RE: A Traffic Impact Statement for the Proposed Fall River South Development

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1 James J. Copeland, P.Eng. GRIFFIN transportation group inc. 30 Bonny View Drive Fall River, NS B2T 1R2 June 20, 2016 Chris Boudreau, P.Eng. Manager Engineering Strum Consulting Railside, 1355 Bedford Highway Bedford, NS B4C 1C5 RE: A for the Proposed Fall River South Development Dear Mr. Boudreau: INTRODUCTION At the request of Strum Consulting, the GRIFFIN transportation group inc. has carried out a qualitative Stage 1 - Traffic Impact Assessment in support of the planning application process for a proposed mixed-use development located on Ingram Drive (PID # , , , , , and ) in the community of Windsor Junction, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). The proposed development will be comprised of three multi-story residential buildings, a building containing medical/dental office space and a take-out restaurant as well as a self-storage warehouse building. The subject lands measure about 29.1 acres and are generally located between the south terminus of Ingram Drive and Cobequid Road. They will be serviced by an extension of Ingram Drive that will cross the existing railway line and connect to Cobequid Road as a t-intersection. The subject properties have a zoning designation of Residential Comprehensive Development District (RCDD) within the Land Use By-law Planning Districts 14 / 17 (i.e. Shubenacadie Lakes Land Use By-law area) and is within the HRM Water Service Area. The traffic impact assessment associated with the proposed mixed-use development is discussed in the following Sections. Although a railway crossing approval for an Ingram Drive extension has yet to be granted, this traffic impact assessment has assumed that it would be in place as part of the full build-out of the development and Ingram Drive would be completed through to Cobequid Road. The site context is generally illustrated in Figure 1 and the proposed site plan is shown in Figure 2.

2 Figure 1: Study Area and Site Context STUDY AREA AND SITE CONEXT Cobequid Road will serve as the main route to/from the proposed development and is generally aligned in an east-west direction with a two-lane, two-way rural open ditch cross-section. It is under the jurisdiction of the HRM and appears to function as a collector road between the major service area of Lower Sackville to the west and the community of Waverley to the east. As shown in Figure 1, the subject lands are currently undeveloped. Access to the proposed development would be offered through either Ingram Drive or Cobequid Road. It should be noted that a new Ingram Drive extension connecting to Cobequid Road is expected to impact driver s route choice for residents along the established sections of Ingram Drive and the Fall River Village / Perry Lake Estates neighbourhoods. The existing south access point for residents in this area is via Winley Drive and it is expected that an Ingram Drive extension will provide a new alternative south access point. Fall River South Mixed-use Development Page 2

3 Highway 102 Residential Buildings Ingram Drive Self-storage Warehouse Commercial Building Railway Line Source: WM Fares Architects Cobequid Road Proposed Site Plan Figure 2

4 EXISTING TRAFFIC CON DITIONS Since the proposed development will have a mix of both residential and commercial land use types, and that the Cobequid Road corridor accommodates weekday commuter traffic demands, it seemed reasonable to assume the highest overall study area volumes would occur during the weekday morning and afternoon peak periods. Therefore, these two peak times were selected and used in this assessment. A site visit and data collection effort was carried out on Friday June 3 rd, 2016 to measure sight lines, observe traffic volumes, measure vehicle operating speeds and so forth. In addition, representatives of HRM Traffic Management were contacted to obtain their most recent traffic volume data. HRM provided historical traffic data from their on-going traffic data collection program and the most recent data available in the study area is contained in Table 1. Table 1: Cobequid Road Historical Traffic Volumes (Average Weekday Peak Hours) AM Peak (vph) PM Peak (vph) Eastbound Westbound Two-way Eastbound Westbound Two-way May vph vehicles per hour Considering the peak period volumes shown in Table 1 and the capacity provided by a two-lane, two-way collector road it appears there is residual capacity available in the Cobequid Road corridor to accommodate some future traffic growth. SIGHTLINE REVIEW The driver sight line review was based on the guidelines contained in the Transportation Association of Canada s (TAC) Geometric Design Guide for Canadian Roads. These guidelines use design speed for determining criteria such as minimum stopping sight distance (SSD). The design speed is associated with a range of vehicle operating speeds on the major roadway. It should be noted that the regulatory posted speed limit along Cobequid Road in the vicinity of the study area is 60 km/h. During the site visit, the consultant team measured operating speeds (85 th percentile speed) in both directions along Cobequid Road. The survey results showed that operating speeds were 65 and 72 km/h for the eastbound and westbound directions, respectively. As such, a 70 km/h operating speed was applied to this analysis and the minimum required SSD for this operating speed is 110m. Fall River South Mixed-use Development Page 4

