Traffic Impact & Access Study Watertown, Massachusetts Main Street WATERTOWN 20 Acton Street Roseland Road Jensen Road Waltham Street SITE Pleasant Street Bridge Street Bridge California Street Chapel Street NEWTON North Scale: Not to Scale Study Locations Figure 1 TRANSPORTATION CONSULTANTS, INC. MDM Planners & Engineers Site Location Date: December 2016 Dwg No. 903 TIAS.dwg Copyright © by MDM Transportation Consultants, Inc. All rights reserved. □ Adequate Roadway Capacity & Operations. Under future No-Build conditions, the signalized intersections of Pleasant Street at Bridge Street and Rosedale Street will operate at an overall LOS C or better and LOS B or better during the peak hours, respectively. The overall increase in delay with the project in place under Build conditions will be nominal and the intersection will continue to operate with only minor changes between No-Build and Build conditions. Likewise, the central site driveway will be an exit-only driveway and will operate at LOS D or better during the peak hours with the development in place. In summary, MDM finds that incremental traffic associated with the proposed development is not expected to materially impact operating conditions at the study intersections and ample roadway capacity will be available to support the project. Proposed access/egress improvements will minimize disruption of traffic along Pleasant Street by concentrating egress movements to a central Site location that will not be influenced by queues from nearby signals. Implementation of proposed pedestrian and bicycle improvements along with a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program as outlined in this study will establish a framework of minimizing Site traffic impacts by encouraging non-motorized travel modes and pedestrian/bicycle accommodation that is compatible with other projects along the Pleasant Street corridor. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The project Site is located at 385 Pleasant Street in Watertown, Massachusetts. The site consists of a two-story warehouse (16,100± sf) which was formerly occupied by The Field Companies and the Site is currently being used for outdoor storage of Ford vehicles. Three access driveways along Pleasant Street provide access to the warehouse and nearby parking lots. Under proposed conditions, the site will be redeveloped into a mixed-use space providing 58 residential units as well as commercial space in a total of 5 buildings including the renovation of the existing warehouse. The commercial space will include 8,000± gross square feet (gsf) of commercial space in the first floor of the renovated warehouse building and 6,785± gsf of office space in the proposed office building. Access to the Site is proposed via the two entrance driveways on Pleasant Street; the first entrance located on the western side of the site and the second location in the eastern side of the site to the east of the townhomes. The driveways are proposed to be one-way with a single egress onto Pleasant Street. On-site parking is proposed for 93± vehicles to support the mixed-use residential/commercial buildings. The project will also include 32± indoor secure bike parking spaces to support the residential use. The preliminary site layout is presented in Figure 2. 2 MDM G:\Projects\903 - Watertown (385 Pleasant)\Documents\903 MR01_Final.doc STUDY METHODOLOGY This traffic impact assessment is conducted in general conformance with industry standard traffic study guidelines. The first step documents existing conditions in the transportation study area, including an inventory of roadway geometry, observed traffic volumes and safety characteristics. Next, future year traffic conditions are forecast that account for other planned area developments, normal area growth, and development-related traffic increases. The third step quantifies operating characteristics of study intersections. Specific attention is given to the incremental impacts of the proposed development. Finally, improvements are described that address specific development-related operational needs as required. STUDY AREA This TIA evaluates transportation characteristics of roadways and intersections that provide a primary means of access to the site, and that are likely to sustain a measurable level of traffic impact from the development. The study area includes the following intersections and identified in Figure 1: □ Pleasant Street at Bridge Street (Signalized) □ Pleasant Street at Rosedale Street (Signalized) □ Pleasant Street at Site Driveways (Unsignalized) EXISTING TRAFFIC & SAFETY CHARATERISTICS An overview of roadway classification and geometric characteristics is provided below for study roadways and intersections. Roadways Pleasant Street Pleasant Street is generally an east-west roadway classified by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) as an Urban Minor Arterial roadway and is under the local (Town) jurisdiction. Pleasant Street connects Route 20 to the east with River Street to the west. In the project area, the roadway provides one travel lane in the eastbound and westbound directions with sidewalks provided on both the northern and southern sides of the roadway. Street lighting is provided along Pleasant Street within the immediate project area. Land uses along Pleasant Street includes a mix of land uses including but not limited to Exergen Corporation, a pet resort and hospital, retail shops, and auto dealerships and service centers. 