HomeMy WebLinkAboutROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL EXPANSION SITE PLAN ADVISORY REVIEW - 48 93 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - TRAFFIC STUDYProvide an attractive on/near campus food service for lunch
in an effort to reduce the traffic volumes that are occurring
during the noon hours.
Conclusions/Recommendations
Based upon the analyses performed in this study, the following
is concluded/recommended:
- Expansion of RMHS will cause an increase in vehicular
traffic on the area streets. This increase in traffic can be
accommodated on the street system with acceptable operation.
- With a student population of 1800 students, it is expected
that 5250 average weekday trip ends will be generated at RMHS.
These trip ends will come increasingly from south of RMHS, since
Fort Collins and the RMHS enrollment area are growing in that
direction.
- With the expansion of RMHS, the primary student parking
will be shifted to the east side of the school. Over 80 percent
of the student parking can have direct, convenient access to/from
Shields Street with the new parking layout. This direct access to
a large part of the student parking area can reduce the number of
home -based school trips through the neighborhood adjacent to RMHS.
- To reduce the traffic impacts (volume and speed of
vehicles) of the school traffic on the adjacent neighborhood, the'
City and School District should consider and implement some of the
measures mentioned in this report. These measures include making
use of the arterial street'system more attractive for home -based
school trips and making use of the neighborhood street system less
attractive, especially for home -based school trips passing through
the neighborhood. Poudre School District should also consider
implementing some incentive programs that will reduce the traffic
impact on the adjacent neighborhood.
7
Make Neighborhood Streets Less Attractive
In order to make using Dunbar Avenue less attractive as a
route accessing RMHS, do not provide signals at the Dunbar/
Horsetooth intersection (this signal may never be warranted anyway)
and the future Swallow/Taft Hill intersection. Since there already
is a signal at the Drake/Dunbar intersection, the Dunbar green
phase could be set at a minimum so this route would become less
attractive for students residing in the north/northwest/west
sectors of the enrollment area.
Two geometric treatments can be used on both Swallow Road
(west of RMHS) and on Dunbar Avenue that may reduce the amount of
through traffic passing through this neighborhood. "Chokers" can
be provided at various locations which reduces the street width.
This treatment reduces the length of the cross walks in the
neighborhood, making the area more pedestrian friendly. Since both
Dunbar and Swallow are striped with one lane in each direction,
there will not be a reduction in lanes. However, the physical
presence of curbs closer to the travel lanes will have a
psychological effect on drivers. The other treatment is a raised
traffic circle in the Dunbar/Swallow intersection. This is a very
wide intersection. It currently has four way stop control. A
traffic circle will force vehicles to slow down by bending the
direction of flow around the circle counterclockwise.
Careful selective use of speed humps has been effective in
both slowing traffic and making a given route less attractive for
the through traffic. If speed humps are used, it is recommended
that they be used only on local streets, not on collector level
streets. Prior to installation of speed humps, neighborhood
meetings should be conducted to attain a general consensus on their
::.. use.
Miscellaneous Considerations
In addition to the above methods to direct/encourage traffic
to use preferred routes, the following soft methods can also have
an impact on reducing the traffic impacts on the adjacent
neighborhood:
- Provide incentives for both students and staff to use
alternative modes. The obvious alternative modes include
walk, bike and public transportation.
- Limit parking as an effort to reduce private vehicle use.
This can also take the form of paid or permit parking. Care
must taken that parking that is denied on campus does not
occur on the neighborhood streets.
- Provide preferential parking if the vehicle stays all day, if
the student has good grades, or other similar incentives.
51
Drake Road are candidates for progressing traffic, since these are
the only streets with multiple signals.
Left- and right -turn lanes should be provided at key
intersections along the arterial streets. With most of the future
student parking located on the east side of RMHS, a northbound
left -turn lane on Shields Street at Rocky Mountain Way would
facilitate ingress to this parking area. At the present time, this
northbound left turn is not allowed. The site plan (Figure +)
shows one way ingress to this large student parking lot from
Swallow Road. Elimination of egress to Swallow Road will reduce
the likelihood that students will utilize the neighborhood streets
for the trip from school to house. If the one way ingress from
Swallow Road to the large student parking area is constructed, then
the northbound left -turn lane on Shields Street at Rocky Mountain
Way is not required. The northbound users of this parking lot can
turn on Swallow Road. If this Swallow Road access is not allowed
at all, then the sole access to this parking lot will be via Rocky
Mountain Way. In this case, the northbound left -turn lane on
Shields Street at Rocky Mountain Way is absolutely necessary. This
will make the Drake to Shields to Rocky Mountain Way route more
attractive than cutting through the neighborhood via Dunbar and
Swallow for home -based school trips from the north. It will also
make the Horsetooth to Shields to Rocky Mountain Way route more
attractive than cutting through the neighborhood via Dunbar and
Swallow for home -based school trips from the south/southwest
enrollment area. By forcing all but the users of the 100 student
parking spaces in the west parking lot to use the Shields/Rocky
Mountain Way intersection, the impacts to the adjacent neighborhood
should be reduced.
