Traffic Impact Study Wolf Point Development Chicago, Illinois
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Traffic Impact Study Wolf Point Development Chicago, Illinois Prepared for Hines Submitted by: Kenig, Lindgren, O’Hara, Aboona, Inc. November 8, 2012 Introduction This report summarizes the methodologies, results, and findings of a traffic impact study conducted by Kenig, Lindgren, O’Hara, Aboona, Inc. (KLOA, Inc.) for the proposed Wolf Point Development to be located in Chicago, Illinois. The site is bounded by the Apparel Mart building/Kinzie Street to the north, the Chicago River to the west and south, and Orleans Street to the east. Figure 1 shows the location of the site in relation to the area street system and Figure 2 shows an aerial view of the area. The development proposes three towers. • West Tower (Site A) - A residential tower providing approximately 500 residential units and 200 parking spaces for residents. • South Tower (Site B) - An approximate 1.8 million square-foot mixed-use tower with 1.2 million square feet of office space, approximately 600 residential units, and 400 parking spaces for the tower residents and employees. • East Tower (Site C) - An office tower with approximately 1.5 million square feet of space and 200 parking spaces for employees. The West (residential tower), South and East Towers will only have one full inbound and outbound access via the existing driveway (Wolf Point Plaza) off Orleans Street opposite South Mart Drive. The existing Kinzie Street private access drive located west of the site will be restricted to only service related traffic associated with the buildings adjacent to Wolf Point and truck traffic traveling to/from the West and South Towers of the Wolf Point Development. The site currently contains a 327-space public parking facility that is used by the nearby commercial developments. This public parking facility will be expanded to provide a total of 485 parking spaces at the same time the West Tower is constructed. In addition, 145 temporary public parking spaces will be located on the site of the future South and East Towers prior to their construction. The temporary parking will be eliminated with the development of the South and East Towers. All vehicular access to the towers, the expanded parking facility and temporary parking will be restricted to Wolf Point Plaza at its signalized intersection with Orleans Street. Truck access to the West and South Towers will be via the Kinzie Street private access drive while truck access to the East Tower will be via Lower Orleans Street. The site will be developed in three phases. The first phase will be the West Tower (residential tower), followed by the South Tower, and then the East Tower. For the purposes of this study, the traffic analysis considered two future conditions. 1 • Condition 1 - Existing traffic volumes plus the West Tower (residential tower), expansion of public parking, the temporary public parking, and traffic from other planned developments in the area. • Condition 2 - Full buildout which includes Condition 1 without the temporary public parking plus the completion of the South and East Towers. The purpose of this study was to examine background traffic conditions, assess the impact that the proposed development will have on traffic conditions in the area, and determine if any street or access improvements are necessary to accommodate traffic generated by the development. The sections of this report present the following: • Existing street conditions • A description of the site development • Directional distribution of the development generated traffic • Vehicle trip generation for the development • Future traffic conditions including access to the site • Traffic analyses for the weekday morning and evening peak hours • Recommendations with respect to adequacy of the site access system, adjacent street network, and internal circulation 2 ^ N SITE Site Location Figure 1 3 Aerial View of Site Location Figure 2 4 Existing Conditions Existing transportation conditions in the vicinity of the site were documented based on field visits conducted by KLOA, Inc. in order to obtain a database for projecting future conditions. The following provides a description of the geographical location of the site, physical characteristics of the area street system including lane usage and traffic control devices and existing peak hour vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle volumes. Site Location The site, which currently provides public parking for the nearby commercial developments, is bounded by the Apparel Mart building/Kinzie Street to the north, the Chicago River to the west and south, and Orleans Street to the east. Area land uses include a mixture of residential, office and commercial uses including the Merchandise Mart, Holiday Inn Hotel and Chicago Sun-Times. Existing Street System Characteristics Figure 3 illustrates the existing street characteristics within the