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Earlier study results confirmed in re-test U.Va. To Commission Additional Traffic Study
August 6, 2002--
The
University of Virginia has accepted the city of Charlottesvilleıs
recent recommendation in a letter to the Department of Environmental
Quality that U.Va. pay for a new traffic study before the Emmet
Street parking garage opens. A mutually agreed-upon firm will conduct
the study using traffic data collected this fall. "We
hope the next study will resolve any remaining doubts about the
data and assumptions used in the first one," said Colette Sheehy,
U.Va.'s vice president for management and budget.
"We expect it to be more detailed than the planning
study, and will help us develop and refine operating strategies
for the garage and to determine the best timing, phasing, and synchronizing
of the traffic signals at the entrances and nearby intersections." Sheehy also announced that the traffic consultants who conducted the Universityıs first full traffic study -- the North Grounds Transportation Synthesis Study done in June -- have completed a re-testing of their earlier study. Responding
to questions raised by traffic experts hired by the city and a group
of local residents to review U.Va.'s initial traffic study, the
Glatting Jackson firm re-ran many of the analyses, revising the
methodology as the other experts had suggested. Using the recommended
factors, however, did not change the original conclusions, said
Walter M. Kulash, a senior partner at the Orlando, Fla.-based firm. "For example, we recomputed the traffic performance of the Emmet Street-Ivy Road intersection following all of the recommendations of the reviewers," Kulash said. "While the average delay increased slightly, from 41.5 to 49.1 seconds in 2003 and from 38.0 to 44.1 seconds in 2006, the overall level of service at that intersection did not change. It is still at a level considered reasonable for an urban area." "This model shows that existing conditions are, in fact, worse than those shown in the 2006 model after the three projects [the garage, a new arena and a future garage in the arts complex] and the North Grounds Connector are complete," he said. Glatting Jackson also addressed the reviewersı concern that a proposed traffic signal at the garageıs Emmet Street entrance would be too close to the light at Ivy Road, possibly violating Virginia Department of Transportation standards. "We contacted an engineer in VDOTıs traffic operations division for the departmentıs signal spacing criteria," Kulash said. "She said that while there are criteria for signals on rural roads, VDOT has no formal policies or guidelines for urban areas. They evaluate proposed signals in such locations on a case-by-case basis, using principles established by a national manual on traffic control devices." Kulash
noted that signals in built-up urban areas are commonly less than
1/4 mile apart, reflecting the small size of downtown blocks or
parking garage entrances at mid-block.
A local example is the 2nd Street signal for the Water Street
garage, which is less than 150 feet from the light at the Water
Street intersection. Most of the comments made by reviewing engineers, he said, asked for a level of detailed analysis normally found in an operational study, not at the planning level. Nevertheless, when they applied the suggested operational-level detail to a sample of their analyses as a test, it did not change the results. Contact: Carol Wood, (434) 924-6189 |
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FOR
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Contact the Office
of University Relations at (434) 924-7116. Television reporters
should contact the TV News Office at (434) 924-7550. |
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