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Home My WebLink AboutCOLORADO EARLY COLLEGES - SITE PLAN ADVISORY REVIEW - SPA160003 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - TRAFFIC STUDYkimley-horn.com 4582 South Ulster Street, Suite 1500, Denver, CO 80237 303 228 2300 December 12, 2016 Ms. Sandi Brown Head of School Colorado Early Colleges High School 4800 Wheaton Drive Fort Collins, Colorado Re: Colorado Early Colleges High School Traffic Study Letter Relocation from 4800 Wheaton Drive to 4424 Innovation Drive Fort Collins, Colorado Dear Ms. Brown, The purpose of this letter is to provide a traffic analysis, specifically a trip generation comparison, for the proposed relocation of the Colorado Early Colleges High School (CEC HS) from 4800 Wheaton Drive to 4424 Innovation Drive, located on the northeast corner of the Monte Carlo Drive and Innovation Drive intersection in Fort Collins, Colorado. At the time of this relocation, the existing elementary school of the T.R Paul Academy of Arts and Knowledge (TPAAK) will be relocating from 4512 Mcmurry Avenue to the existing Colorado Early Colleges High School at 4800 Wheaton Drive. The proposed new location of CEC HS at 4424 Innovation Drive is in a similar location to the existing TPAAK elementary school, within the northeast quadrant of the Harmony Road and Mcmurry Avenue intersection. Therefore, the traffic generation for these two schools will be compared with each other to determine if there is an expected impact on the overall street network with the shifting of traffic between each school site. Additionally, start and end bell times for the schools in the area, Kruse Elementary School, Colorado Early Colleges Middle School (CEC MS), and Colorado Early Colleges High School will be evaluated to establish recommended staggered bell times to reduce peak traffic volumes on the street network. The attached Figure illustrated the location of the schools and existing/future locations. The Colorado Early Colleges High School (grades 9 through 12) is currently located on floors one and two of the three-floor multi-use building located at 4800 Wheaton Drive in Fort Collins. The school has approximately 700 students with a start time between 8:00 AM – 8:10 AM and a release time between 3:15 PM – 3:25 PM. Although the entire school population is 700 students, the school has class schedules where approximately 200 to 300 students are on campus at any given time. Floor three is currently occupied by an Enterprise Alamo National (EAN) car rental call center. Parking for staff of the high school is in the northeast corner of the parking lot. Parking for the high school students is located along the northern portion of the parking lot and on-street along Wheaton Drive. Parking for the EAN is in the southwest corner of the parking lot, and contains a majority of the parking spaces onsite. This information is shown within attached exhibits. Ms. Brown December 12, 2016 Page 2 kimley-horn.com 4582 South Ulster Street, Suite 1500, Denver, CO 80237 303 228 2300 The T.R Paul Academy of Arts and Knowledge (TPAAK) Elementary School and Colorado Early Colleges Middle School is currently located at 4512 Mcmurry Avenue. The elementary school serves preschool through 5th grade, while the middle school serves grades 6th through 8th. The elementary school has approximately 220 students with a start time between 8:00 AM – 8:05 AM and a release time between 3:20 PM – 3:25 PM. The Colorado Early Colleges Middle School has approximately 210 students with a start time between 7:50 AM – 7:55 AM and a release time between 3:10 PM – 3:15 PM. Parking is located along the western and southern edges of the existing school building. Access to the TPAAK and CEC MS is provided by one-way circulation onsite, counter-clockwise flow. Entrance to the school is provided from Mcmurry Avenue, while exit of the school traffic occurs along Monte Carlo Drive. School pick-up and drop-off occurs along the southern edge of the building and along Mcmurry Avenue itself in adjacent drop-off/pick-up lanes along both northbound and southbound directions of travel. Of note, The Colorado Early Colleges Middle School will remain at its existing location. Site-generated traffic estimates for the schools were determined through onsite traffic counts conducted at the existing Colorado Early Colleges High School and TPAAK Elementary School/Colorado Early Colleges Middle School on Wednesday, October 26, 2016. Counts were conducted between 7:15 to 8:15 AM and 2:45 to 3:45 PM for the schools, to represent the peak hours of arriving and departing school traffic. Based