Technical Appendix Revised Draft Technical Appendix Fairview Avenue Corridor Management Strategy Prepared for Prepared by February 2014 November 2013 FAIRVIEW AVENUE CORRIDOR MANAGEMENT STRATEGY Technical Appendix Part 1 PMT Meeting #1 Summary SC Meeting #1 Summary PMT Meeting #2 Summary SC Meeting #2 Summary PMT Meeting #3 Summary SC Meeting #3 Summary Public Involvement Meeting #1 Comment Summary PMT and SC Preferences for Strategies Website Public Comment Summary Website Comment List Part 2 Technical Memo #1 Existing and Future Baseline Conditions Technical Memo #2 Problem Statement, Goals and Objectives, and Evaluation Criteria Technical Memo #3 Corridor Strategies Corridor Strategies Evaluation Matrix Appendix for Technical Memo #1 Existing and Future Baseline Conditions PMT#1 Meeting SUMMARY Project Name: Fairview Avenue Corridor Access Management Project Number: 507022.001 Date: April 18, 2013 Meeting Time: 10:00AM to 12:00PM Location: ACHD – Site R (aka Retreat trailer) Prepared By: John Bosket Attendees:* Attend Invited Role x Jeff Lowe Project Manager, P&P x John Bosket Project Manager, DKS Associates x Amar Pillai Planning & Programming x Brian McClure City of Meridian x Bryan Huey Communications x Christy Foltz‐Alrichs Communications x Christy Little Development Services x Chuck Spencer GIS x Felicia Statkus Capital Projects x Josh Saak Traffic x Karen Gallagher City of Boise * Justin Lucas attended a portion of the meeting. Meeting objectives: Convene the project team to discuss key findings from the existing and future baseline analysis and goals and objectives of Phase 1 of the Fairview Avenue Corridor Access Management project. Agenda: I. Introductions 10:00 (Jeff) II. Review of Where We Are/Schedule 10:05 (Jeff) We are on schedule. The 4.18.13 (later that afternoon) Steering Committee meeting and membership were discussed. The project website and online comment map are live and mailings/ads will be out to announce to public next week. Jeff sent map web‐link and pdf version of the meeting PowerPoint presentation to members. III. Overview of Key Findings from Tech Memo #1 10:15 (John) Technical Memorandum #1 evaluates safety and operational conditions along the Fairview Avenue study corridor during existing conditions and during a future baseline year of 2035. Key finding include: Fairview Avenue Corridor Access Management Page 1 of 6 PMT#1 Meeting PMT#1 Meeting SUMMARY While Fairview Avenue is classified as a principal arterial and mobility corridor, which would prioritize long and efficient trip movement, the presence of many commercial businesses introduces a mix of shorter trips as well. So there are competing interests in the corridor: longer through trips and shorter trips associated with destinations within the corridor. There are many gaps in the sidewalk network along Fairview Avenue and crossing opportunities are few and far between (about every ½‐mile at the signals). There are only short segments of bike lanes around Hickory to Records. Elsewhere, there are inconsistent shoulder treatments or no place for bikes at all. There is currently on transit on Fairview Avenue from Five Mile Road to the east (an east‐west route from Cole through Orchard and north‐south routes crossing Fairview Avenue at Milwaukee, Maple Grove, and Five Mile). Service is planned to extend out to Eagle Road from the east. The absence of pedestrian and bicycle facilities also limits safe and comfortable access to transit stops. Traffic volumes along Fairview Avenue range from 13,000 to 35,000 vehicles per day (highest volumes generally from Cloverdale to Curtis). Eastbound traffic is heavier in the AM Peak, but westbound traffic is heavier in the PM Peak. The PM Peak is the highest traffic flow period of the day (roughly 4 PM – 6 PM), but the midday peak from noon to 4 PM is also consistently high, which may be an indicator of shopping and business activity. In contrast to the heavy westbound flow during the PM Peak, there is a heavy flow of traffic in the eastbound direction during the PM Peak heading to Curtis Road. This demand results in long queues of traffic in the right lane on Fairview Avenue. Saturday traffic volumes remain high and can be higher than weekday traffic in the central area around Eagle Road. Sunday traffic is much lower – about 25% lower than weekday traffic. Future traffic volumes on Fairview Avenue are forecast to reach 63,000 vehicles per day. This level of demand assumed Fairview Avenue would be widened to seven lanes from Meridian Road to Curtis Road. That level of traffic is what is most commonly served by small (four‐lane) freeways, such as I‐84 in the west end of Nampa east of the Karcher Road interchange. The capacity of the current five‐lane arterial is probably somewhere