HomeMy WebLinkAboutFORT COLLINS EMERGENCY CENTER, 4858 S. COLLEGE AVE. - PDP - PDP160001 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - TRAFFIC STUDYPage 1
Figure 1 – Site Vicinity
October 20, 2015
Mr. Sameer Virani
Denver, Colorado
RE: Cedar Park Emergency Room
Transportation Impact Analysis
Ft. Collins, CO
Sameer:
McDowell Engineering has prepared this traffic memorandum for the proposed Cedar Park Emergency Room. The
information provided in this memorandum is intended to address the traffic impacts to the greater roadway
network associated with the proposed development.
Site Description
The Cedar Park Emergency Room (ER) project is
located at 4858 S. College Avenue. The site is
east of S. College Avenue’s current Frontage
Road, between Fairway Lane and Palmer Drive.
Figure 1 illustrates the site vicinity.
The land is currently vacant. There is an Avis car
rental facility to the south and mixed commercial
building to the north.
Development Access
Access to the ER facility is from the N. College
Avenue Frontage Road. This is a full movement
access. The site will also share the adjacent
access to the north via an access easement.
The City has plans to remove the Frontage Road
in the future and utilize a system of alleys and
cross‐access agreements to access the N. College Avenue businesses in this area. The site plan allows for future
access via a shared alley along the east side of the property in the future.
The current Frontage Road and planned future shared alley access both extend from Fairway Lane to Palmer Drive.
These two streets access S. College Avenue (US 287) and the great Ft. Collins’ roadway network. The Fairway Lane
and S. College Avenue intersection was recently signalized.
Proposed access location is illustrated in Figure 2’s proposed site plan.
Employees are anticipated to park in the north parking lot, leaving the south and east parking lots near the
emergency drop‐off entry for patients and visitors.
Internal circulation is achieved by a parking lot and drive aisle that circles the building on the south, east, and north
side of the building.
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Trip Generation
The applicant is proposing to construct a 8,000sf building to serve as a stand‐alone emergency room. This is
similar to an urgent care facility, but they are open 24 hours a day. The facility will not provide in‐patient care.
Cedar Park Emergency Room (ER) is anticipating ten employees during a shift.
The proposed stand‐alone ER facility is not a standard land use as defined by ITE. ITE Land Use #630, Clinic, best
describes the function of the proposed project. A clinic provides “limited diagnostic and outpatient care, but is
unable to provide prolonged in‐house care.” The standard trip generation characteristics compiled by ITE in the
Trip Generation, 9th Edition, revised 2012, has been applied to the #630 Clinic land use in order to estimate the
average daily, AM peak hour, and PM peak hour vehicle trips. A vehicle trip is defined as a one‐way vehicle
movement from a point of origin to a point of destination. ITE provides trip generation rates based upon building
size and the number of employees.
The ER facility is anticipated to be a destination land use. No passby or internal trip reductions were taken for this
land use. Refer to Table 1 for a detailed breakdown of the trip generation calculations for this site.
PROJECT NUMBER: M1196
PREPARED BY: KJS
DATE:
REVISED:
Average
Weekday
ITE Code
AM
Peak
Hour
PM
Peak
Hour
Avg.
Weekday
Trips
(vpd) % Trips Trips % Trips Trips % Trips Trips % Trips Trips
Proposed Land Use
Stand‐Alone Emergency Room (#630 Clinic) 8 ksf *
2
5.18 31.45 252 41% 17 59% 25
Stand‐Alone Emergency Room (#630 Clinic) 10 Employees 0.81 50% 5 50% 5
Total Project‐Generated Trips 252 5 5 17 25
1
Values obtained from Trip Generation, 9th Edition, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2012.
10/20/2015
Inbound Outbound
Units
2
Morning peak hour trip generation rate was not available for Land Use #630. Therefore, the morning peak hour rate based upon the number of employees was
applied.
Inbound Outbound
Table 1 ‐ Project Trip Generation
Stand‐Alone Emergency Room
Ft. Collins, Colorado
Estimated Project‐Generated Traffic
1
Morning Peak Hour Evening Peak Hour
The site is anticipated to generate 252 vehicle trips on a typical weekday. The evening peak hour can expect to see
a total of 42 vehicles per hour.
Buildout Trip Distribution and Assignment
The overall directional distribution of the site‐generated traffic was determined based upon the location of the site
within the City of Ft. Collins, the available roadway network and the location of the site relative to other
emergency room facilities.
As this is an emergency room facility, visibility from the adjacent roadway network is critical and will have an
impact on the anticipated distribution of inbound site‐generated traffic. It is anticipated that 90% of the inbound
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Traffic assignment is determined by applying the trip generation (Table 1) to the directional distribution. The
resulting site‐generated traffic assignment is anticipated to be 15vph/23vph (inbound/outbound) during the
evening peak hour from Fairway Lane. Traffic from Palmer Drive is anticipated to be 2vph/3vph
(inbound/outbound) during the evening peak hour.
Traffic Data Collection
The City of Ft. Collins collected traffic data at the intersection of S. College Avenue (US 287) and Fairway Lane on
Wednesday, February 25, 2015. This turning movement count data was used to analyze the amount of impact the
proposed site‐generated traffic will have on the existing roadway network.
Traffic Impacts to Public Roadways
The Cedar Park Emergency Room is anticipated to impact the intersection of S. College Avenue (US 287) and
Fairway Lane by 1.4 percent (42vph/2,989vph) of the current Year 2015 traffic volumes. This is considered a
nominal impact to the existing roadway network.
Sight Distance
Sight distance at the proposed site access exceeds the LCUASS requirements for access onto a low‐speed frontage
road.
Conclusions and Recommendations
In summary, the proposed Cedar Park Emergency Room facility is anticipated to be adequately served by the
existing roadway network. The site plan accommodates the City’s plan for future access via an eastern alley.
Sincerely,
McDowell Engineering
Kari McDowell Schroeder, PE, PTOE
Traffic/Transportation Engineer
traffic will enter via Fairway Lane and the Frontage Road. The remaining ten percent of site‐generated traffic is
expected to enter via Palmer Drive and the Frontage Road.