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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRIGDEN FARM, PIONEER CHARTER SCHOOL - SITE PLAN ADVISORY REVIEW - 56-98U - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - TRAFFIC STUDY{?M-4jY-37 VP(4 ?M-E8-01 YP14 AM -Wf3-)!5 U4'►f AM-EB-loves Tj�vi B E� L l � E�C'u g T�2 1NTE,e sCC Tr o�J ,1 vaVc 200 3 December 20W ►qj of 600 500 I = � x Q 400 W0 W d 300 Q � W Z j 200 J 0 -1 = 100 Figure 4C-3. Warrant 3, Peak Hour 2 OR MORE LANES & 2 OR MORE LANES 2 OR MORE LANES & 1 LANE 1 LANE & 1 LANE Page 4C-9 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 i MAJOR STREET —TOTAL OF BOTH APPROACHES — VEHICLES PER HOUR (VPH) 'Note: 150 vph applies as the lower threshold volume for a minor -street approach with two or more lanes and 100 vph applies as the lower T�B&,E'Lldl� threshold volume for a minor -street approach with one lane. VP if Ql-4-Z370 VPN KTo R = right turn S = straight I = lafi hun MATTHEW J. DELICH, P.E. 2272 GLEN HAVEN DRIVE LOVELAND, CO 80538 Phone: 970 669-2061 TABULAR SUMMARY OF VEHICLE COUNTS Date: 6.19.03 Observer: Michael Day: Thursday Jurisdiction: Fort Collins Intersection: Timberline/Custer Time Begins Northbound: Timberline Southbound: Timberline Total northisouth Eastbound: Custer Westbound: Custer Total east/west Total All L S R Total L S R Total L S R Total L S R Total 7:15 0 191 2 193 2 130 0 132 325 0 0 6 6 3 0 1 4 10 335 7:30 2 279 2 283 3 151 0 154 437 0 0 2 1 2 0 0 2 4 441 7:45 1 300 10 311 1 171 0 172 483 0 0 2 2 5 0 0 5 7 490 8:00 1 316 9 326 3 239 1 243 569 1 0 1 2 6 0 0 6 8 577 8:15 1 1243 1 7 1 251 1 1222 1 0 223 474 0 0 4 4 2 0 0 1 6 480 8:30 1 229 5 235 1 198 0 199 434 0 0 2 2 1 3 0 1 4 6 440 7:30-8:30 1 5 11138 128 1 1171 1 8 1783 1 1 1 791 1 1963 1 1 1 0 1 9 1 10 115 1 0 1 0 1 15 1 25 1988 PHF I 1 0.9 1 1 0.81 1 1 0.63 1 1 0.63 4:15 2 1237 5 244 4 298 0 302 546 1 0 3 4 11 0 5 16 20 566 4:30 4 255 6 265 4 247 1 252 517 1 1 2 4 2 0 1 3 7 524 4:45 6 256 7 269 4 311 0 315 584 0 0 3 3 5 1 2 8 11 595 5:00 5 245 8 258 6 318 1 325 583 1 0 7 8 5 0 2 7 15 598 5:15 3 259 12 274 2 353 1 356 630 1 0 4 5 9 0 4 13 18 648 5:30 4 234 1 9 1 247 1 3 1322 1 1 1 326 1 573 1 0 4 5 1 7 0 2 9 1 14 587 4:45.5:45 18 1994 136 1048 115 113041 3 1 1322 1 2370 1 3 1 0 118 1 21 126 1 1 110 1 37 1 58 1 2428 PHF 0.98 1 1 0.93 1 1 0.66 1 1 0.71 11 APPENDIX A And a 0/10 1/3 0/0 9/18 AM/PM RECENT PEAK HOUR TRAFFIC N Custer Figure 3 A t. fo SCALE: 1'=100' SITE PLAN N Figurec2 A�' 5 SITE LOCATION A& N NO SCALE Figure 1 A ft The pick-up time presents a whole other set of concerns because parents arrive so early and wait in "prime areas" for their children. This type of behavior should be discouraged by the school administration. If the pick-up area were closed until school was actually dismissed, this practice would not occur on the school property, but may be pushed onto Minnesota Drive. Since this is even worse than having the waiting occurring on the school property, it is recommended that staggered pick-up times be instituted. Details regarding the pick-up situation should be the subject of further analysis, but suffice it to say that it will involve considerable school staff in the pick-up area and full cooperation of parents. The staggering of the dismissal times will have a mitigating effect on the drop-off situation, since that start times will also need to be staggered. It is concluded that the trip generation for the Pioneer Charter School will be higher than the land uses contemplated for the parcel in the original Rigden Farm plan. However, since other nearby parcels have been proposed and built at a density that is less than that analyzed in the cited TIS, the impact will be mitigated. It is expected that a signal will not be warranted at the Timberline/Custer intersection until there is considerably more development within Rigden Farm. The impacts of drop-off and pick-up area/times can be mitigated by staggering the start and dismissal times for various grade levels. A fwj 3 City staff requested a peak hour count at the Timberline/Custer intersection to determine whether signal warrants are close to being met. While peak hour signal warrants alone are seldom used to install a traffic signal at any location, they are a gauge to determine when other signal warrants are close to being met. In addition to this, they are the easiest signal warrant to predict. Figure 3 shows the peak hour traffic at the Timberline/Custer intersection. These counts were obtained in June 2003. Raw count data is provided in Appendix A. A peak hour signal warrant analysis is also provided in Appendix A. From this analysis, the peak hour signal warrant will not be met until the westbound volume exceeds 150 vehicles per hour. This will not likely occur until more development occurs within Rigden Farm. It is likely that the development of the commercial parcel within Rigden Farm would cause the peak hour and, potentially, other signal warrants to be met at the Timberline/Custer intersection. City staff indicated a concern with regard to the drop-off and pick- up characteristics related to charter schools. This concern stems from observations and complaints related to other schools in Fort Collins. Staff is aware of troublesome situations at the Ridgeview Classical School and the Liberty Commons Charter School. At the time I was contracted to conduct this study, the Ridgeview Classical School was closed for the summer. Traffic observations and counts were conducted at the Liberty Commons Charter School in the morning peak hour and afternoon peak hour of