HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-06-19 Kim Coey
740 Waltman Lane
Phone: 208-888-1856
June 18, 2020
City of Meridian
33 E Broadway Ave, Ste.
Meridian, ID 83642
City Council Members,
I would like to bring your attention to the Traffic Impact Study that Tanner Creek Development used for
its application by Thompson Engineers Inc. I want to highlight some areas to show that there are
mistakes and flaws in this study.
1. In Figure 6 on page 12: it shows the estimated AM and PM Hour Site Traffic entering and exiting
Waltman Lane at Waltman/Meridian intersection is non-existent.
2. In Figure 7 on page 13: the 2022 Year AM and PM Peak Hour Total Traffic shows 0 vehicles entering
and exiting Waltman Lane at Waltman/Meridian intersection.
That is not correct and could have impacted the rest of the study resulting in underestimated numbers.
3. In Table 3 on page 14: 2017 Existing Traffic on Local Streets - If you add the total ADT for each
street in the ADT column, the total equals to 3,247 ADT
4. In Table 8 on page 16: 2022 Background traffic on Local Streets – If you add the total Traffic for each
street in the Total Traffic column, the total equals to 2,977 ADT
How did we lose 270 vehicle trips inside the neighborhood? Where did that traffic go? Also, on page 8,
it shows that this neighborhood has 0% estimated traffic growth. The numbers should have stayed the
same in Table 3 and Table 8. Was this a mistake? Did it mess up the numbers for the rest of the study
and under estimate peak hour trips?
5. In Table 6 on page 15: 2017 Intersection Level of Service – It shows Meridian/Main and
Waltman/Central intersection as LOS A in AM Peak Hour and LOS C in PM Peak Hour
6. In Table 16 on page 19: 2022 Total Traffic Intersection Level of Service – It shows Meridian/Main
and Waltman/Central intersection as LOS C in AM Peak Hour and LOS D in PM Peak Hours
How does the AM peak hours drop down two LOS letter grades with this development and projected
growth but the PM Peak hour only drops one LOS letter grade with this development and projected
growth? Especially since this site development alone will contribute 56 more vehicles during the PM Peak
hour than the AM hour? (See Table 2 on page 10 for that number) Furthermore, I don’t think it’s in the
City’s best interest to degrade the LOS for the main entry into the city.
7. Cut Through Traffic Page 19: Cut Through Traffic – This section states: “As discussed above, the new
roadway connection to Waltman will result in traffic from the existing subdivision to divert to
Waltman. This is not cut through traffic but will result in higher traffic volumes on some existing
roadways. Table 8 indicates that none of the local roads will experience daily traffic volumes
above 1,000 trips per day, therefore the peak hour volume should be less than 100, except Muscovy
Avenue and Pelican Drive may experience a volume of 100 vehicles during the PM peak hour.”
This is complete absurdity. Ruddy Dr. will absolutely be used by the West neighborhood as cut
through traffic to go to the Interchange, WinCo, Home Depot, restaurants, Wahooz, Roaring Springs,
Majestic Cinemas, Walgreens, Walmart, and so many other places. The West neighborhood will
extensively add more traffic than this Traffic Impact Study indicates. This section also includes Table
8 findings to support that West neighborhood’s local roads will not exceed 1,000 ADT. But yet, as I
previously pointed out, there are 270 vehicles missing from table 8 which could have
underestimated and comprised the findings that the local roads didn’t exceed 1,000 ADT from this
development.
In Conclusion, this Traffic Impact Study has too many flaws that could have affected the outcome of this
study. Also, these numbers are based on a 2017 study, and I don’t think anyone could have predicted
the amount of growth Meridian has had in the last 3 years. Also, this study did not include a generation
trip study for the vehicles from the West neighborhood using Ruddy Dr. Without a current Traffic Impact
Study and without including a trip generation study from the West neighborhood, this Traffic Impact
Study is grossly underestimating the ADT for Ruddy Dr and Waltman Lane. Therefore, this Traffic Impact
Study should be redone. It would be irresponsible and unfair to approve this development without
looking at current traffic studies and estimating the ADT that will generate from the West neighborhood
to see the true impacts this development will have on this area.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Kim Coey
You can view my sources and tables below.
Sources
https://weblink.meridiancity.org/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=187102&dbid=0&repo=MeridianCity
1.
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6. and 7.
Table 2 Page 10
Page 8