Jefferson Street Widening from Avenue 38 to Varner Road

The City of Indio, in cooperation with the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG), proposes to improve and widen Jefferson Street from Avenue 38 to Varner Road. Jefferson Street is a vital north-south arterial serving as a major connector for residents, students, and visitors.The City contracted with KOA/Lochner to develop the conceptual plans up to 35% of the design. This included preparing a traffic study to support the lane configurations and performing community outreach to determine the level of active transportation improvements desired by the community. Through this outreach, additional impacts were discussed with the private property owners.Through this development process, planned improvements include:• Three lanes in each direction between Varner Road and Avenue 40. Based on community input, the scope of this contract will include a refined traffic study to evaluate a northbound right turn lane onto Sun City Boulevard to maintain the current traffic pattern.• Two lanes in each direction between Avenue 40 and Avenue 38. One northbound lane will be dropped near Avenue 38 to match the receiving lanes at the entrance of Talavera.• Continuous sidewalks on the east side of Jefferson Street north of Sun City Boulevard• A Class I Bike Path (fully separated from vehicular traffic), identified as the preferred alternative through community feedback, to be located on the west side of Jefferson Street north of Sun City Boulevard with appropriate crossings at existing intersections. The Class 1 Facility is proposed to switch to the east side of Jefferson Street south of Sun City Boulevard with appropriate termination at Varner Road.The selected consultant will need to coordinate with Desert Sand Unified School District for impacts around the Shadow Hills High School. In addition, coordination with Sunline Transit will be critical to understand the bus route used for school pickup and drop-off. The purpose of this project is to provide a comfortable and safe environment for all users, drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, while improving mobility and connectivity along this corridor. The project will implement the City’s General Plan and the Regional Active Transportation Plan by incorporating high-quality bicycle and pedestrian facilities in addition to roadway widening. The following elements were agreed to be evaluated further with the final design:• Reduced impacts to property on the southeast corner of Avenue 38 and Jefferson Street.• Installing a median fence south of Avenue 39 in front of Shadow Hill High School.• Investigate a northbound right turn lane from Jefferson Street to Sun City Boulevard.• Drainage Improvements north of Avenue 39.• Relocation and Improvement of the Sunline Transit bus stop at Jefferson Street and Avenue 39.• Landscaping Improvements along corridor.• Utility and power pole relocations as necessary. A copy of the 35% plans along with the latest City design input are included in Attachment 1. A copy of the community outreach summary is included in Attachment 2.