Providing adequately long leading left -turn arrows at key
intersections will reduce the travel time to and from school. At
school dismissal time, the phasing at the Shields/Rocky Mountain
Way intersection can be changed to facilitate exits from Rocky
Mountain Way. Review of the traffic counts. indicates that the
north/s.outh traffic on Shields, Street is 200-400 vehicles per hour
lower at dismissal time thanduring the peak hours. This would
allow a longer green phase on Rocky Mountain Way without a
significant negative impact to the traffic volumes on Shields
Street. This suggestion should be coupled with improved geometry
on the west leg of Rocky Mountain Way. Current geometry shows a
combined through/left-turn lane anal a right -turn lane. Both of
these eastbound lanes are narrow. Widening the west leg to provide
slightly oversized (13 feet wide) lanes will allow eastbound exits
to operate more efficiently. This will require widening on the
south side of pocky Mountain Way.
Neiahborhood Traffic Mitigation Measures
The neighborhood to the west of and adjacent to RMHS has a
long history of complaints about the school related traffic that
impacts their neighborhood. The complaints stem from two areas:
(1) the number of vehicles that are using neighborhood streets
(collectors and locals) to access RMHS, and (2) the speed at which
some students drive on the neighborhood streets.
Speed of the vehicles on the local streets is often.a function
of the maturity of the drivers. The collector streets,
particularly Dunbar and Swallow, .are very wide two lane streets
with bike lanesand on —street parking. This cross section invites
a higher speed. There are a number of four—way stop intersections
on each of these collector streets. While the higher speed (speed
in excess of the posted speed) is not condoned, it is often a
function of drivers and the ability of the City to enforce the
posted speed.
The number of vehicles utilizing the neighborhood streets is
0.0 high because the collector streets are the most reasonable routes
for many of the vehicles accessing RMHS. The students that are
most likely to utilize the neighborhood streets to access RMHS are
those residing north/northwest/west and south/southwest of RMHS as
p;- depicted in Figure 8.
There are a number of methods to guide some of these vehicles
to desired routes rather than through the adjacent neighborhood.
These methods relate to making the arterial street system more
attractive for the school trips, making the neighborhood street
system less attractive for the school trips, and some miscellaneous
incentives to change trip behavior.
Make Arterial Streets More Attractive
The one single measure that will make the arterial streets
more attractive is to build them to the arterial cross section.
Only Shields Street is built to the arterial cross section. This
measure will increase the capacity of the street itself and reduce
the travel time on the arterial system. However, this will require
almost one mile of improvement each on.Horsetooth Road and Taft
Hill Road, and approximately 0.75 miles of improvement on Drake
Road. It is not known when this will occur, since portions of
these streets are not totally within the city limits. It will also
be a function of development along these arterials and the
availability of public sector funds.
Providing good signal -progression along the arterial streets
will improve the operation and reduce the travel time on the
arterial streets. At the present time, only Shields Street and
M
Traffic Produced North/Northeast of RMHS
The school related traffic produced in this portion of the
enrollment area will likely stay the same or decrease. This
traffic accesses RMHS via Shields Street.
ITraffic Produced East of RMHS
The school related traffic produced in this portion of the
enrollment area will likely remain stable in the future. This
neighborhood is fully built out. This traffic accesses RMHS via
Swallow Road and, to a lesser degree, via Rocky Mountain Way.
Traffic Produced South/Southeast of RMHS
The school related traffic produced in this portion of the
enrollment area will likely increase about 90 percent. This
traffic accesses RMHS via Shields Street. The most direct route
for home -based school trips is via Shields Street and Swallow Road
or Shields Street and Rocky Mountain Way.
Traffic Produced South/Southwest of RMHS
The school related traffic produced in this portion of the
enrollment area will more than double. While this is a large
increase relative to the current school related, traffic, the
absolute increase is similar to that occurring in the area that is
south/southeast of RMHS. This traffic accesses RMHS via Horsetooth
Road. Due to the nature of the street system, the route using
Horsetooth Road, Dunbar Avenue, and Swallow Road is convenient for
home -based school trips. This route passes through the
neighborhood adjacent to RMHS.
