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Home My WebLink AboutRIDGEVIEW CLASSICAL SCHOOL - SPAR - 16-01 - CORRESPONDENCE - TRAFFIC STUDYSent By: ZP; 303 455 3708; Jul-12-01 12:11PM; Page 6/6 • Operating conditions with Ridgeview Classical School fully built will be accept- able and virtually replicate conditions without the school built. Accordingly, the school will not adversely impact area streets. • City standards will be satisfied with all traffic movements, all intersection legs, and all intersections operating at level of service `C' or better. • The initial site access scheme should be expanded to include the outbound right turn from the site to northbound Lemay. This will help promote more balanced traffic on the Stuart approaches to Lemay. • Under buildout conditions, some 100 feet of drdp-off area is needed. With 230 feet available along the southwest side of the school in the future, the drop-off function can be easily accommodated. In summary, Ridgeview Classical School will not adversely impact the area street system when fully built. By expanding the site access scheme to include the westbound right turn onto Lemay, very efficient access can be achieved. This will result in an improved vehicle drop-off area, more balanced area traffic, and more efficient operations at the Lemay — Stuart intersection. I trust this letter meets your current needs. Please call me if you have any questions or need further assistance. Sincerely, ' :..&: 15g45 Eugene G. Cop a .E. r. Attachments Sent By: ZP; 303 455 3708; Jul-12-01 12:10PM; Page 5/6 drop-off trips. These trips will occur from about 7:20 — 7:55 A.M. assuming students arrive anywhere from 15 minutes before the start of school to the actual start time. With three different start times, staggered arrivals are likely. On average, about 4.4 arrivals per minute or one vehicle every 13 —14 seconds are expected. With a drop-off duration of one minute, each drop-off space can serve 35 vehicles during the peak arrival time. This drop-off time is 35% greater than recently measured at an elementary school (44 seconds average time for 25 drop-offs) and is considered reasonable. Accordingly, storage equivalent to 5 spaces, or 100 feet is reasonable. The school is actively promoting carpools which will help reduce vehicle demand and storage needs. At buildout, the school door will be centrally located in the area near the current church door. With the planned curb, some 230 feet of storage will be available along the southeast side of the building. This will easHy accommodate the expected drop-off demand. The distance between the Lemay side of the drop-off area and Lemay Street is about 120 feet. Based upon a capacity analysis of traffic exiting the site to northbound Lemay, there will be typically be one vehicle waiting to enter Lemay. This vehicle will experience 15 sec- onds of delay. This vehicle should clear at about the same interval as vehicles entering the site. Accordingly, no interference between the drop-off zone and vehicles turning onto Lemay is expected. SUMMARY Based upon the investigations and analyses documented above, the following can be con- cluded. • The Ridgeview Classical School will generate 232 inbound and 154 outbound trips during the morning peak hour. These trips can be easily absorbed and ac- commodated by the area street system. • Other school peak hours are not considered critical since they occur at times other than the street peak hours. Sent By: ZP; 303 455 3708; Jul-12-01 12:10PM; Page 4/6 INTERSECTION OPERATIONS Future intersection operations were evaluated using the total traffic volumes shown on Fig- ure 3 and current roadway geometry. These reflect buildout of the Ridgeview Classical School. Conditions without the school were also assessed to better identify school impacts. This information is shown below for the Lemay — Stuart intersection. Intersection Control Movement/ Direction AM Pk Hr. Level of Service Without School With School Lemay — Stuart Signal EB LT C C EB THJRT C C WB LT C C WB TH C C WB RT C C NB LT A A NB TH/RT C C SB LT B C SB TH/RT B B Overall C C As shown above, virtually identical conditions can be expected at the Lemay — Stuart inter- section whether or not the school is operational. No attempt was made to "tweak' signal timing in order to achieve identical operations. Accordingly, very acceptable conditions can be expected. At other street peak times, the school will not add significantly to traffic. These times are considered insignificant. The site exit to Stuart Street and the exit to Lemay were also evaluated. These intersections both operate acceptably