Route 7 Corridor Assessment and Implementation Plan City of Norwalk and Town of Wilton, CT
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Route 7 Corridor Assessment and Implementation Plan City of Norwalk and Town of Wilton, CT Corridor Assessment and Concept Development Report Prepared for: South Western Regional Planning Agency Prepared by Urban Engineers, Inc. In Association with Fitzgerald and Halliday, Inc. July, 2012 Route 7 Corridor Assessment and Implementation Plan Executive Summary US Route 7 is an essential travel corridor that serves both local and regional travelers as well as many community needs. It provides connectivity among several urbanized areas as well as suburban communities and beyond. The segment of US Route 7 between Norwalk and Danbury has been studied for decades, with a variety of project planned to increase highway capacity and to improve commuter rail operations and mobility. Recently, two of those high profile projects (the completion of the Merritt Parkway/Route 7 Interchange and a widening project of Route 7 between Route 33 and Grist Mill Road) were put on an indefinite hold. As a result, many multimodal operational and safety needs in this corridor will go unaddressed and a need to examine alternative options was identified. The first phase of this study consisted of documenting the existing conditions and issues within the study area from both a corridor-wide perspective as well as individual locations. Additionally, as part of the first phase, concepts (both short and longer-term) were developed to address the identified existing needs. The study identified 14 focus areas in the corridor and developed multiple short-term and long-term concepts for each location focused on addressing historical/stakeholder identified issues, traffic operations, safety, bicycle and pedestrian, and land use. The top five short-term recommended projects for the entire corridor based on their anticipated benefits are as follows: • Modify the signing and striping in the westbound direction on Route 7 between SR 719 (Main Avenue)/DMV and Grist Mill Road to allow for better utilization of the dual left- turn lanes from US Route 7 (Grist Mill Road) to southbound US Route 7 Expressway. Simulation results show southbound travel times between Foxboro Drive to US Route 7 Expressway are reduced by approximately 40-50%. • Extend the northbound left-turn pocket on the US Route 7 Expressway at US Route 7 (Grist Mill Road) and create a more conventional striping setup for the left-turn pocket. Simulation results show a 20-40% reduction in northbound average delay, and approximately 20% reduction in northbound travel time between US Route 7 Expressway and the West Rocks Road intersection as the extended left-turn pockets mitigates the blocking of thru traffic by left-turning traffic. • Modify the striping between the northern Gateway Shopping Center driveway and the Kent Road intersection such that the current exclusive left-turn lane northbound is split between an exclusive left-turn lane northbound onto Kent Road and an exclusive left- turn lane southbound into the Gateway Shopping Center driveway. • Modify the striping on the eastbound approach at the Route 33 (Westport Road) and Route 7 (Danbury Road) intersection such that there are two lanes eastbound. This will create a reduced queue in the eastbound direction, and allow for signal timing to be reallocated from the eastbound direction to the heavier northbound approach; therefore, reducing the queue and delay on the northbound Route 7 (Danbury Road) approach. Simulation results show approximately 50% reduction in overall intersection delay during the PM peak hour. Route 7 Corridor Assessment and Implementation Plan • Evaluate modifications to the signal timing and phasing at Grumman Hill Road to improve traffic flow and reduce delay and congestion. Specifically, a southbound lead phase in the PM peak should be evaluated and considered in the same manner as the existing northbound lead phase in the AM peak. This will aid the heavy southbound left turn in the PM peak period destined the residential area along Grumman Hill Road. Subsequent phases of the study will investigate in more detail some of focus area concepts and longer- term options that have the potential to better address the major factors of the congestion and safety issues in the corridor. The overall goal of the study is to develop near, mid-term, and future long-term improvement opportunities along with phasing criteria and priorities and funding options to implement the various recommendations. Route 7 Corridor Assessment and Implementation Plan Table of Contents I. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 A. Project History ............................................................................................... 1 B. Corridor Characteristics ................................................................................. 2 C. Project Approach ........................................................................................... 4 II. Data Synthesis ........................................................................................................... 5 A. Data Review .................................................................................................. 5 B. Data Collection .............................................................................................. 5 III. Corridor Evaluation ..................................................................................................... 9 A. Historical/Locally Identified Issues ................................................................. 9 B. Traffic Analysis ............................................................................................ 10 C. Safety........................................................................................................... 17 D. Access ......................................................................................................... 20 E. Pedestrian/Bicycle ....................................................................................... 21 F. Transit .......................................................................................................... 23 G. Existing Land Use and Development Potential ............................................ 24 H. Environmental .............................................................................................. 26 IV. Evaluation Matrix ...................................................................................................... 27 V. Focus Areas ............................................................................................................. 30 VI. Corridor-Wide Concepts ......................................................................................... 124 A. Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities ............................................................... 124 B. Access ....................................................................................................... 125 C. Operations ................................................................................................. 126 D. Transit ........................................................................................................ 126 VII. Recommendations and Next Steps ................................................................... 128 A. Recommendations ..................................................................................... 128 B. Next Steps ................................................................................................. 130 Route 7 Corridor Assessment and Implementation Plan List of Tables Table 1: Previous Studies and Available Data....................................................................................................... 6 Table 2: City of Norwalk .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Table 3: Town of Wilton .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Table 4: AM Travel Time Comparison ................................................................................................................. 13 Table 5: PM Travel Time Comparison ................................................................................................................. 13 Table 6: AM Peak Hour Existing Calibrated SimTraffic Results .......................................................................... 14 Table 7: PM Peak Hour Existing Calibrated SimTraffic Results .......................................................................... 15 Table 8: Anticipated Benefit/Potential Impacts of Concepts for Focus Area 1 ..................................................... 40 Table 9: Anticipated Benefit/Potential Impacts of Concepts for Focus Area 2 ..................................................... 48 Table 10: Anticipated Benefit/Potential Impacts of Concepts for Focus Area 3 ................................................... 54 Table 11: Anticipated Benefit/Potential Impacts of Concepts for Focus Area 4 ................................................... 60 Table 12: SimTraffic Simulation Results for Concept B ........................................................................................ 69 Table 13: SimTraffic Simulation Results for Concept C ....................................................................................... 70 Table 14: SimTraffic Simulation Results for Concept D ......................................................................................