Tech Memo #7 - Maricopa County Department of Transportation

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Technical Memorandum #7Traffic AnalysisPeoria Avenue Corridor Improvement StudyJackrabbit Trail Parkway to Dysart RoadJackrabbit Trail Parkway will follow the new Design Guideline Recommendations for the ArizonaParkway (MCDOT, August 2008), which includes an intermediate-capacity, six- to eight-lanedivided highway with partial access control and no direct left turns permitted at majorintersections. Compared with a conventional arterial, an Arizona Parkway can provideadditional travel capacity without full grade separations at major intersections. It can provide thebenefit of increasing intersection capacity while maintaining direct driveway access to eachquadrant of the intersection. The junction of Peoria Avenue with Jackrabbit Trail Parkway willneed to consider the design standards in the Arizona Parkway Intersection/InterchangeOperational Analysis and Design Concepts Study (MCDOT, August 2009).In 2008, MCDOT completed the Jackrabbit Trail Access Control and Corridor ImprovementStudy, which further refined the corridor and established a preferred alignment, supported bypreliminary engineering considerations that provide operational and design details regarding itsclassification as an Arizona Parkway. Because Peoria Avenue will intersect Jackrabbit TrailParkway, this study can provide guidance for future roadway improvements in the studycorridor.Northern Avenue ParkwayWhile located outside the study area, Northern Avenue through the Phoenix metropolitan areahas been under study for several years, with a view to upgrading it to a “super street.” With afourteen–mile gap in the freeway system between I-10 and SR 101L, Northern Avenue hasbeen envisioned as another east-west connection across the metropolitan area, offering moreaccess control and capacity than a major arterial, but less speed than a freeway.In the MAG I-10/Hassayampa Valley Transportation Framework Study, this facility is defined asan Arizona Parkway, positioned approximately one-half mile between the Northern and OliveAvenue section lines throughout the study corridor.Future Typical SectionsAs mentioned previously, Peoria Avenue has been classified by the local jurisdictions asfollows: MCDOT – Urban Principal Arterial MAG – Major Arterial City of El Mirage – Minor Arterial City of Glendale – Major Arterial City of Surprise – Major ArterialA MCDOT principal arterial is six lanes wide, constructed on a minimum right-of-way of 130 feet,including a bicycle lane. Right-of-way for future bus pullouts should be provided on the far sideof each intersection of a principal arterial with another principal or minor arterial – which, in thestudy area, includes every one-mile cross street. Figure 11 illustrates this MCDOT typicalcross-section for Peoria Avenue.A MAG principal arterial is also six lanes wide, constructed on a minimum right-of-way of 140feet, including a bicycle lane. Figure 12 depicts the MAG typical cross-section for PeoriaAvenue.Page 13 January 2011
Technical Memorandum #7Traffic AnalysisPeoria Avenue Corridor Improvement StudyJackrabbit Trail Parkway to Dysart RoadSurprise classifies Peoria Avenue as a major arterial in the current General Plan, whereas ElMirage classifies Peoria Avenue as a minor arterial (based on City of Peoria standard details).Typical cross-sections for both cities are illustrated in Figures 13 and 14.The City of Glendale has indicated that amendments to the General Plan have upgraded PeoriaAvenue to a major arterial. A typical cross-section for the City of Glendale is shown in Figure15.Future Traffic VolumesMAG provided design year 2031 traffic volume projections for use in this study. MAG maintainsa regional traffic forecasting model based on projected socioeconomic data, which providesnumerous outputs including daily traffic and peak hour traffic. MAG network simulations wereprovided for the 2031 design year under the build scenario. For the purposes of the MAGmodel, the “build scenario” network corresponds to three traffic lanes in each direction of travel.The 2031 Build traffic volume projections are shown in Figure 16.MCDOT does not include a Peoria Avenue crossing of the Agua Fria River in its current orfuture roadway network. Other regional planning studies have suggested a need for a rivercrossing and the City of El Mirage has included a crossing in its roadway network. While thisriver crossing may not be implemented in the near future, a conservative approach (by includingthe river crossing) was used to project the 2031 Peoria Avenue travel demand. While thetransportation plans described above were used to establish the ultimate Peoria Avenueclassification, the 2031 travel demand will be used to help determine an implementation strategyfor the corridor.The 2031 MAG daily traffic projections were also used to develop projected peak hour turningmovements at the major intersections. The following assumptions were applied to the dailytraffic projections to estimate approach and departure peak hour volumes at each majorintersection: Approximately 8% of the daily traffic would occur during the peak hours (K factor) A 60/40 directional split (D factor) would occur during the peak hours with the dominantmovement in the A.M. peak hour being toward SR 303L and to the south with thereverse movement in the P.M. peak hourThe estimated approach and departure volumes were then converted to peak hour turningvolumes utilizing procedures outlined in NCHRP 255. In order to balance the turningmovements, slight adjustments were made to the K factor at isolated locations with the resultingK factors varying between 7% and 9%. The projected 2031 peak hour turning movements areshown in Figure 17.Page 14 January 2011
Page 2 and 3: Technical Memorandum #7Traffic Anal

Tech Memo #7 - Maricopa County Department of Transportation

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?