on reserved parking areas for the EAN employees onsite, trip generation for the Colorado Early Colleges High School was calculated by observing the parking space turnover of the EAN. Trip generation specific for the TPAAK Elementary School compared with the Colorado Early Colleges Middle School was based on the proportionate difference between the elementary and middle school rates from the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Report1 published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). ITE has established trip rates in nationwide studies of similar land uses. The ITE Trip Generation Report average rates that apply to Elementary School (ITE Code 520) and Middle School/Junior High School (522) were used. For reference, the Elementary School trip rates per student are 0.45 tips during the morning peak hour and 0.28 trips during the afternoon peak hour of the generator. The Middle School rates per student are reported as 0.54 trips during the morning peak hour and 0.30 trips during the afternoon peak hour. This identifies that middle schools generate about 20 percent more traffic per student than elementary schools. This is logical given the increased number of grades in elementary school can result in more trip sharing with parents having more children in elementary school at the same time as compared with middle school. Given the difference in the number of students with the elementary school having 220 and the middle school having 210, it is estimated that 45 percent of the existing traffic volume generated by the TPAAK and CEC MS building is generated by the elementary school. The following table summarizes the estimated trips generated by each school from the counts conducted (count data attached). 1 Institute of Transportation Engineers, Trip Generation: An Information Report, Ninth Edition, Washington DC, 2012. Ms. Brown December 12, 2016 Page 3 kimley-horn.com 4582 South Ulster Street, Suite 1500, Denver, CO 80237 303 228 2300 Trip Generation Comparison Colorado Early Colleges High School & TPAAK Elementary School Relocation USE AND SIZE WEEKDAY VEHICLE TRIPS AM Peak Hour PM Peak Hour In Out Total In Out Total Schools TPAAK Elementary School CEC Middle School Total 129 158 287 107 131 238 236 289 525 63 76 139 58 70 128 121 146 267 CEC High School 267 158 425 102 137 239 Net Difference in Trips 4800 Wheaton Drive -138 -51 -189 -39 -79 -118 Northeast Quadrant of Harmony Rd and Mcmurry Ave +138 +51 +189 +36 +79 +118 As shown in the table, the existing Colorado Early Colleges High School at 4800 Wheaton Drive generated a total of 425 trips during the morning peak hour and 239 trips during the afternoon peak hour on Wednesday, October 26, 2016. This was represented by 267 entering vehicles and 158 exiting vehicles during the morning peak hour. The afternoon peak hour saw 102 entering and 137 exiting vehicles. This traffic volume is very similar to, although slightly less than, the traffic generated by the existing TPAAK Elementary School and Colorado Early Colleges Middle School at 4512 Mcmurry Avenue. Those schools generated a total of 525 morning peak hour trips and 267 afternoon peak hour trips. Separating the school traffic specific to the TPAAK Elementary School, which is proposing to relocate into the existing Colorado Early Colleges High School at 4800 Wheat Drive, the existing elementary school is estimated to generate 236 morning peak hour trips and 121 afternoon peak hour trips. Comparing the high school traffic volume with the elementary school results in a difference of 189 trips during the morning peak hour and 118 trips during the afternoon peak hour. Based on this, the existing high school site at 4800 Wheaton Drive will likely see a decrease in traffic volumes of approximately this magnitude. Counter to this, the area of the three schools within the northeast quadrant of the Harmony Road and Mcmurry Avenue intersection would see an approximate increase in traffic volumes by this magnitude. However, with the High School proposed at 4424 Innovation Drive, more traffic will likely use Innovation Drive to access the school, to and from Harmony Road. The decrease in traffic, specifically at the 4512 Mcmurry Avenue site, will likely improve traffic operations along Mcmurry Avenue and through the Monte Carlo Drive/Mcmurry Avenue intersection. This change is expected to improve operations for the existing Kruse Elementary School on the northeast corner of the Monte Carlo Drive and Mcmurry Avenue intersection. Ms. Brown December 12, 2016 Page 4 kimley-horn.com 4582 South Ulster Street, Suite 1500, Denver, CO 80237 303 228 