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Home My WebLink AboutACHD CommentsTara Green From: Christy Little [Clittle@achd,ada.id.us] Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 4:09 PM To: Anna Canning; clerk; Peggy Gardner; C. Caleb Hood Cc: snickel@roselawgroup.corn Subject: Browning Plaza Subdivision Attachments: waltman 6-20.pdf Page 1 of 1 his memo is in response to questions raised by the Council to ACHD at the Council meexing last week. Please rovide this to the Council and Mayor prior to tomorrow night's continued hearing on the matter. hanks so much! hristy hristy Little rogram Administrator ight-of-Way & Development Services hone: 208*387*6144 ax:208*387*6393 t ~~~`~j "~ CHD ~ ~iom.r~,~G~`ecl~o se~t~v~ic~ June 23, 2008 Honorable Tammy de Weerd, Mayor Charlie Rountree, Council President Keith Bird, Councilman David Zaremba, Councilman Joe Borton, Councilman Dear Mayor de Weerd and City Council, Carol A. McKee, President Sherry R. Huber, lst Vice President Dave Bivens, 2nd Vice President John S. Franden, Commissioner Rebecca W. Arnold, Commissioner At the Council meeting on ]une 17, 2008, a public hearing was held for a commercial developrnent located at the west end of Waltman Lane. Several transportation issues and concerns were raised about the capacity of the roadways; the capacity of the Main/Meridian intersection that is to be reconstructed by the Ada County Highway District (ACHD) in 2009; and access to undeveloped properties in fhe area. I have worked with our traffic engineers, project managers and project consultants to address your questions. Preliminary Plat Application/Rezone/Annexation for Browning Plaza - Agency Coordinafion • ACHD staff met with the applicant on several occasions in the last five months to discuss improvements to the roadway network in the area. • ACHD and City staff also met twice during this time to specifically discuss the roadway network, and impacts to the roads. • The ACHD Commission approved the preliminary plat application on March 5, 2008. • Six Mile Engineering prepared a Tra~c Study Report for the Meridian Road and Main Street Split Cor~ido~ - Phase 1 and it was finalized in )uly 2007. The resulting product of the Traffic Study was the Concept Design. Both ACHD and the City of Meridian were represented on the project team. Land Use Assumptions The future development of the land accessed by Waltman Lane was unknown at the time of the traffic study for the Meridian Split Corridor; however, it was assumed that it may develop sirnilarly to the land accessed by Central D.rive. This was the direction provided by the project team on ]uly 26, 2006. Assuming similar commercial development, the standard model was modified by increasing employmenf demographics for TAZ 280 (west of Meridian) to match the future density of TAZ 281 (east of Main). The Cornrnunity Choice model was also selected for use by the project team. This was agreed to in a meeting held at a project meeting on July 26, 2006. Ada Counry Highway District • 3775 Adams Street • Garden Ciry, ID • 83714 • PH 208 387-6100 • FX 345-7650 • www.achd.ada.id.us (Figure 3: Key Study Area Traffic Analysis Zones; Meridian Road and Main Street Split Corridor - Phase 1 T~a~c Study Report - July 200~ As a result of the demographic and modeling analysis for Waltman Lane, a large southbound right-turn movement and a large northbound left-turn movement are anticipated. These movements require exclusive turn lanes on Waltman Lane. One of the benefits of the intersection design at Main/Meridian is that it provides "more efficient operations" for Central Drive and Waltman Lane, according to the Downtown Meridian Transportation P/an (2005). The intersection was designed for a volume/capacity (v/c) ratio of 1.0 which equates to an "at capaciry" condition or Level of Service (LOS) E. As illustrated by the curve below (firom the Meridian Road and Main Street Split Corridor - Phase 1 Tra~c Study Report -1u/y 200~, the infersection can accommodate about 60,000 ADT on Meridian Road and about 10,000 ADT on Waltrnan Lane; or about 50,000 ADT on Meridian Road and 18,000 ADT on Waltman Lane. The traffic projections on Meridian (45,100) are lower than the 2006 numbers because of the Linder Overpass, Locust Grove Overpass and Ten Mile Interchange. ?z,ooo. • .20~~ , GOMPASS.2030 MetiOiansloC.entrai:. ;45,t00' 0 18,000; ~ ~ CenUal: ~ 14;300. Q: WalUnan: t0:t00; ~ ~s;ood ~ J' ~ '14,000 ~ A, 3 ~%ooo : . u io,ooa ~ m . > o; ' e,ooo - :~ 8 ~ ~ COfiAPASS 2A10• MeriOian sto Ceritrat: 45,300 t~ •4 ~.; , Central:: '9;590 f . ^ ... Wa tman: 7;700 ' 2,000 -~ 0. . .. . , 40:000 45,000 50,ObQ 55.000 80:000 65.000 ~0:000 Nle~idian Road ADT ~lo CsnvaFO~ivo. Figure 5. Main ~tr~eet and Meridian Road Intersection Thr.eshold Capacity Curve F~ AAeridian sfo;CenUal: 58.605 CentraN 12.901 waltman:, o Waltman Lane Roadway Classifcation/Corporate Drive ~ Regardless of how wide Waltrnan Lane is (i.e. 3-lanes versus 5-lanes); its function is as a collector roadway because it does not extend west to Linder Road. ACHD did evaluate the number of lanes needed to serve Waltman Lane but the projected traffic volume (10,000 ADT) was not close to indicating the need for a five lane roadway (17,500 ADT for a collector classification and 26,500 ADT for an arterial). It was noted in the Meridian Road and Main Street Split Co~~ido~ - Phase 1 Tra~c Study Repoit - July Z007, that widening Waltman Lane to 5-lanes is not realistic because it does not extend through to Linder Road. • To accommodate the projected ADT on Waltman Lane eastbound, the Main/Meridian intersection design includes dual left-turn lanes, a thru lane and a dedicated right turn lane. • The traffic study that was completed for the Main/Meridian Split Corridor projected future volumes of 10,100 ADT for Waltman Lane and 8,400 for Corporate Drive. • While the ADT on Waltman may exceed the projected volumes in the near-term, it is anticipated that a portion of those vehicle trips will be reduced when Corporate Drive is extended to Waltman Lane. • Corporate Drive is shown on Figure 2.5 of the Downtown Meridian Transportation Plan as a future collector. Waltman Lane is not classified in that figure beyond a local street. Ruddy Drive It is very difficult to quantify future traffic volurnes on the Ruddy Drive stub e~ension. Our projected estimate is an additional 500-1,000 vehicle trips per day from Ruddy Drive into the site and onto Waltman Lane. Even if these estimates are low, Waltman Lane is still well under the ADT threshold for a needed 5-lane road. The applicant is proposing to construct what appears to be a landscaped island where the residential street extends into the commercial area, which is a good reminder for westbound traffic that they are entering a neighborhood. The connectivity of the area is important to maintaining the function of the roadways and intersections, and reduces vehicle miles traveled. Extraordinary Impact Fee Overlay District • As indicated in the ACHD report, the extension of Corporate Drive and other improvements could be constructed by the applicant, through the formation of an Extraordinary Impact Fee Overlay District. The formation of the Overlay District would allow ACHD to purchase additional right-of-way necessary for the roadway improvements. Sincerely, Christy Little Prograrn Administrator Right-of-Way & Development Services Ada County Highway District cc: ACHD Board of Commission J. Schweitzer, Director Deputy Directors Adam Zaragoza, Project Manager Shawn Martin, Assistant Manager, Traffic Services Gary Inselman, Manager, Right-of-Way & Development Services