Summary
The traffic assignment illustrates that the increase in school
enrollment will cause an increase in vehicular traffic. The area
intersections will operate acceptably during the peak hours of the
street and the peak hours of the. school. A westbound right -turn
lane on Drake Road approaching Shields Street will improve the
operation at this intersection. This lane has no bearing on RMHS
traffic and should be implemented as the Centre for Advanced
Technology continues to develop.
The neighborhood adjacent to RMHS will continue to be impacted_
by school related traffic. The following section of this report
suggests methods of mitigating and reducing the traffic passing
through this neighborhood.
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WITHIN THE SECTION:
IN - 65/33/20/10
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131/22/40 20
LEGEND:
AM / NOON / MID / PM
7-8 12-1 2-3 5-6
FUTURE SCHOOL TRAFFIC ASSIGNMENT
65/50/20/10
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Figure 8
65/3� 0�10
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CURRENT SCHOOL TRAFFIC ASSIGNMENT
to the south, more students would come from that direction. In
addition, school boundary anomalies, such as the peninsula
including downtown Fort Collins in the RMHS area, were assumed to
change in the future.
Trip Assignment
Trip assignment is how the generated and distributed trips are
expected to be loaded on the street system. Normally, the traffic
�I assignment process shows the actual turning volumes at various key
intersections. The assignments shown in Figure 7 are the school
related trips at various times of the day for the current school
population. Figure 8 shows the school related trips at various
times of the day for the future school population. Comparing
Figures 7 and 8 gives an indication of which streets will be
impacted as the student population grows and redistributes in the
future.
The RMHS related traffic on the area street system will
increase roughly proportionally to the increase in -student
population. However, as the City grows to the south and the
student population redistributes, the traffic impact will vary.
In the area north of RMHS, there will be a decreasing rate of
increase in school related trips. South of RMHS, there will be an
increasing rate of increase relative to .the growth in student
population.
Traffic Produced Within the RMHS Section
Traffic produced within the Section that contains RMHS will
likely increase by approximately 15 percent over the existing
school related traffic. This relatively small increase reflects
the availability of land within this area for new residential
units. This area is within one mile of the school and represents
the best opportunity for using alternative modes, particularly walk
and bicycle. Vehicle trips produced in this area cannot be
expected to utilize the exterior arterial street system for home —
based school trips.
Traffic Produced North/Northwest/West of RMHS
The traffic produced in this portion of the enrollment area
_ will likely increase about 30 percent over the current school
related traffic. This traffic accesses RMHS via Drake Road. Due
to the nature of the street system, the route using Drake Road,
Dunbar Avenue, and Swallow Road is convenient for home —based school
trips. This route passes through the neighborhood adjacent to
RMHS.
4
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29 - DENOTES WITHIN THE SECTION
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENT RESIDENCE LOCATIONS
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Figure 5
The large parking lot on the west side of RMHS will be reduced
to 225 parking spaces. The northern portion (125 spaces) will be
designated as faculty/staff parking. This will leave 100 spaces
available for students. A 60 space parking lot has been designated
as visitor parking with access from/to Swallow Road. The parking
lot on the east side of RMHS has been expanded to 455 spaces. This
is the largest of the parking areas. This lot is accessed
(inbound) from Swallow Road and via Rocky Mountain Way from Shields
Street. The only exit from this lot will be via the Shields/Rocky
Mountain Way intersection.
Trip Generation
Trip generation is important in considering the impact of
expansion of RMHS on the existing and proposed,street system in the
area. Prior to the preparation of the traffic study for the new
Fort Collins High School, special studies were conducted to
determine the trip generation characteristicsof a high school,
particularly a Fort Collins high school. Appendix D contains a
memorandum discussing the relationship between the trip generation
rates contained in Trip Generation, 4th Edition, ITE for high
schools and data collected at RMHS in February 1992. Using the
trip rate information developed in the memorandum in Appendix D,
the following trip generation could be expected during the peak
hours (7-9 AM, 4-6 PM) from RMHS:
- 5250 average weekday vehicle trip ends
- Morning Peak Hour - In 655
Out 355
- Afternoon Peak Hour - In 102
Out 299
Based upon limited
following additional trip
W - Noon Peak Hour -
Dismissal Peak Hour -
(2-3 PM)
Trip Distribution
counts in the vicinity of RMHS, the
generation information was developed:
In 334
Out .431
In 201
Out 528
RMHS serves primarily southwestern Fort Collins and Larimer
County residents located generally southwest of Fort Collins.