vicinity of the site. The characteristics of the existing streets near the site are described below. Orleans Street is a northbound one-way collector street that is part of a north-south one-way couplet with Wells Street. Orleans Street becomes two-way north of Hubbard Street. Within the vicinity of the site, Orleans Street provides three northbound through lanes. Parking is prohibited on both sides of the street. A bike lane is provided in the northbound direction between Wacker Drive and Hubbard Street. A mid-block crosswalk is provided on Orleans Street approximately 150 feet north of Mart Drive. A separate left-turn lane is provided at its signalized intersection with Hubbard Street, but no dedicated turn lanes are provided at its signalized intersections with Mart Drive or Wacker Drive. Orleans Street carries an average daily traffic (ADT) of 12,600 vehicles and is classified as an urban collector. Wells Street is a southbound one-way collector street that is part of a north-south one-way couplet with Orleans Street. Wells Street provides two southbound through lanes. Metered parking is generally provided on both sides of the street, but is prohibited between Kinzie Street and Wacker Drive on both sides of the street. A bike lane is provided in the southbound direction. A separate right-turn lane is provided at its signalized intersections with Mart Drive and Wacker Drive. Wells Street carries an average daily traffic (ADT) of 12,200 vehicles and is classified as an urban collector. Wacker Drive is an arterial street that extends along the south and east sides of the Chicago River. Within the vicinity of the site, Wacker Drive provides three through lanes in both directions. No parking is allowed on either side of the street. A separate eastbound left-turn lane is provided at its signalized intersection with Orleans Street. Wacker Drive carries an average daily traffic (ADT) of 15,000 vehicles and is classified a strategic regional arterial (SRA). 5 LEGEND - TRAVEL LANE - TRAFFIC SIGNAL - STOP SIGN NOT TO SCALE HUBBARD - BICYCLE LANE KINGSBURY ST P - ON-STREET PARKING P ST - NO PARKING P - CTA BUS STOP P ST P P FRANKLIN P P KINZIE P ST P P P CHICAGO SUN TIMES P P P P ACCESS PRIVATE ST MERCHANDISE MART ONE-WAY ONE-WAY ORLEANS P P ST CANAL MART SITE DR P P MILWAUKEE ONE-WAY AVE P UPPER P P P WACKERDR LAKE P ST P P P ST WELLS P P PROJECT NO: PROJECT: TITLE: 11-200 WOLF POINT EXISTING STREET CHARACTERISTICS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS FIGURE NO: 3 6 Kinzie Street is an east-west collector street. Within the vicinity of the site, Kinzie Street provides one through lane in each direction with metered parking generally provided on the south side of the street between Kingsbury Street and Orleans Street and on the north side of the street between Orleans Street and Wells Street. A cycle track is provided in both directions. Kinzie Street has a signalized intersection with Wells Street and is under all-way stop sign control at its intersections with Canal Street, Kingsbury Street, Lower Orleans Street, and Franklin Street. A separate westbound left-turn lane is provided at its signalized intersection with Wells Street. It should be noted that the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) is planning to install a pedestrian ramp between Upper Orleans Street and Kinzie Street. Kingsbury Street is a north-south local street with one lane in each direction with angled metered parking on both sides of the street. Kingsbury Street is one way southbound between Hubbard Street and Kinzie Street with a taxi stand on the west side and a drop-off/pick-up lane on the east side. Kingsbury Street is under all-way stop sign control at its intersection with Kinzie Street. Canal Street is a north-south street. Between Kinzie Street and Fulton Street it has one lane in each direction with parking prohibited on both sides of the street. Between Fulton Street and Lake Street it provides one southbound lane and two northbound lanes with parking permitted on both sides of the street. An at grade railroad crossing is provided just north of Fulton Street. South of Lake Street, Canal Street is a one-way northbound street that generally provides two moving lanes. An established bike lane is striped on the east side of the street, south of Lake Street. At its signalized intersection with Lake Street, a bike turning lane for left-turn bicycle traffic is provided, allowing bicycles to make a soft left towards northwest bound Milwaukee Avenue or a hard left onto westbound Lake Street. Canal Street is signalized at its intersections with Lake Street/Milwaukee Avenue and is under all-way stop sign control at its intersection with Kinzie Street. It is our understanding that based on previous studies conducted by CDOT, the intersection of Kinzie Street with Canal Street meets warrants for traffic signalization and that construction will commence by spring of 2013. Lake Street is an east-west arterial street.