Transportation Chapter 4 land uses. and the local road network for shipment of Introduction goods and receipt of deliveries VIA semi- Transportation & Land Use trucks. The location of these land uses and Transportation systems should con- provision of a sound transportation network The link between transportation for use by semi-trucks, delivery trucks, and tribute to desirable surroundings for busi- and land use has been apparent throughout other service-related heavy trucks must be ness and a high quality of life for residents. the Township’s development. The proximity considered when planning for future uses While the automobile is the dominant mode of the Township to the State’s highway sys- with the objective of minimizing potential of transportation, Holland Charter Town- tem (Business Loop 196 , Interstate 196 and conflicts with residential and other low- ship strives to provide a balanced and coor- US-31) provides convenient access to em- intensity land uses to the extent possible. dinated “multi-modal” transportation sys- ployment centers and has contributed to tem to accommodate ongoing growth and Holland Charter Township’s residential de- development. Coordinating (or integrating) Land use and transportation deci- velopment. Industrial and commercial de- land use, transportation planning, and de- sions were often made in isolation by the velopment is attracted by the same easy ac- velopment are commonly considered today various agencies. The Township cooperates cess to a quality road network and by the as one facet of sustainable development, with the Ottawa County Road Commission access to the trade areas offered by the con- “smart growth”, new urbanism, or other in the development of our local road system venient highway access. Most of the Town- similar concepts. These shared policies, as they are the lead road agency. In addi- ship’s industrial uses have developed in principles, and strategies should preserve tion, the State and Federal highways that proximity to US-31 in the northern sections and even enhance valued natural and cul- traverse the Township are under the juris- of the Township. Many of the industrial and tural resources and facilitate "healthy", sus- diction of the State of Michigan/Michigan commercial land uses are dependent upon tainable communities and neighborhoods. Department of Transportation. Land Use the utilization of the State’s’ highway system Planning in this mode also tends to encour- decisions, which often impact the road sys- age a balance of mixed uses (including tem, are under the control of the Township, housing, educational, employment, recrea- which does not allow for easy coordination tional, retail, and service opportunities) of developments or road projects. This has which recognizes the importance of the resulted in a number of conditions that do right mix and proximity of complementary not provide optimum transportation solu- Holland Charter Township Master Plan 2014 Page 24 tions. ing a unified or cohesive community. The such as major airports or regional shop- tendency to plan and zone for commercial ping centers. Transportation problems are a or office strips along major roads has typi- cally resulted in an oversupply of such uses Arterials that are found in Holland function of several factors. Available fund- which leads to commercial sprawl, the crea- Charter Township include Interstate I- ing for transportation improvements has tion of numerous driveways, turning con- 196, connecting our community to always been unable to keep pace with the flicts, increasing congestion while reducing Grand Rapids and Chicago. US-31, is a need for improvements caused by increased safety, and limiting the capacity of the arte- regional arterial which is a state-owned capacity needs as a result of growth. Im- rial roadways. limited access highway that runs along provements can also be constrained by right Michigan’s west coast. US-31 extends -of-way or environmental limitations that from the State’s southern border to the made them impractical. Very often widen- Street Networks & Func- northern tip of the Lower Peninsula. ing roads can have unforeseen consequenc- tional Classification es on land use. In many cases, widening to accommodate expected traffic makes the The road classification system used road more attractive to development, and in this plan is based on the National Func- thus attracts more traffic. tional Classification (NFC) system devel- oped by the Federal Highway Administra- Conventional land use planning has tion (FHWA) classifying all streets, roads, also contributed to the traffic problems. and highways according to their function. Separation of certain land uses, such as lo- This system has been in use by transporta- cal commercial from residential areas, forc- tion agencies for many years. These road es residents to take more frequent trips or classifications are described below and are longer trips to obtain basic services such as depicted on Map 8 in