2300 Based on these bell times, it is believed that the start times of the Colorado Early Colleges Middle School and High School have an adequate start time variation from the existing Kruse Elementary School start time. It may be beneficial for the Middle School start time to shift earlier by 5 minutes, to 15 minutes before the start of high school at 7:45 to 7:50 am. A 15-minute interval between school start times will improve conditions to allow traffic to clear. The morning peak hour has the higher traffic volumes for the schools, so this shift will have more impact than staggering the school ending times. Moving the Middle School time up 5 minutes will result in an ending time of 3:05 to 3:10 pm, which should clear prior to the Kruse Elementary School ending time, which is acceptable. Since these two school are near each other, changing the starting and ending bell times of the middle school to 5 minutes earlier will provide an overall benefit. Therefore, based on the results demonstrated within this traffic analysis, it is believed that Colorado Early Colleges High School relocating from 4800 Wheaton Drive to 4424 Innovation Drive will not have a significant traffic impact on the surrounding street network. The high school relocation will be offset by a relocation of the existing TPAAK Elementary School from 4512 Mcmurry Avenue to 4800 Wheaton Drive. The slight increase in volume when comparing the traffic generated by the High School compared with the Elementary School will be minimized by the increased separation of the proposed High School along Innovation Drive, away from Mcmurry Avenue, the Monte Carlo Drive/Mcmurry Avenue intersection, and Kruse Elementary School. Based on the proposed Colorado Early Colleges High School location, more traffic is anticipated to use the existing Harmony Road/Innovation Drive right turn movement intersection. Based on this traffic analysis, it is recommended that Colorado Early Colleges consider shifting the start and end times of the Middle School by 5 minutes earlier to provide increase staggered times with the High School and Kruse Elementary School. If you have any questions or require anything further, please feel free to call me at (303) 228-2300. Sincerely, KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES, INC. Curtis D. Rowe, P.E., PTOE Vice President 12/12/2016 Colorado Early Colleges High School 4800 Wheaton Drive, Fort Collins, Colorado October 26th, 2016 Wheaton NB Wheaton SB Total In Parking Lot WB Parking Lot WB Total Out Call Center in High School in High School out Wheaton Street Parking Wheaton Street Drop Off Right Left Left Right Parking Leaving 7:30 8 28 36 0 9 9 10 26 9 3 0 1 7:45 25 45 70 4 20 24 13 57 24 11 0 11 8:00 36 62 98 4 56 60 10 88 60 17 0 20 8:15 17 28 45 4 28 32 16 29 32 3 0 1 86 163 249 12 113 125 49 200 125 34 0 33 Total In 267 Total Out 158 NB SB Total In WB WB Total Out Call Center out High School in High School out Wheaton Street Parking Wheaton Street Pick Up Right Left Left Right Parking Leaving 3:00 1 5 6 1 6 7 1 6 6 0 0 0 3:15 6 16 22 2 7 9 5 22 4 1 11 5 3:30 7 23 30 16 55 71 6 30 65 0 4 24 3:45 1 9 10 3 18 21 9 10 12 0 2 4 Totals 15 53 68 22 86 108 21 68 87 1 17 33 Total In 102 Total Out 137 T.R. Paul Academy (TPAAK) and Colorado Early Colleges Middle School 4512 McMurry, Fort Collins, Colorado October 26th, 2016 McMurry NB McMurry SB Total In to School Exit Drive NB Exit Drive SB Exit Out Entrance Drive Total Out of School McMurry Street Parking Monte Carlo Street Drop off Right Left Right Left Parking Leaving 7:30 14 1 15 6 0 0 6 3 3 3 7:45 36 8 44 24 6 1 31 12 9 9 8:00 50 22 72 38 18 0 56 23 11 15 8:15 42 21 63 53 8 2 63 20 24 8 142 52 194 121 32 3 156 58 47 35 Total In 287 Total Out 238 McMurry NB McMurry SB Total In to School Exit Drive NB Exit Drive SB Exit Out Entrance Drive Total Out of School Wheaton Street Parking Monte Carlo Street Pick Up Right Left Right Left Parking Leaving 3:00 6 1 7 0 0 1 1 8 0 0 3:15 11 6 17 3 2 1 6 13 3 5 3:30 27 12 39 34 12 1 47 17 26 7 3:45 4 2 6 9 1 0 10 6 9 14 Totals 48 21 69 46 15 3 64 44 38 26 Total In 139 Total Out 128 Colorado Early Colleges High School Student Parking Locations In addition, the bell times for the three schools to be located within the northeast quadrant of the Harmony Road and Mcmurry Avenue intersection were evaluated. The existing bell times for the three schools are as follows: · Colorado Early Colleges Middle School: Start 7:50 to 7:55 am; End 3:10 to 3:15 pm · Colorado Early Colleges High School: Start 8:00 to 8:10 am; End 3:15 to 3:25 pm · Kruse Elementary School: Start 8:30 to 8:45 am; End 3:25 to 3:45 pm