3 MDM G:\Projects\903 - Watertown (385 Pleasant)\Documents\903 MR01_Final.doc Bridge Street Bridge Street is a north-south roadway under local (Town) jurisdiction and is classified as an Urban Collector roadway by the MassDOT. Bridge Street provides a connection between Watertown Street to the south and Buck Street to the north. Bridge Street provides one lane of travel in each direction with additional turn lanes provided at its major intersections. Sidewalks are provided along both sides of the roadway. Street lighting is provided along Bridge Street in the project area. Land uses include a mix of commercial activity and residential uses, which includes an office building, a car wash, a Tesla Service Center, an automobile dealership (Toyota of Watertown), and Olympic Storage. Rosedale Street Rosedale Street is generally a north-south roadway under local (Town) jurisdiction and is classified as a Local roadway by the MassDOT. Rosedale Street provides a connection between Pleasant Street to the south and Main Street (Route 20) to the north. Rosedale Street provides one lane of travel in each direction with sidewalks provided along both the eastern and western sides of the roadway. Street lighting is provided along Rosedale Street in the project area. Land uses include a mix of commercial activity, which includes a Central Rock Gym, office space, automobile repair center, and Plumbing Museum. Residential uses are also located along the northern section of Rosedale Street. Intersections Pleasant Street at Bridge Street Pleasant Street meets Bridge Street to form a 4-way signalized intersection. The Pleasant Street eastbound approach provides a shared left/through travel lane and an exclusive right turn lane and the Pleasant Street westbound approach provides an exclusive left turn lane and a shared through/ right turn lane. The Bridge Street northbound approach operates as an exclusive left turn lane, a through travel lane and an exclusive right turn lane and the Bridge Street southbound approach operates as a shared left/through travel lane and an exclusive right turn lane. The traffic signal operates with advance phases for the westbound and northbound travel directions and an exclusive pedestrian phase actuated by push button. Land uses at the intersection consist of Tesla Auto Body Service Center, Toyota of Watertown, Riverworks at Aetna Mills, and Perfection Car Wash. 4 MDM G:\Projects\903 - Watertown (385 Pleasant)\Documents\903 MR01_Final.doc Pleasant Street at Rosedale Road/304 Pleasant St. Driveway Pleasant Street meets Rosedale Road and the 304 Pleasant St. Driveway to form a 4-way signalized intersection. The 304 Pleasant Street northbound and Rosedale Road southbound approaches both provide single multi-purpose travel lanes. The Pleasant Street eastbound approach provides an exclusive left-turn lane and a separate through/right travel lane, while the Pleasant Street westbound approach provides a single shared travel lane with a gored out left turn area. The traffic signal operates with advance phases for the eastbound travel direction, split phasing for the northbound and southbound approaches and an exclusive pedestrian phase that is push button actuated. Land uses at the intersection consist of AWE Engineering, Felicitex Therapeutics, and Biomodels Pharmaceuticals. Baseline Traffic Data Peak Hour Traffic Traffic volume data was collected in December 2016 during the weekday morning (7:00 – 9:00 AM) and weekday evening (4:00 – 6:00 PM) peak periods. Review of MassDOT permanent count station data indicates that December is a below average traffic month (approximately 5 percent below average month conditions). Thus, the traffic counts were adjusted by 5% (increase) to represent average conditions. The resulting Baseline weekday morning and weekday evening peak-hour traffic volumes for the study intersections are depicted in Figure 3 and Figure 4. Turning movement counts and permanent count station data are provided in the Attachments. Daily Traffic Counts Daily traffic volumes along Pleasant Street between Bridge Street and Rosedale Street were