Appendix A. Business Loop 196 is another regional food or personal services. Many subdivi- arterial serving as the main conduit to sions, in an effort to enhance safety, securi- Interstates/Principal Arterials the interstate and connecting the Town- ty, and privacy, have cul-de-sacs and lack Interstates and other principal arterials ship with the Cities of Zeeland and Hol- needed road connections to other streets or generally carry long distance, through- land. pedestrian links. This type of development travel movements. They also provide also does not contribute to the goal of creat- access to important traffic generators, Minor Arterials Holland Charter Township Master Plan 2014 Page 25 Page 26 Holland Charter Township Master Plan 2014 Lastly, minor arterials are those streets newer subdivisions are laid out in a which allow traffic to complete major more curvilinear fashion with several cul The Arterials of I-196, Business trips in the urban area. All or portions -de-sacs. Cul-de-sacs do not allow for loop 196, and US-31, as well as their associ- of the following east/west streets Introductionare through traffic but were often favored by ated interchanges are under the State’s ju- minor arterials: Riley Street, James developers as they could build less road- risdiction. Local arterials, collectors and Street, Lakewood Boulevard, Old Chica- way per lot and thus subdivision costs local roads are maintained by the Ottawa go Drive/M-121, Douglas Avenue, 8th were reduced. County Road Commission. The use of pri- Street, 16th Street/Adams Street; and vate roads by the general public is generally the following north/south streets are Transportation prohibited because they are built and main- considered minor arterials: Butternut Jurisdictions tained by the property owners which own Drive, 136th Avenue, Beeline Road, property adjacent to them. 120th Avenue, and 96th Avenue. To understand the jurisdictional matters regarding roads and funding is no Major/Minor Collectors Road Surfaces simple matter. Holland Charter Township The collectors funnel traffic from resi- has limited jurisdiction over any of the dential or rural areas to arterials. Col- Nearly all of the public and private roads within its boundary. Instead, the lectors will also serve to provide access roads located in Holland Charter Township State and County manage and maintain to abutting properties. Examples of col- are paved, with the exception of 1.4 miles of most of the roads and thoroughfares, while lector roads are: 144th Avenue, 112th which are gravel or unimproved. In some a few local residential roads remain under Avenue, 104th Avenue and Quincy cases private driveways serving up to four private control as they were developed as Street. lots will not be paved. private streets. Local Streets Traffic Volume Local streets serve primarily to provide access to individual properties and Traffic volume data is measured by homes. These roadways were histori- the Ottawa County Road Commission. Traf- cally arranged in a grid pattern of inter- fic counts are collected in a bi-directional connected roads and blocks. Older sub- manner over a 24-hour period. This method divisions tend to follow a more rigid ge- of data collection provides an accurate count ometric grid pattern. Local roads in of typical daily traffic volumes. The most creases in volumes have also been observed recent information for the Township’s roads at the intersection of Quincy and 104th most In addition, the Township is ap- was collected in 2013 . Table 1 located at the likely as a result of the significant develop- proximately 45 minutes away, VIA an excel- end of this chapter contains the counts gath- ment to Helder Park. lent highway system, from the Gerald R. ered for some of the main roads within the Ford International Airport. It is served by Township. Map 7 located in Appendix A, seven passenger airlines with 120 daily contains a map displaying the traffic vol- Air Travel scheduled nonstop flights to and from 23 umes in 2013. major market destinations. The Airport is Holland Charter Township does not the 82nd busiest commercial airport in the Traffic Volume Trends nation and the second busiest airport in have an airport located within its borders, Michigan. The airport operates three run- any of our roadways have had but there are several smaller privately- M ways: a 150-foot wide - 10,000-foot main owned airports, located in the townships of significant declines in traffic over the past east/west runway; a 100-foot wide - 5,000- Zeeland and Park. The West Michigan Re- ten years (see Table 2 at the end of this fooot parallel east/west runway; and a 150- gional Airport (formerly known as Tulip City chapter). Much of that can be attributed to foot wide - 8,501-foot north/south runway. Airport) is located south of Holland City and the recent economic downturn, which has is a full-service, 24-hour regional airport led to some decreases in traffic volume on serving the entire West Michigan area.