Transportation Access Plan 209 Harvard Street Brookline, Massachusetts Prepared for: 209 Harvard Street Development, LLC, c/o CMS Partners Cambridge, Massachusetts February 2021 Prepared by: 35 New England Business Center Drive Suite 140 Andover, MA 01810 TRANSPORTATION ACCESS PLAN 209 HARVARD STREET BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS Prepared for: 209 Harvard Development, LLC c/o CMS Partners P.O. Box 382265 Cambridge, MA 02238 February 2021 Prepared by: VANASSE & ASSOCIATES, INC. Transportation Engineers & Planners 35 New England Business Center, Suite 140 Andover, MA 01810 (978) 474-8800 Copyright © 2021 by VAI All Rights Reserved CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 5 Study Methodology ........................................................................................................ 5 EXISTING CONDITIONS ......................................................................................................... 6 Geometry ........................................................................................................................ 6 2020 Baseline Traffic Volumes ...................................................................................... 7 Pedestrian And Bicycle Facilities ................................................................................... 9 Public Transportation ..................................................................................................... 9 Motor Vehicle Crash Data .............................................................................................. 10 Sight Distance Evaluation .............................................................................................. 12 FUTURE CONDITIONS ............................................................................................................ 14 Future Traffic Growth .................................................................................................... 14 Project-Generated Traffic ............................................................................................... 16 Trip Distribution And Assignment ................................................................................. 18 Future Traffic Volumes – Build Condition .................................................................... 19 Parking Analysis ............................................................................................................. 20 TRAFFIC OPERATIONS ANALYSIS ...................................................................................... 22 Methodology .................................................................................................................. 22 Analysis Results ............................................................................................................. 25 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................... 28 Recommendations .......................................................................................................... 28 Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 29 G:\8086 Brookline, MA\Reports\8086 TAP 0221.docx FIGURES No. Title 1 Site Location Map 2 Existing Intersection Lane Use, Travel Lane Width and Pedestrian Facilities 3 2020 Baseline Weekday Morning Peak-Hour Traffic Volumes 4 2020 Baseline Weekday Evening Peak-Hour Traffic Volumes 5 2027 No-Build Weekday Morning Peak-Hour Traffic Volumes 6 2027 No-Build Weekday Evening Peak-Hour Traffic Volumes 7 Trip Distribution Map 8 Project Generated Weekday Morning Peak-Hour Traffic Volumes 9 Project Generated Weekday Evening Peak-Hour Traffic Volumes 10 2027 Build Weekday Morning Peak-Hour Traffic Volumes 11 2027 Build Weekday Evening Peak-Hour Traffic Volumes G:\8086 Brookline, MA\Reports\8086 TAP 0221.docx TABLES No. Title 1 2020 Baseline Roadway Traffic-Volume Summary 2 Public Transportation Services 3 Motor Vehicle Crash Data Summary 4 Sight Distance Measurements 5 Mode Split Characteristics 6 Project Trip Generation Summary 7 Trip-Distribution Summary 8 Peak-Hour Traffic-Volume Increases 9 Existing Parking Utilization 10 Parking Analysis th 11 HCM 6 Edition Level-of-Service Criteria for Unsignalized Intersections 12 HCM 2000 Level-of-Service Criteria for Unsignalized Intersections 13 Unsignalized Intersection Capacity Analysis Summary G:\8086 Brookline, MA\Reports\8086 TAP 0221.docx EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT Vanasse & Associates, Inc. (VAI) has prepared this Transportation Access Plan (TAP) to identify traffic impacts associated with a proposed 44-unit residential building and 1,300 square feet (sf) of retail space to be located at 209 Harvard Street in Brookline, Massachusetts (the “Project”). The purpose of this TAP is to review existing and future traffic conditions in the vicinity of the site, determine the traffic impacts from the proposed Project at key intersections expected to experience increased traffic levels from the Project, and review the need for improvements to mitigate the Project’s traffic impact. PROPOSED PROJECT Currently, the site contains a 5-story medical office building with a parking garage and surface parking towards the rear of the site that accommodates 63 vehicles. The Project will construct a new 5-story building over the surface parking lot in the rear of the site containing 44 residential units. The existing medical office building is also proposed to have 1,300 sf redeveloped into retail space. There will be ground floor parking under the new building as well as a below grade garage. The site will accommodate approximately 56 vehicles post construction. Access to the site will be provided through an existing driveway onto Harvard Street. EXISTING CONDITIONS A comprehensive field inventory was conducted to collect existing roadway geometrics, operating characteristics, speed limits, and sight distances, as well as land use information. Traffic volumes were obtained for the intersections expected to receive the traffic impact from the Project. These are listed below: • Harvard Street at Sewall Avenue/Stearns Road • Harvard Street at 209 Harvard Street Driveway • Harvard Street at Marion Street • Harvard Street at Vernon Street • Longwood Avenue at Sewall Avenue G:\8086 Brookline, MA\Reports\8086 TAP 0221.docx 1 2020 BASELINE TRAFFIC VOLUMES CONDITIONS In order to develop 2020 Baseline traffic-volume conditions, the historic data obtained required adjustment for passage of time, while the new data collected required adjustment due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The counts conducted in 2020 were done in the month of December. Therefore, for practicality it was determined the other existing data should be corrected to December 2020 conditions. The 2016 counts were conducted in September 2016 and were determined to be above average month conditions and therefore were not seasonally adjusted. These volumes were then grown by 1 percent per year to 2018 Baseline conditions. Then using the MassDOT Yearly Growth Rates for roadway group U3 – Urban Principal Arterial the 2018 volumes were grown to 2019 volumes by 0.4 percent. Due to COVID-19, the MassDOT considers 2019 traffic volumes 2020 baseline traffic volumes. The traffic volumes counted in December 2020 were adjusted to pre COVID-19 conditions using the MassDOT permanent count station, AET131, located on the Massachusetts Turnpike west of Commonwealth Avenue. Traffic volumes from December 2019 were compared to December 2020 to determine a percent decrease in traffic due to COVID-19. Based on this comparison it was determined that traffic volumes decreased by approximately 60 percent during the weekday morning peak period and by approximately 65 percent during the weekday evening peak period. Therefore, the December 2020 counts were grown by 60 percent and 65 percent during the weekday morning and weekday evening peak hours, respectively. Then the December 2020 traffic volumes were seasonally adjusted to average month condition using Station AET13. The 2019 seasonal variation at Station AET13 indicates that December volumes at 7 percent below average month conditions. Therefore, the December 2020 traffic volumes were growth by 7 percent up to average month conditions. Lastly, the traffic volumes were balanced upwards between intersections to obtain the 2020 Baseline traffic volumes used in analysis. FUTURE CONDITIONS Traffic volumes within the study area were projected to 2027, which reflects a seven-year planning horizon consistent with State traffic study guidelines. These conditions incorporate traffic growth due to general background traffic increases as well as development projects currently being pro- posed/permitted or under construction and expected to generate traffic in the future. This condition is referred to as the No-Build condition. PROJECT-GENERATED TRAFFIC The Project is expected to generate 128 vehicle trips on an average weekday (two way, 24-hour volume), with 8 vehicle trips (3 vehicles entering and 5 exiting) expected during the weekday morning peak hour. During the weekday evening peak hour, the Project is expected to generate 15 new vehicle trips (8 vehicles entering and 7 exiting). The projected vehicle trips were distributed onto area roadways based on existing travel patterns and U.S.