Transportation August Report.Lwp
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Transportation Study YONKERS RISING CITY OF YONKERS WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK Prepared by: Tim Miller Associates, Inc. 10 North Street Cold Spring, NY 10516 (845) 265-4400 August 20, 2012 Transportation Study for Yonkers Rising TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Existing Traffic Conditions 4 3.0 Future Traffic without the Project - No Build Condition 10 4.0 Future Traffic with the Project - Build Condition 12 5.0 Level of Service 15 6.0 Parking 18 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Occurrence of Peak Hour Traffic 9 Table 2: Approved or Pending Projects 11 Table 3: Projected Site Trips 12 Table 4: Projected Network Site Trips Change 13 Table 5: Diostribution of New Vehicle Trips 13 Table 6: Level of Service and Delay Summary 17 Appendices Appendix A: Figures Appendix B: Other No Build Projects Appendix C: Traffic Existing Site Appendix D: Project Generated Traffic Appendix E: Measures of Effectiveness Criteria Appendix G: Level of Service Calculations Transportation Study for Yonkers Rising Project Warburton Avenue, Nepperhan Street, Market Place & Main Street City of Yonkers, Westchester County, New York August 20, 2012 1.0 Introduction This report examines existing transportation operations in the vicinity of the Yonkers Rising Project Site and future conditions with the proposed Project completed. The description of the network's present day operations is referred to as the Existing Condition. Future transportation operations are examined for the No Build Condition (without the Project) and Build Condition (with the Project). The No Build Condition is the future baseline upon which project traffic is based and the Build Condition represents the combination of the No Build Condition plus the traffic that would result from development and operation of the Proposed Project. Future operations (No Build and Build) are analyzed for the year 2015. Summary of Findings The Project site is one block east of the Metro North Yonkers railroad station. Residents of this new transit-oriented development (“TOD”) will live near the Metro North trains and twelve nearby Westchester County Bee Line bus routes making for easy commuter access, thereby expanding ridership on the rail and bus lines. The use of mass transit will reduce vehicle trips and lower demands for on-site parking. Locating high density residential development near a fixed rail station is consistent with smart growth principles that strive to minimize auto travel, especially during peak commuter periods. The high level of transit availability is sufficient to handle the highest anticipated transit trip generation. Locating offices, and retail in close proximity to residential development is also consistent with smart growth principles. The proposed project is expected to generate 213 new vehicle trips during the peak a.m. weekday hour, 383 trips new vehicle trips during the peak p.m. weekday hour, and 414 new Saturday peak hour vehicle trips. The site at present, has occupied and vacant spaces that could generate trips based on its current configuration. Full use of that space must be taken into account to ascertain the net increase in traffic from the proposed action. The net increase in new vehicle trips above what would be projected under occupation of the existing space would be an increase of 103 trips in the a.m. peak hour, an increase of 35 trips in the p.m. peak hour and a reduction of 50 trips in the Saturday peak hour. The differences are primarily due to the current site’s potential for retail space which generates less traffic in the a.m. peak hour and reaches its peak on Saturday. Two automated parking garages are incorporated into the project design. Automated parking garages offer several advantages over conventional parking structures including but not limited to reduced levels of noise, energy, pollution, crime, and floor area when compared to a conventional parking garage. The garages are designed with a total capacity to store 468 Yonkers Rising 1 Transportation August 20, 2012 vehicles; 300 in the high-rise building and 168 in the low-rise. The project architect's tabulation of the parking conformance with City requirements relating to the proposed uses is provided on the architectural drawings, and takes into consideration parking credits and shared parking pursuant to the City Zoning Code. Being an urban setting, it is anticipated that visitors and patrons of the various uses in the project will also be able to utilize nearby parking on the local streets and in the nearby parking garage located on Buena Vista Avenue or the future Larkin Parking Garage. Levels of Service None of the study intersections has an overall level of service lower than D for the Existing Condition and future conditions with (Build Condition) and without (No Build Condition) the project. Under the existing condition for lane groups, the southbound left turn from