with all traffic movements at level of service (LOS) 'C' or better. Capacity work sheets are attached. DROP-OFF EVALUATION As currently planned (and modified as indicated earlier in this study), site traffic will enter the site using Stuart and exit the site using Lemay and Stuart. This will result in students being dropped off on the passenger side of the vehicle adjacent to the school. Given that ITE estimates result in 154 outbound trips during the morning peak hour, these were considered Sent By: ZP; 303 455 3708; Jul-12-01 12:09PM; Page 3/6 when site traffic will occur concurrently with peak street traffic. Per Mr. Bracke, other hours were not considered worthy of investigation. With a buildout enrollment of 420 students, 232 inbound trips and 154 outbound trips can be expected during the morning peak hour per ITE trip generation rates for a private school. SITE ACCESS The current proposal has all site traffic entering and exiting the site using Stuart Street. This is considered somewhat inefficient and circuitous, and results in additional turns at the Lemay — Stuart intersection. The westbound right turn to northbound Lemay demand is currently 130 vehicles. With the added site demand of 100 vehicles, total right turn demand will increase to 230 vehicles per hour. While this demand can be accommodated, it clearly will become the highest traffic movement on Stuart Street. It will, in fact, be 250% larger than any other Stuart Street traffic movement. This imbalance is not considered desirable. Based upon this review, it was determined that the existing right turn access to Lemay should be used. This will reduce the demand on Stuart at both the site exit and at Lemay. The right turn to Lemay is not considered a critical movement. From this point forward, the right turn to Lemay is considered available for site traffic. The right turn from Lemay into the site may be considered in the future; however, it appears reasonable to exclude it at this time. This will allow all drop-offs to be on the passenger side of the vehicle and on the same side as the school. The school can enforce the routing by written parent commitments. It also can be reinforced and monitored by volunteers. SITE TRAFFIC DISTRIBUTION Site traffic will arrive and depart the site from throughout the area. Given that the morning peak hour is being investigated, site traffic was assigned based upon current traffic patterns during that time frame. Distribution percentages and resultant site traffic are shown on Figure 2. Sent By: ZP; 303 455 3708; Jul-12-01 12:09PM; Page 2 Tel: 303-792-2450 P.O. Box 260027 Fax: 303-792-5990 EUGENE G. COAPOLA P.E. Meton CC) 80163-0027 July 9, 2001 Jeanne Zeiler Fielding Zeiler -Pennock Inc. 2727 Bryant Street, #600 Denver, CO 80211 RE: Ridgeview Classical School Southwest Comer, Lemay & Stuart Fort Collins, CO Dear Jeanne: I have assessed the transportation impacts of the above referenced development. The assessment was based upon issues you identified as needing to be addressed and the study contents determined by Eric Bracke, City Traffic Engineer. The effort focused on the two primary areas identified below: Traffic impacts of the school on the adjacent street system. • The efficiency and viability of the proposed drop-off area. [004:AVlI Ridgeview Classical School will be phased into full operation over the next two years. The existing church will move out over this time as a new church facility is completed. At full operation, Ridgeview Classical School will have an estimated 420 students. All assess- ments in this study relate to full buildout of the school. Interim use(s) leading up to buildout are considered minor and insignificant. A Concept Plan is provided on Figure 1- SITE TRAFFIC The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)_publication, `Trip Generation, Sixth Edition", was used to develop initial site traffic for the critical morning peak hour. This is the only time Sent By: ZP; 303 455 3708; Jul-12-01 12:09PM; Page 1 ZEILER-PENNOCK91NC./OHA A R C H I T E C T S E N G i N E E R S FAX COVER SHEET To: Brian Grubb Company: Planning Department, Ft. Collins No. Pages: 6 Date: 7-12-01 Fax No: 970-416-2020 Regarding: Ridgeview Classical School Traffic Impact Assessment Comments: Five page narative traffic inpact assessment attached for your review. We will submit the original and 2 copies of the complete report at the Study Session tomorrow, Friday July 13, 2001. The complete report has an additional 29 pages of supporting worksheets. Copy to: - Flom: John Hellgren, AIA`J 2727 BRYANT ST. SUITE 600 DENVER. COLORADO $0211 (303) 455-3322 FAX - 455-3709 u