Park Woodlawn Area Plan - Charlotte-Mecklenburg County

Part 3:AppendixPark Woodlawn Area PlanTransportationCharlotte-MecklenburgPlanning DepartmentTransportationStreet NetworkThe Park Woodlawn Area benefitsfrom strong land use accessibility anda moderate degree of connectivity.Area residents benefit from being inclose proximity to a mixture of landuses that enable them to live, work,play, socialize, and shop within ashort distance of home. In addition,the connected street network helpsshorten travel distances for alltransportation users and improvesoverall transportation systemcapacity by providing area residentsand visitors with more route choices.Key measures for the Park Woodlawnarea include:Connectivity Index: 1.25Intersection Density (3.2 sq.mi.): 90Signalized Intersections Density: 4The connectivity indexquantifies how well a streetnetwork connects places.The index is calculatedby dividing the numberof roadway links by thenumber of roadway nodes.A connectivity index of1.45 or more is desirablefor in-town neighborhoods,such as Park Woodlawn.The current score of 1.25suggests a need for someadded connectivity. This is especiallyimportant for blocks closest toshopping, schools, parks and localtransit routes.Intersection density measures thenumber of intersections per squaremile. The higher the density is,the greater the travel options thereare. An intersection density of200 or more is desirable for intownneighborhoods. Signalizedintersections are especially importantfor pedestrians as safer places to crossmajor thoroughfares.Due to the established “in-town”character of the Area, residentsalready benefit from having aconnected street network and abalanced mixture of land uses, bothof which support a more urbanlifestyle. As shown in the tablebelow, the Area currently receiveshigh marks relating to land useaccessibility relative to the cityaverage, with the major exceptionbeing shopping. This exception issurprising, given the proximity of thePark Woodlawn Mixed-Use ActivityCenter. However, many of the blockswithin Plan Area boundaries arelocated well over a quarter mile fromthis Center.Land Use AccessibilityPlanAreaCityPop % %Within 1/4 mile of:Shopping 3,884 32% 67%Schools 5,958 49% 26%Parks 5,686 47% 28%Local transit route 8,884 73% 64%Total Population 12,164 100% 100%Source: Charlotte Department of TransportationThoroughfare PlanThe Mecklenburg-Union ThoroughfarePlan is the adopted major roadwayplan for Mecklenburg and Unioncounties and is used to assure thatthe most appropriate street system isdeveloped to meet existing and futuretravel needs. Streets are classified anddesigned according to their intendedfunctions so that land use and trafficconflicts are minimized. The streetclassifications applicable to the ParkWoodlawn Area are as follows:THOROUGHFARES: Park Road,Tyvola Road, and Woodlawn Roadare major thoroughfares serving thearea. As major thoroughfares, thesestreets are designed to accommodatelarge volumes of traffic at moderatespeeds and provide access to majorcommercial, employment andresidential land uses. ScaleybarkRoad is a minor thoroughfare thatcollects traffic from the local collectorstreets and carries it to the majorthoroughfares. Minor thoroughfaresare designed to carry moderatetraffic volumes at moderate speedsand provide access to residential,commercial and institutional landuses.COLLECTORS & LOCALS:Abbey Place, HilllsideAvenue, Marsh Road,Murrayhill Road, PoindexterDrive, and Seneca Place aremajor collectors. AuburnAvenue, Hartford Avenue,Little Hope Road, MontfordDrive, Princeton Avenue,Selwyn Farms Lane, SunsetDrive, and WedgewoodDrive are minor collectors.Collectors are designedto carry traffic betweenthe thoroughfares and localstreets at moderate volumes yet lowerspeeds, while providing access toadjacent land uses. The remainingroadways are local streets thatcarry low traffic volumes, have slowoperating speeds and provide accessto individual properties. SeeMap 14.DRAFT January 15, 201385