The City of Davis in partnership with the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), Yolo County, and a consulting team led by Toole Design, conducted a planning effort for street design, public outreach, landscape and gateway master planning and design, for Russell Boulevard. The Russell Boulevard Corridor Vision Plan (“Corridor Plan”) is a collaborative planning and conceptual design effort to re-imagine the 3.1-mile shared road boundary between the City of Davis, Yolo County, and UC Davis from A Street to County Road 98/Pedrick Road. The Plan emphasizes robust public involvement, corridor-wide visioning, multi-modal transportation solutions, and cost-effective design concepts.
The purpose of the Corridor Plan is to determine a comprehensive and community-based vision for the corridor. This vision is supported by best practices in street design, landscape and gateway guidelines, and conceptual plans and identifies ways the County, City, and University can address safety concerns and provide enhanced connections.
The Corridor Plan is a visioning document that represents a planning study for the Russell Boulevard corridor and provides guidance for future capital improvement projects. It is neither prescriptive of future improvements nor are design concepts considered final assumptions for future construction. The plan does, however, serve as a “default” for future improvements, setting the stage for further design development. If however, significant design flaws are discovered or improvements upon the plan’s designs are possible revisions should be expected.
To help guide the development of the Corridor Plan extensive community outreach occurred to understand what the community desired. During outreach efforts, residents expressed the following responses to question of what the corridor should be in the future:
Russell Boulevard will become…
… a corridor that safely and intuitively moves people.
… an inviting, human-centered boulevard that is an authentic Davis and UC
Davis experience.
… a resilient streetscape that integrates sustainable design principles.
… a welcoming gateway to Davis, reflecting local culture and community.
From this statement, the design vision was to create a bold yet attainable streetscape vision for Russell Boulevard that focused on three core elements:
Multimodal Mobility
Identify and address current mobility, safety, comfort, efficiency, inequalities, and sustainability issues along the corridor.
Green Infrastructure
Allow Russell Boulevard to be climate-prepared by illustrating a diverse palette of landscaped-based green stormwater infrastructure tools and a robust urban tree and structural shade canopy concept to help mitigate extreme heat events.
Urban Design and Placemaking
Enhance Russell Boulevard to become a more welcoming, distinctive, and beautiful destination that
The core elements when applied to the unincorporated portion of Russell Boulevard between the Davis City limit and County Road 98 produced a vision for the corridor that includes an enhanced Class I bike path and Class II bike lanes alongside the vehicular travel lanes that is estimated to cost $4,300,000 for construction and a total construction cost of $6,450,000. The full cost of the project includes design, environmental and right-of-way costs that are anticipated to take 4 years.
Staff recommends the Board approve the Corridor Plan as the long-term vision for future conditions on Russell Blvd between the Davis City Limit and County Road 98 and direct staff to seek opportunities for funding.
|