Park Place Traffic Impact Study Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited March 2020 Project Number Park Place 190134 Traffic Impact Study March 2020 Client NA Park Place LP 2851 John Street, Suite One Markham, ON L3R 5R7 Client Contact Steve Bishop Signatures Consultant Project Team Garry Pappin, LEL Adrian Soo, P.Eng. Paul Bumstead, BIT Consulting Signature Disclaimer This document has been prepared for the titled project or named part thereof (the “project”) and except for approval and commenting municipalities and agencies in their review and approval of this project, should not be relied upon or used for any other project without an independent check being carried out as to its suitability and prior written authorization of Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited being obtained. Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited accepts no responsibility or liability for the consequence of this document being used for a purpose other than the project for which it was commissioned. Any person using or relying on the document for such other purpose agrees, and will by such use or reliance be taken to confirm their agreement to indemnify Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited for all loss or damage resulting there from. Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited accepts no responsibility or liability for this document to any party other than the person by whom it was commissioned and the approval and commenting municipalities and agencies for the project. Paradigm Transportation To the extent that this report is based on information supplied by other parties, Solutions Limited Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited accepts no liability for any loss or damage suffered by the client, whether through contract or tort, stemming from any 5A-150 Pinebush Road conclusions based on data supplied by parties other than Paradigm Transportation Cambridge ON N1R 8J8 Solutions Limited and used by Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited in preparing p: 416.479.9684 this report. www.ptsl.com Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited Park Place | Traffic Impact Study | 190134 | March 2020 Executive Summary Content Park Place refers to a large development site located to the east of Highway 400 and generally between Mapleview Drive and Big Bay Point Road in the City of Barrie. The continued development of Park Place, while Master Plan approved, is subject to gross floor area (GFA) thresholds referred to as Stages in the zoning bylaw. Park Place is approaching full build-out of Stage 1 (the C4 lands) that has a GFA threshold of 74,268 SM. In order to proceed to Stage 2 development, that has an indexed GFA threshold of 267,561 SM on the remaining Park Place lands, a Traffic Impact Study (TIS) to the satisfaction of the City of Barrie is required. It should be noted that some development in Stage 2 was previously approved by the City and the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) by way of site and use specific traffic studies. In addition, MTO staff have advised that no further development will be considered in Stage 2 until a TIS is completed. This report is meant to satisfy those conditions precedent to development in Stage 2. The key purposes of the TIS are as follows: Seek approval for Park Place’s development plans to 2021. The focus on 2021 coincides with having the Harvie Road-Big Bay Point Road flyover of Highway 400 in place, which will significantly increase east-west road capacity, provide relief to the Mapleview Drive corridor, and facilitate alternative routings for access to Park Place; Identify potential shorter term traffic operations improvements that could be considered in the Mapleview Drive corridor; and Consider the effect of longer term road network improvements (2031 scenario) on the efficiency and safety of traffic operations in the Mapleview Drive corridor and at the Highway 400/Mapleview Drive interchange, which would include accommodating additional development on the Park Place lands beyond 2021. These longer term road network improvements have been identified in the City’s 2019 Transportation Master Plan (TMP), however, it is acknowledged that unlike the Harvie Road-Big Bay Point Road flyover, they are not yet committed projects in terms of design and/or funding. The forecasting and analysis of 2031 conditions is also intended to address MTO TIS requirements for a longer term horizon year. Traffic forecasts and analysis have been completed for base year conditions (2018) and two future horizon years, namely 2021 and 2031. The analysis periods include the weekday AM and PM peak hours, which is generally consistent with past transportation studies for Park Place that focused on the weekday PM peak hour. Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited | Page i Park Place | Traffic Impact Study | 190134 | March 2020 Conclusions The conclusions of the Traffic Impact Study are as follows: Park Place is in a prime location with regard to access to the City of Barrie’s arterial (Mapleview Drive and Big Bay Point Road) and collector road (Bayview Drive) network and to the Province of Ontario’s freeway network (Highway 400). It is also well-served by public transit and has a Barrie Transit hub located on-site; Consistent with the many past traffic studies conducted for Park Place since 2007, the weekday PM peak hour represents the design condition for assessing the overall traffic impact on the roadways and intersections in proximity to the site; Under existing weekday PM peak hour conditions, the Mapleview Drive corridor and its intersections effectively operate at capacity while the Bayview Drive corridor and its intersections are relatively underutilized; The Mapleview Drive and Bayview Drive intersections are built out in terms of their physical design, but there are relatively minor improvements that could be made to increase their capacity. These include adjustments to signal phasing and timing (e.g. Mapleview Drive/Park Place Boulevard-Costco Access) as well as implementing dual left turn lanes that have been constructed but are not currently in operation (e.g. Mapleview Drive/Bayview Drive); Due to several planned significant improvements to the road network adjacent to Park Place, including the under-construction Harvie Road-Big Bay Point Road flyover of Highway 400 that will provide an east-west alternative to the Mapleview Drive corridor, a modeling approach was required to determine how traffic would redistribute in this area in the 2021 and 2031 horizon years; For the 2021 horizon year, the analysis of the PM peak hour showed significantly higher traffic volumes in the Harvie Road-Big Bay Point Road corridor (but well within capacity) and that operations along the Mapleview Drive corridor would remain similar to existing conditions but with reductions in the volume of key traffic movements (including eastbound left turns to Park Place and some Highway 400 off ramp turning movements). Therefore, with the one network improvement of the flyover and accounting for significant traffic growth, the Mapleview Drive corridor would continue to operate near or at capacity. As motorists become more familiar with the improved road network, the under-utilized Harvie Road-Big Bay Point Road corridor will likely attract higher traffic volumes than those in the forecasts. The diversion of more peak period traffic to new alternative routes will also assist in maintaining Mapleview Drive corridor traffic volume demands within capacity; Relatively minor operational improvements as identified in the TIS could be implemented to maintain and/or improve peak hour Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited | Page ii Park Place | Traffic Impact Study | 190134 | March 2020 conditions at the key intersections in the Mapleview Drive corridor. Further, the City is intending to conduct a “Multi-Modal Level of Service/Traffic Study” for the Mapleview Drive corridor in 2020 to develop and evaluate shorter term operational and design alternatives that will best serve auto, truck, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian travel demands within this corridor while complementing the longer term implementation of the MTO-recommended Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI); For the 2031 horizon year, which included several more network improvements in addition to the Harvie Road-Big Bay Point Road flyover, additional improvement in traffic operations is seen in the Mapleview Drive corridor and especially at the Highway 400 ramp terminals where the DDI is considered as the base case (as in the City’s 2019 TMP model). In part, this appears to be due to a noticeable change in trip patterns in the model with less reliance on this interchange; The analysis of the 2031 traffic forecasts with the MTO and City- recommended DDI at Highway 400 and Mapleview Drive and with the existing Diamond Interchange confirmed that the DDI would represent an improvement in traffic operations at the ramp terminal intersections. It should be understood, however, that the improved operations at the interchange will not likely carry over to the adjacent Mapleview Drive intersections during the busiest conditions. The traffic reporting that was part of the MTO 2017 Transportation Environmental Study Report, where this design was identified as the preferred alternative, concluded that the PM peak hour traffic operations of adjacent intersections would be independent of the configuration of the interchange – i.e. the implementation of the DDI neither improves nor worsens the traffic operations at other intersections in the study area section of