The process will be a three-pronged approach that looks at ways Burbank can improve traffic flow, the means for implanting those strategies and future traffic development, Johnson said.
“First we’ll evaluate our process and look at our hardware, the stuff on the streets,” he said. “We’ll see if it is adequate to serve the city now and in the future.
“Then we’ll mine data for our software programs and make sure we have the most modern hardware available.
“Third, we will look at the two most traveled corridors in the city.”
The city picked Buena Vista Street and Hollywood Way for the traffic engineering firm to study as a means of comparing the most traveled streets to calmer thoroughfares, Johnson said.
“We said, ‘These are the worst streets, the ones with the most volume and ones with older signals: Do what you can,’” he said.
Burbank has set aside $250,000 from its 2007-08 fiscal year budget for the project, and the city has so far spent $90,000 for the study, Johnson said.
According to the latest Census figures, Burbank’s population is about 103,000. Since 2000, the city’s population has increased less than 5%, though traffic continues to grow, Johnson said.
“As freeways get more crowded, we get a lot more regional traffic,” he said. “Every time [Interstate] 5 is busy, Glenoaks [Boulevard] is terrible, and Buena Vista is sometimes filled with people just passing through.”
The council generally supported the plans, but Councilman Dave Golonski called for a larger project down the line.
