS) technology allow traffic to be managed much more effectively and efficiently.
Staff has evaluated the City’s current system and proposes improvements along Riverside Avenue.
The Riverside Avenue corridor is classified as a Major Arterial and intersects with Interstate 10 at the proposed project area, which serves as Southern California’s primary east-west corridor. Riverside Avenue currently serves over 35,500 average daily trips, with significant peak-hour traffic exceeding 2,000 trips. As a Major Arterial, Riverside Avenue intersects with multiple Major and Collector roadways serving a large portion of the City. To ease the congestion, the project will utilize recent technological advances to better detect and analyze traffic conditions in real-time and provide remote interface capabilities, allowing for active corridor management. The implementation of ITS technology on the corridor will provide engineers with real-time traffic volume, delay, and classification data, allowing for significantly enhanced signal timing capabilities and enabling active management practices. The project will upgrade technology through the provision of upgraded communications, AI-enabled video analytics, and remote interface capabilities with existing traffic signal controllers and equipment deployed in the field.
It is anticipated that this project will provide a significant additional capability to the City of Rialto for addressing congestion concerns in real-time. Active management of the corridor will allow City staff to fine-tune signal timing on the corridor as traffic conditions change. By providing real-time data on traffic conditions and ongoing analysis, when traffic conditions change by a significant degree for any reason, an engineer can be alerted and can adjust signal timing to serve conditions as efficiently as possible. This benefits the City by providing significant congestion relief and safety improvements. Improved signal timing can decrease delay at intersections by as much as 15% as well as reduce red-light running, smooth traffic flow and enhance pedestrian safety.
The maximum award amount is $1,000,000, and the City’s application will not exceed this amount.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
The administrative process respond to this Request for Information is not a “Project” as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to Section 15378(a), a “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. According to Section 15378(b), a Project does not include: (5) Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
This action is consistent with Guiding Principle 3 in the General Plan:
Our City government will lead by example, and will operate in an open, transparent, and responsive manner that meets the needs of the citizens and is a good place to do business.
Approval of this action also complies with the following City of Rialto General Plan Goals and Policies:
Goal 3-6: Require that all developed areas within Rialto are adequately served with essential public services and infrastructure.
Policy 3-6.1: Coordinate all development proposals with other affected public entities to ensure the provision of adequate public facilities and infrastructure services.
Goal 3-7: Upgrade public infrastructure as an inducement to promote private investment.
Policy 3-7.1: Link redevelopment tools with the processes of community facilities district formation and other similar funds to improve roadway and utility systems in areas with the greatest need for upgrades.
Goal 4-1: Provide transportation improvements to reduce traffic congestion associated with regional and local trip increases.
Policy 4-1.1: Establish and maintain standards for a variety of street classifications to serve both local and regional traffic, including Major Arterial Highways, Major Arterials, Secondary Arterials, Collector Streets, and Local Streets.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney’s Office has reviewed the staff report.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Operating Budget Impact:
The proposed action will not affect the City’s Operating Budget.
Capital Improvement Budget Impact:
If the City is successful, staff recommends the use of Measure I funds as the Local Match of 20%. Staff will return to the Council for authorization to accept the funds, approval of appropriations, and to include the selected project in the Measure I CIP 5-Year Expenditure Strategy in the corresponding year.
Licensing:
A Business License application and payment of a Business License tax is not required for this action.