U.S. Health and Human Services Consolidation Transportation Management Plan Prepared for: The U.S. General Services Administration National Capital Region In cooperation with: The U.S. Health and Human Services Prepared by: Stantec Consulting Ltd. 6110 Frost Place Laurel, MD 20707 March 2015 HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT PLAN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction This report represents the Transportation Management Plan (TMP) for the consolidation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) at 5600 Fishers Lane. The report identifies existing and future transportation conditions and needs in the immediate vicinity of the site. The anticipated transportation impacts on the existing transportation system are due to the relocation of approximately 1,600 employees to 5600 Fishers Lane. Transportation strategies to mitigate these impacts are identified in this document, along with guidelines for implementing, monitoring, and re- evaluating the TMP. Background Various studies have been performed that evaluated the impacts of consolidating HHS employees to the 5600 Fishers Lane site on the surrounding roadway network. These reports proposed mitigation for the impacts based upon increasing the number of employees to be consolidated at 5600 Fishers Lane from 2,900 to 4,500. The proposed mitigation included the development of a TMP. A TMP is required as part of a federal agency’s planning submission for undertaking any project that will increase the employment level on a worksite to 500 or more employees. Montgomery County law requires that every employer with 25 or more full- or part-time employees in a Transportation Management District submit a Traffic Mitigation Plan (TMP) within 90 days of notification from the Department of Transportation. Employers must also participate in the Transportation Management District’s annual commuter survey and submit an annual report of activities. A TMP is an employer’s active program to foster more efficient employee commuting patterns. The TMP includes specific strategies to encourage change in employee travel mode, trip timing, frequency, and length and travel routes so as to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. A TMP also offers the benefit of reduced demand for parking spaces. This TMP outlines strategies by analyzing the commuting pattern of existing HHS employees who are already located at 5600 Fishers Lane, as well as those yet to be relocated. Based on a survey of all employees and analysis of the results, this plan will outline strategies to provide the greatest reduction in single occupancy vehicles and minimize the need for on-site parking. EXISTING CONDITION As of November 2013, approximately 2,800 employees were located on site at 5600 Fishers Lane, with an additional 1,600 employees at other sites to be consolidated. The 2,800 employees were asked to participate in an employee survey from November through December 2013 to gain an understanding of their commuting patterns. Of the 2,800 employees, 491 or approximately 18 percent completed the survey. Based on the zip codes of employees’ residences 61 percent of the employees live in Montgomery County and the remaining employees are distributed among Washington, D.C. and other counties in Maryland and Virginia. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT PLAN Of the 491 employees who responded to the survey, approximately 76 percent drive alone to work and 24 percent use other modes of transportation. The average vehicle occupancy (AVO) of the survey respondents is 1.36 employees per vehicle. PROPOSED CONDITION Of the 1,600 HHS employees who are scheduled to relocate to 5600 Fishers Lane, 806 or 50 percent completed the survey. The zip codes of these employees’ residences indicate that 61 percent live in Montgomery County. Approximately 2.5 percent of the employees who participated in the survey are planning to move their residence closer to 5600 Fishers Lane. Approximately 83 percent of the employees who responded to the survey drive alone to work and 17 percent use the other modes of transportation. Employees who are already located at 5600 Fishers Lane are carpooling/vanpooling and using transit more than those to be relocated. Thus, it is expected that as employees relocate to 5600 Fishers Lane there will be more carpool/vanpool and transit usage, which will help reduce the percentage of employees who drive alone. The employees who are slated to relocate to 5600 Fishers Lane have an AVO of 1.25. PROPOSED TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES The TMP outlines strategies in order to achieve a parking ratio goal of 2.0 employees per parking space at full build out of 5600 Fishers Lane and AVO of 1.5. At present, the existing parking ratio at 5600 Fishers Lane is 1.8 and the AVO is 1.29. In order to increase the parking ratio from the current 1.8 to 2.0 and AVO from 1.29 to 1.5 at full build- out, HHS will make significant efforts to encourage employees to use the ride share program, on-site shuttle service, and computer matching of employees looking for other carpoolers/vanpoolers in their home area. In addition, HHS will use incentives, such as transit subsidies, guaranteed ride home program, and preferred parking for carpools/vanpools to help meet this goal. The following Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures are expected to have an effect on increasing the parking ratio and thus decreasing the single vehicle occupancy numbers: • Employee Transportation Coordinator • Carpool/Vanpool Incentives • Transit Incentives • Telecommuting Program • Bicycling/Walk-to-work Incentives. ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT PLAN Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Purpose of Study ......................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Basis ............................................................................................................................................ 3 2. EMPLOYEE SURVEY ............................................................................................................................. 1 2.1 Characteristics of Employees at 5600 Fishers Lane .................................................................... 1 2.2 Characteristics of Employees Moving to 5600 Fishers Lane....................................................... 5 3. Goals and Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 11 4. Measurement.................................................................................................................................... 13 5. EXISTING TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM ............................................................................................... 15 5.1 Site Characteristics .................................................................................................................... 15 5.2 Public Transportation ................................................................................................................ 18 6. PROPOSED TDM STRATEGIES............................................................................................................ 29 6.1 Employee Transportation Coordinator (ETC) ........................................................................... 29 6.2 Carpool/Vanpool Incentives ..................................................................................................... 30 6.3 Transit Incentives ...................................................................................................................... 33 6.4 Telecommuting Program .......................................................................................................... 36 6.5 Bicycling to/Walk-to-Work Incentive ........................................................................................ 37 6.6 North Bethesda Transportation Management District ............................................................ 37 7. IMPLEMENTING THE TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT (TDM) STRATEGIES ................ 39 7.1 Implementation Plan ................................................................................................................ 39 7.2 HHS TMP Parking Management ................................................................................................ 44 7.3 HHS TMP Commitments ........................................................................................................... 44 8. MONITORING & EVALUATION .......................................................................................................... 45 9. RESOURCES ....................................................................................................................................... 47 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................................... 49 TABLE OF CONTENTS iii HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT PLAN This page left intentionally blank iv TABLE OF CONTENTS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT PLAN List of Acronyms AVO Average Vehicle Occupancy CLV Critical Lane Volume ETC Employee