5 The available sightlines were measured from the proposed connection location of the Ingram Drive extension to Cobequid Road. Available sightlines were measured to be: To the west (towards Sackville): 160m and limited by the horizontal curve and vegetation along the ditch line; and To the east (towards Waverley): greater than 180m It was concluded that the existing driver sightlines to/from both the proposed Ingram Drive extension exceed minimum design guidelines for drivers moving to and from the proposed development, given the expected vehicle operating speeds. The observed sight lines are provided in Figure 3. Figure 3: Sight lines from the proposed Ingram Drive Connection to Cobequid Road Looking east along Cobequid Road Looking west along Cobequid Road SITE TRIP GENERATION In order to assess the change in traffic volumes on the study area streets under future conditions, there was a need to determine the number of new vehicles that would be entering and exiting the proposed development. This is referred to as the trip generation calculation process. Typically, traffic engineers use trip generation rates published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) to forecast site-generated volumes for specific land use types, if deemed appropriate. Based on our review of the land use types being proposed it was determined that the ITE trip generation rates were appropriate. As such, ITE s Trip Generation, 9 th Edition document was used and the forecast site-generated trips are summarized in Table 2. Fall River South Mixed-use Development Page 5

6 Table 2: Site Trip Generation for the Proposed Residential Development Trip Rate New Vehicle Trips / Hour In Out Total Size AM Peak Hour Apartment (220) 116 units 0.51/unit Medical Office (720) 2,000 ft /1,000ft Take-out Restaurant (932) 2,000 ft /1,000ft Self-Storage Warehouse (151) 10,000 ft /1,000ft AM Peak Total PM Peak Hour Apartment (220) 116 units 0.62/unit Medical Office (720) 2,000 ft /1,000ft Take-out Restaurant (932) 2,000 ft /1,000ft Self-Storage Warehouse (151) 10,000 ft /1,000ft PM Peak Total In summary, the proposed mixed-use development is expected to generate 88 trips/hour (29 inbound and 59 outbound) during the weekday morning peak period and 103 trips/hour (61 inbound and 42 outbound) during the weekday afternoon peak period. This generally equates to about one vehicle trip every minute during the morning peak and about three vehicles every two minutes during the afternoon peak. Given the rural/remote area and low residential density that exists in the vicinity of this development the majority of patrons for the medical office and takeout restaurant are expected to already live in the area and will likely comprise of pass-by trips as opposed to new trips. As such, the forecast site-trip generation contained in Table 1 likely overestimates the number of new trips that are expected on the study area roads. TRAFFIC IMPACTS ON SURROUNDING STREETS The qualitative assessment of the current traffic operational conditions on Cobequid Road was carried out during the field review. As discussed earlier in this letter the peak period traffic volumes observed using the Cobequid Road corridor appear to be well below the capacity for this type of street and there were minimal delay times observed for drivers entering the Cobequid Road corridor traffic stream from side streets and accesses. In addition, the forecast site-generated traffic for the proposed 116 apartment units, 2,000 ft 2 of medical office space, a 2,000 ft 2 take-out restaurant and a 10,000 ft 2 self-storage warehouse business is expected to generate about one additional vehicle trip per minute during the weekday morning peak and about three trips every two minutes during the weekday afternoon peak. It is expected these new vehicle trips can be accommodated in the Cobequid Road corridor with only a marginal impact on traffic operations. Fall River South Mixed-use Development Page 6

7 Given the proximity of the railway line to the proposed Cobequid Road / Ingram Drive extension intersection, an assessment was carried out to identify the available vehicle queue storage capacity should a train running along the railway line stop northbound traffic on the Ingram Drive extension. The available vehicle queue storage distance between Cobequid Road and the railway line was measured to be about 65m. This distance provides storage for apprximately 9 to 11 vehicles. Since this is only a qualitative Stage 1 impact assessment, no analytical capacity calculations have been carried out. However, it should be noted that some traffic diversion is expected to occur once a new Ingram Drive extension is built and connected to Cobequid Road. It is expected that some portion of the Perry Lake Estates / Fall River Village traffic will shift away from the Windsor Junction Road / Cobequid Road intersection and divert to the new Ingram Drive / Cobequid Road intersection. FINDINGS & CONCLUSIONS The following conclusions were gleaned from the qualitative traffic impact assessment of the proposed mixed -use development: The proposed mixed-use development will be comprised of 116 residential apartment units, 2,000 ft 2 of medical office space, a 2,000 ft 2 take-out restaurant and a 10,000 ft 2 self-storage warehouse business. Using ITE trip generation rates, the development is expected to generate 88 trips/hour (29 inbound and 59 outbound) during the weekday morning peak period and 103 trips/hour (61 inbound and 42 outbound) during the weekday afternoon peak period. The qualitative traffic operational assessment suggests there is residual capacity on the study area street system. It appears the new traffic volumes generated by the proposed development are expected to have a negligible impact on traffic operations along Cobequid Road corridor. The minimum required driver sight lines were calculated to be 110m and are based on a 70 km/h vehicle operating speed. The available sightlines were measured to be 160m to the west (limited by a horizontal curve and vegetation) and greater than 180m to the east. The available vehicle queue storage for northbound vehicles between the proposed Cobequid Road / Ingram Drive extension intersection and the railway line should a train be using the railway line is about 65m. In summary, the traffic generated by the proposed mixed-use development is expected to have a negligible and acceptable level of impact on the traffic operating conditions along Cobequid Road. Based on this assessment the following steps are recommended: Fall River South Mixed-use Development Page 7

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