Item 18 Agreement with HDR Engineering, Inc. to Conduct the First Street Multimodal Boulevard Study

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City of Santa Ana | First Street Multimodal Boulevard Study RFP NO. 25-029 | B. Services Provided 03 HDR’s Community Analytics tool harnesses multiple data sources to deliver insights into community characteristics. Our team analyzed the study area to understand how community analytics could identify key issues and opportunities, which can then be verified by information gained from community engagement and feedback. Our full study area profile can be accessed here. •Equity and Engagement. The one-mile radius around the project corridor includes significant populations that speak Spanish at home and use Spanish-language digital platforms. While 15% of homes within the radius lack internet access, 94% of residents own a smartphone. Our community analytics allows our team to better customize engagement strategies and materials. •Targeted Mobility Options. A majority of workers within one-mile of the project corridor are blue collar (31%) and service workers (26%) who often travel to and from work outside of traditional commute times, suggesting opportunities to enhance mobility options throughout the day. •Transportation + Housing Nexus. Commuters around the project corridor have relatively higher rates of taking public transit and carpooling to work and much lower rates of home ownership, compared to Orange County as a whole. These analytics position our team to ask questions about household costs and housing security, strengthening project goals to connect low-income housing residents to resources through enhanced mobility options. First Street Study Area (1-Mile Radius) 9% national average Percent of Households with No Internet Access < 18% < 1% INTERNET ACCESS The Community Analytics Advantage 71%Own 29%Rent 2. Validate the Model To validate the model, HDR will conduct travel time surveys and observations of queue and delay. We will conduct floating car surveys during the data collection period, so that counts and travel time are collected within the same time period. The model will be refined and validated to reflect the existing conditions based on field observations and travel time. 3. Report Key Metrics VISSIM is a powerful tool that can provide metrics on general traffic flow travel time, transit vehicle travel time, delay at intersections, queues, and other information. HDR will work with the City to determine what information is most critical to the decision making process. 4. Develop Visual Simulations Once the model is refined and reporting the necessary travel data, visual simulations will be developed and recorded. Fly through videos, still video, or a combination of both can be recorded for use in public meetings or stakeholder events. After the existing conditions model is developed, geometrics and signal timing can be developed in Synchro and then integrated into a refined VISSIM model. Because of the complexity of the model, these modifications take several weeks to complete. We will begin building the model as soon as the Synchro network from the City is available to the team. HDR intends to focus on weekday AM and PM peak periods for this model. There are several key traffic generators along the corridor, such as Santa Ana High School and the Santa Ana Zoo, that may have different peak periods. Before collecting data and building the model, we will work with the City to confirm the peak period to be analyzed and any special considerations that should be made for these off-peak generators. 2.4 Equity HDR will develop an existing conditions equity analysis technical memorandum with a composite framework for identifying project disadvantaged communities that incorporates multiple indicators known to threaten health, safety, and quality of life of residents. Our team will leverage our Community Analytics analysis and deep experience conducting equity-based geographic analysis using tools such as CalEnviroScreen, California Department of Education, California Healthy Places Index, and Center for Disease Control (CDC) PLACES local data to illustrate specific risks and needs within census tracts throughout the project area. From our preliminary equity analysis of the corridor study area, we found that 100% of census tracts along First Street between Bristol Street and the I-5 freeway are categorized as SB535 Disadvantaged Communities. However, according to California Healthy Places Index, the corridor census tract east of the I-5 also features other equity concerns such as relatively low healthcare access and relatively high exposure to diesel particulate matter due to its position in between two freeways. An equity assessment is only made comprehensive by utilizing data from multiple sources, including community feedback and on-street observational notes. These methods will be critical to verify online data and augment this information with real-life public right-of-way uses, such as street vendors and other informal economic drivers. These activities may be observed to generate trips along and to the corridor, as well as provide opportunities to identify bus stop amenities and design alternatives to accommodate street vendors and micro-community gathering spaces. Field investigations conducted as part of Task 2.1.4 will note these types of activities along the corridor, as well as more traditionally collected transportation behaviors. Once crash data from Task 2.1.3 is compiled in GIS, we will overlay the crash information on a land use map to understand if there is a higher density of crashes by mode near lower income housing sites, and if there is a correlation between access to those properties and nearby transit or other community services. Crash data can be further analyzed to identify community disparities in race, ethnicity, and income that may provide further insights to inform transportation access, barriers, engagement strategy, and safety measures. The memorandum will compile a comprehensive snapshot of the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, environmental conditions, and health outcomes along the corridor. This snapshot will serve as a key data point to inform stakeholder and community engagement, as well as a context-sensitive baseline for developing multimodal concept alternatives that strive to improve equitable health outcomes while identifying potential threats and risks for mitigation and/or consideration. The memorandum will include new maps of project disadvantaged census tracts with commonly used metrics such as income/poverty and environmental hazards, as well as nuanced measures such as housing security, health factors, and food access. 26% Service workers 14% Carpooled to work 4% Took public transit to work 31% Blue collar workers 94% Own a smartphone