�= Using enrollment data from RMHS, student residence locations were
plotted on a map. Figure 5 shows a summary of that data. The
arrows indicate the "most likely" route that the students would use
to access RMHS. The data accounts for 95 percent of the RMHS
students. The Figure 5 data indicates a "snapshot" of the 1992-93__.
school year. It is likely that the trip distribution would change
as Fort Collins continues to grow. Figure 6 shows the current and
future trip distribution for RMHS students. As Fort Collins grows
3
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SHIELDS STREET.
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NO SCALE
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SITE PLAN Figure 4
Using the peak hour traffic counts shown in Figure 3 and the
existing geometry and control, the key intersections operate as
_ indicated in Table 1. Calculation forms are provided in Appendix
B. Appendix C describes the level of service for unsignalized and
signalized intersections as provided in the 1985 Highway Capacity
Manual. During the peak hours, the key, intersections operate
acceptably. Acceptable operation is defined as level of service
D or better. The Shields/Rocky Mountain Way intersection is signed
as "no left turn" northbound from Shields Street to Rocky Mountain
Way. The traffic counts indicate that there were some left turns.
While acceptable operation can be achieved at all of the analyzed
intersections, a westbound right -turn lane at the Drake/Shields
intersection would significantly improve the operation at this
intersection. This is particularly true during the afternoon peak
hour when the right -turning volume is more than 300 vehicles per
hour and the westbound through volume is more than 700 vehicles per
hour. This right -turn lane could be incorporated with future
�f development of the corner property in the Centre for Advanced
Technology.
Table 1
Existing Peak Hour Operation
Level of Service
Intersection AM Noon PM
Drake/Shields (signal) C C D
Drake/Dunbar (signal) B A B
Shields/Swallow (signal) B B B
Shields/Rocky Mountain Way A A A
(signal)
Site Proposal
Rocky .Mountain High School is proposed to be enlarged to
accommodate a student population of 1800. The expansion of the
existing facility also includes changes to the existing parking
lots that serve both the students, ---faculty,._ and visitors..___._.A
schematic of the site Plan is shown in Figure 4.
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Introduction
This study evaluates the traffic concerns related to the
expansion of Rocky Mountain High School (RMHS). It is located near
the Shields/Swallow intersection as shown in Figure 1. The current
enrollment is approximately 1200 students. The expansion plans
provide for a future enrollment of 1800 students at RMHS.
During the course of this study, numerous contacts were made
with the project planner and architect (Robb, Brenner, & Brelig)
and the Fort Collins Transportation Division. This study conforms
with typical traffic impact study guidelines and, additionally,
addresses concerns about current and future impacts to the
neighborhood adjacent to RMHS to the west.
Existing Conditions
RMHS is located in the Section bordered by Shields Street,
Drake Road, Taft Hill Road, and Horsetooth Road. These are all
arterial streets. Figure 2 shows the street system in the vicinity
of RMHS. This Section is also served by a collector street system
also shown in Figure 2. The collector streets are Dunbar Avenue
and Swallow Road. Casa Grande Boulevard functions as a collector
street serving the Wagon Wheel area. Swallow Road does not
currently intersect with Taft Hill Road. The Fort Collins Master
Street Plan shows the Taft Hill Road/Swallow Road connection.
However, there have been discussions about how the connection might
be made and still downplay the through nature of Swallow Road.
Of the arterial streets shown in Figure 2, only Shields Street
is constructed to the standard arterial cross section (5 lanes).
,. The other three arterial streets have segments of a five lane cross
section, but basically function as two lane streets. Improvements
to the arterial street system is a function of future adjacent
development and availability of public sector funds. All
arterial/arterial intersections are signalized.
The collector streets of Dunbar Avenue and Swallow Road are
wide. There is stop sign control at interior intersections, with
the collector streets generally having the right-of-way. There is
four-way stop control at some of the collector street
intersections. There are traffic signals at the Shields/Swallow
and Drake/Dunbar intersections.
Peak hour traffic counts were obtained at key intersections
as indicated in Figure 3. The data was collected during the time
of the year when school was in session. In addition, machine
counts were obtained in February 1992. All raw count data -is
provided in Appendix A.
1
ROCKY MOUNTAIN.HIGH SCHOOL EXPANSION
TRAFFIC STUDY
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO
AUGUST 1993
Prepared for:
Poudre School District
2407 West LaPorte Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80521
Prepared by:
MATTHEW J. DELICH, P.E.
3413 Banyan Avenue
Loveland, CO 80538
Phone: 303-669-2061