between 40,000 and 45,000 vehicles per day. Karen asked if constructing medians will help mobility as the capacity of Fairview Avenue is approached – we need to be clear with this when addressing the Stakeholder Committee. Justin commented that it needs to be clear with the Stakeholder Committee that medians are about safety, not capacity. Observations of traffic conditions under current conditions found very long queues of cars at some signalized intersections, frequent red light running, and conflicts between traffic moving through signals and traffic entering nearby driveways. Fairview Avenue Corridor Access Management Page 2 of 6 PMT#1 Meeting PMT#1 Meeting SUMMARY Operational analysis of existing signalized intersections found all to be operating within ACHD’s performance standard (no worse than Level of Service E). The intersections at Eagle Road and Cole Road were the most congested, operating at Level of Service E. The analysis of operations in the future year of 2035 assumed Fairview Avenue was widened to seven lanes from Meridian Road to Curtis Road and that capacity improvements were made to the intersections at Linder Road, Locust Grove Road, Eagle Road, Cloverdale Road, Cole Road, and Curtis Road. Even with these significant capacity additions, conditions by 2035 will be very congested. The intersections at Eagle Road, Cloverdale Road, Five Mile Road, Curtis Road, and Orchard Street will operate at Level of Service F. Seven other intersections will operate at Level of Service E. This means that 12 of the 19 signalized intersections will be at or over capacity by 2035 – even with significant investments made in capacity improvements. The Fairview Avenue study corridor has the second most number of “high crash” intersections compared to all other corridors in the county. Only Eagle Road has more. Four fatalities occurred between the years 2007 and 2011 (period of crash history analyzed), but no trends were noticed. Despite the four fatalities, crash severities tend to be low. Approximately 40% of all crashes occur at the signalized intersections, with the remaining 60% occurring within the segments of roadway in between. Weekdays experience more crashes than weekends, with Fridays experiencing the most. Sundays experience far fewer crashes than any other day of the week. Crashes most commonly occur between 12 PM and 6 PM, with the crash peak occurring from 5 PM to 6 PM. This trend is much like the trend seen in traffic volumes, which suggests many crashes may be congestion‐related. The intersections with Eagle Road, Cole Road, Curtis Road, and Orchard Street experienced the highest rates of crashes (considering relative volume of traffic served). It was noted that the free/merging right turns at Eagle Road that were significant contributors to crash totals were recently removed (2012). Therefore, it is anticipated that the Eagle Road crash rate will drop in the coming years. It was questioned why Orchard Street crashes were significantly higher than others. The number of crashes that occurred at Orchard Street was in line with other intersections, but the volume of traffic served was much lower. Therefore, the amount of crashes that occurred at Orchard Street was disproportionate. The segment of Fairview Avenue from Five Mile to Orchard experienced the highest rate of crashes. 35% of the crashes in this segment were related to driveways. The unsignalized intersection at Hampton Road experienced more crashes than any other unsignalized intersection. The unsignalized intersections at Fairmeadow, Allumbaugh, and Eldorado also experienced many crashes. Fairview Avenue Corridor Access Management Page 3 of 6 PMT#1 Meeting PMT#1 Meeting SUMMARY The segment of Fairview Avenue from Meridian to Locust Grove also had a fairly high crash rate, but the current construction project could mitigate some problems. There were a fair number of crashes involving bicycles. The most common trends involved collisions with bikes when vehicles made right turns and collisions with bikes in crosswalks. The intersection at Meridian Road has twice as many bike‐related crashes as any other intersection. Bike crashes typically result in moderate to high‐severity injuries. Research has consistency shown a relationship between high densities of access points and high crash rates. There are approximately 500 access points along the study corridor, which results in a high average density of just under 60 access points per mile. General correlations between access points and where crashes occur can be found along Fairview Avenue. It was noted that it would be helpful to map crashes in the corridor and to show each year of crashes. At least 26% of all crashes in the Fairview Avenue study corridor were related to access