the school. Liberty Commons Charter School has 535 students in grades K-9. It is likely that the drop-off and pick-up characteristics at Liberty Common School are somewhat influenced by the age of the students. In the morning peak hour, the shortest drop-off duration was 27 seconds and the longest drop-off duration was 6 minutes. There were a number of long (>3 minutes) drop-off durations that occurred early and late in the morning observation period. In many cases, parents got out of the cars and walked young students to the door. These observations were not included in calculating an average drop-off duration of 64 seconds. It is expected that the average drop-off duration would be lower (30-40 seconds) with the older students at the Pioneer Charter School. In the afternoon peak hour of the school, the shortest pick-up duration was 21 seconds and the longest pick-up duration was approximately 30 minutes. There were a number of observations where parents arrived more than 15 minutes before dismissal and waited in the parking lot area. This early arrival presents a concern in that vehicles tend to clog the pick-up area and spill into the public street. This behavior should be modified by not allowing these extended wait times. This may be a function of the age of the children at the Liberty Commons Charter School. Even after discounting some of the extremely long pick-up duration times, the average pick-up duration was almost 4 minutes. The Pioneer Charter School site plan indicates ingress from Minnesota Drive and egress to Custer Drive. Approximately 270 feet of passenger curb frontage is provided. Based upon the trip generation, it is expected that there would be 130-140 drop-offs and pick-ups occurring before and after school. If it is assumed that the peak occurs in a 20 minute period, the average arrival rate for drop-offs is one vehicle every nine seconds. Peaking characteristics for drop-offs can cause the arrival rate to be higher for short (1-3 minute) periods. This could result in 10-15 arrivals during the peak 1-3 minutes. However, the average would be 6-7 arrivals per minute. Since vehicles will be pulling up parallel to the curb (with no backing), a given vehicle will typically use approximately 2-3 car lengths to pull -in and pull-out. If a typical car is 18 feet, then 40-50 feet of curb space is needed for each maneuver. It would appear that the existing curb space could accommodate 6-7 cars at one time. q �2 MEMORANDUM RFGf� Co P00 J. O TO ' o TO: Steve Steinbicker Architecture West LLC U:Q CO o City of Fort Collins ��;3 • LO 0 FROM: Matt Delich , Nxi , CO O O DATE: August 5, 2003 0 U � • X SUBJECT: Pioneer Charter School Transportation Impact Study O lL (File: 0331ME01) z a J W Tract E at Rigden Farm is proposed to have the Pioneer Charter School. This tract is bordered by Limon Drive on the north, N Minnesota Drive on the east, Custer Drive on the south, and Kansas a� Drive on the west. Figure 1 shows the location of Tract E within the 0 CD Rigden Farm area. The "Rigden Farm Transportation Impact Study," January 1999, addressed the transportation impacts of the overall w o r-- Rigden Farm development. City staff requested a trip generation _ °) comparison, a peak hour traffic count at the Timberline/Custer wz intersection, and an analysis of the pick-up/drop-off area on the U i site. The alternative modes analyses were provided in the cited TIS, n. therefore additional alternative modes analyses are not required. rl- (V N Figure 2 shows the site plan for the Pioneer Charter School. The proposed school building is 29,000 square feet. The proposed student population will be 380 students in grades 6 through 12. The site plan shows a large drainage easement, running west to east through the middle of Tract E. Initial development will occur on the south portion of the site. The north portion of the site will be used as recreation fields and future potential parking. Access to the site will be from Minnesota Drive (ingress only) and to Custer Drive (egress only). When the north portion of the site is developed, access will be to/from Minnesota Drive and Limon Drive. Custer Drive is classified as a collector street. All other streets Uj that are adjacent to this site are classified as local streets. Q z In the cited TIS, Tract E was within Phase 1 of Rigden Farm and contained 80 apartment dwelling units. From Table 2 of the TIS, =Ul W Tract E was expected to generate 530 daily trip ends, 40 morning peak z hour trip ends, and 50 afternoon peak hour trip ends. With 380 V z students, the Pioneer Charter School is expected to generate 1310 J W daily trip ends, 350 morning peak hour trip ends, and 76 afternoon L11 o peak hour trip ends. The Pioneer Charter School will generate Q 0 significantly more daily and morning peak hour trip ends compared to the apartment land use shown in the cited TIS. However, it should be o noted that development proposals for other parcels, adjacent to and znearby Tract E, have generally had lower trip generation compared to ` Q that shown in the cited TIS. While the daily and morning peak hour trip generation may not be a "wash," the increase will be no more W than 10-15 percent. The Pioneer Charter School can mitigate the _ morning peak hour traffic load by having staggered start times. This LL can be accomplished by starting three grades at least 30-45 minutes < before the other three grades. This will cause a staggering of the dismissal times also, although the afternoon peak hour of the street Z will not be significantly impacted by the Pioneer Charter School.