South Broadway to Nepperhan Avenue is an unacceptable level of service E during the p.m. weekday peak hour. This movement is projected to decline to level of service F in the No Build Condition along with a decline to level of service E for the northbound through-right lane group. The westbound left turn at this intersection is also anticipated to decline to E in the a.m. peak hour under the No Build Condition. The addition of a northbound right turn lane along with signal retiming has been previously discussed in the documentation for other projects as a potential improvement for this intersection. During the weekday p.m. peak hour the left turning lanes for the southbound and westbound movements at Riverdale Avenue and Prospect Street will also decline to level of service E under the No Build Condition. Also projected to decline to level of service E are the southbound left from Riverdale Avenue to Prospect Street during the Saturday peak hour. Traffic may use alternate routes if the signal is not retimed to address increasing traffic flows. Under the Build Condition, the eastbound Main Street potential to decline to level of service F in the p.m. peak hour would result in a voluntary diversion (drivers choosing to reroute) to Buena Vista Avenue and both Prospect Street and Hudson Street during the weekday p.m. peak hour if no action is taken to retime the signals of Main Street at Riverdale Avenue and Prospect Avenue at Riverdale Avenue. If no action is taken at Prospect Street, Nepperhan Avenue and South Broadway, some routing of traffic may occur through Hudson Street, South Broadway, and Palisades Avenue to rejoin the Nepperhan Avenue corridor further east. The intersections of Buena Vista Avenue at Main Street, Hudson Street at Riverdale Avenue, and the junction of New Main Street, South Broadway, North Broadway, and Main Street at Palisades Avenue operate at level of service B and thus have additional capacity to handle additional traffic rerouting from more congested intersections. Mitigation Measures Yonkers Rising is a transit-oriented development (TOD) located within one block of the railroad station and transit hub and contains mixed uses. Vehicular trips are typically reduced due to the ready access and availability of bus and rail service, especially for the peak commuter periods, and due to the proximity to a variety of destinations/uses As shown in Table 6, no decline below level of service D is projected at any study intersection from the No Build to the Build Condition. No significant adverse impacts to traffic operating Yonkers Rising 2 Transportation August 20, 2012 conditions related to overall levels of service are anticipated to result from the Yonkers Rising project. However, one particular lane group may result in traffic rerouting based on the potential decline (Attachment F Table F-2), Eastbound lane on Main Street at Riverdale Avenue during the p.m. weekday (D to F). Lane groups at the intersections of South Broadway with Nepperhan Avenue and Riverdale Avenue with Prospect Street are projected to operate poorly in the future No Build Condition regardless of this project (Attachment F Table F-3). This study evaluated possible intersection improvements (signal retiming and a northbound right turn lane on South Broadway into Nepperhan Avenue) that could improve these conditions (Atachment F Tables F-5 and F-6). Regardless of this project, however, there are existing and potential future issues with the roadway network. Capital improvements are needed to continue to bring up to standard, modernize, and improve system efficiency. Such system improvements when done locally can provide a small incremental improvement in safety, cost reduction, and/or system efficiency. Commensurate with the small incremental increase in system use by the project, the Applicant will need to work with the City Traffic Engineer to identify the extent to which the project can contribute to improving the transportation network in the downtown area. Yonkers Rising is a transit-oriented development (TOD) located within one block of the railroad station and transit hub and contains mixed uses. Vehicular trips are typically reduced due to the ready access and availability of bus and rail service, especially for the peak commuter periods, and due to the proximity to a variety of destinations/uses. There is opportunity for shared parking in the garages proposed at Yonkers Rising between project tenants and other users provided that an electronic permit system is in place that actively monitors parking use. The mechanized garage proposed can effectively monitor parking utilization and its users, and utilizes 100 percent of its spaces while accounting for permit parking, so that no reserve capacity is needed. Opportunity for shared overnight parking also exists in the low-rise parking garage when it will have least demand by its commercial users. The applicant will likely be able to offer this additional parking capacity via permits once the building is operational.