DRAFT Davidson Elementary School Expansion Transportation Impact Analysis

Transcription

1 DRAFT Davidson Elementary School Expansion Transportation Impact Analysis Prepared for: Town of Davidson 216 S. Main Street Davidson, NC Prepared by: Stantec Consulting Services Inc Ayrsley Town Blvd. Suite 300 Charlotte, NC 28273

2 Sign-off Sheet This document entitled DRAFT Davidson Elementary School Expansion Transportation Impact Analysis was prepared by Stantec Consulting Services Inc. ( Stantec ) for the account of the Town of Davidson (the Client ). Any reliance on this document by any third party is strictly prohibited. The material in it reflects Stantec s professional judgment in light of the scope, schedule and other limitations stated in the document and in the contract between Stantec and the Client. The opinions in the document are based on conditions and information existing at the time the document was published and do not take into account any subsequent changes. In preparing the document, Stantec did not verify information supplied to it by others. Any use which a third party makes of this document is the responsibility of such third party. Such third party agrees that Stantec shall not be responsible for costs or damages of any kind, if any, suffered by it or any other third party as a result of decisions made or actions taken based on this document. Prepared by Meron Shiferaw, PE Reviewed by Kellie Reep, PE Approved by Christa Greene, PE (signature) (signature) (signature)

3 Introduction Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... III 1.0 INTRODUCTION INVENTORY OF TRAFFIC CONDITIONS STUDY AREA EXISTING CONDITIONS SITE VISIT PROJECTED ROADWAY IMPROVEMENTS TRAFFIC GENERATION METHODOLOGY MULTI-MODAL CONNECTIVITY REDUCTION TRIP GENERATION PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT TRAFFIC DISTRIBUTION SITE TRIP DISTRIBUTION TRAFFIC VOLUMES APPROVED DEVELOPMENTS FUTURE TRAFFIC GROWTH TOTAL BUILD TRAFFIC WITH PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT TRAFFIC ANALYSIS EXISTING CONDITIONS ANALYSIS FUTURE (2021) NO BUILD CONDITIONS ANALYSIS FUTURE (2021) BUILD CONDITIONS ANALYSIS SITE PLAN, INTERNAL CIRCULATION, AND PARKING EVALUATION SITE PLAN REVIEW INTERNAL CIRCULATION AND QUEUING ANALYSIS PARKING REQUIREMENTS RECOMMENDATIONS MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS QUALITATIVE EVALUATION QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx i

4 Introduction LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Davidson Elementary/Middle School Trip Generation Table... 9 Table 2: Level of Service Criteria Signalized Intersections Table 3: Level of Service Criteria Unsignalized Intersections Table 4: Existing (2017) Level of Service and Delay Table 5: Future (2021) No Build Level of Service and Delay Table 6: Future (2021) Build Level of Service and Delay Table 7: Bicycle and Pedestrian LOS Criteria Table 8: Multimodal LOS Summary South Street at Main Street Intersection Table 9: Corridor Multimodal LOS Summary South Street Table 10: Corridor Multimodal LOS Summary Woodland Street Table 11: Corridor Multimodal LOS Summary Spring Street LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Site Location and Study Area Map... 1 Figure 2: Site Plan... 2 Figure 3: Existing Geometry... 7 Figure 4: Proposed Davidson Middle School Trip Distribution Figure 5: Existing (2017) Traffic Volumes Figure 6: Future (2021) No Build Traffic Volumes Figure 7: Site Traffic Volumes Figure 8: Future (2021) Build Traffic Volumes Figure 9: Conceptual Peak Period Internal Circulation Plan Figure 10: Conceptual Off-Peak Internal Circulation Plan kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx ii

5 Introduction Executive Summary Davidson Elementary School is located along the east side of South Street, just south of Mimosa Street in Davidson, North Carolina. A middle school component is being proposed within the existing Davidson Elementary site and is expected to be completed by the year The purpose of this report is to evaluate the proposed expansion in terms of projected traffic conditions, evaluate the ability of the adjacent roadways and multi-modal facilities to accommodate the additional traffic and pedestrian volumes, and to recommend transportation improvements needed to mitigate congestion that may result from additional site traffic. This report presents trip generation, trip distribution, traffic analyses, multi-modal analyses, and recommendations for improvements needed to meet anticipated traffic demands. This report examines 2017 Existing conditions, 2021 No Build conditions (with background growth, but without the proposed expansion), and 2021 Build conditions (with the proposed expansion) for the morning peak and afternoon school peak hours. Davidson Elementary School currently has 708 students and 75 staff members. The middle school will add 480 students and 23 staff members. Existing traffic counts showed that the elementary school generates 456 trips during the AM peak hour (from 7:30 am to 8:30 am) and 227 trips in the PM peak hour (from 2:50 pm to 3:50 pm). The middle school is estimated to generate an additional 176 trips during the AM peak hour and 128 trips in the PM peak hour. Based on existing traffic counts, it is estimated that 10 percent of students bike or walk to school. The proposed site plan maintains the existing three site driveways, and buses continue to enter and exit through the northernmost driveway. However, the proposed plan deviates from the current carpool traffic pattern. Rather than carpool traffic entering through the Southern Car Driveway and exiting via the Northern Car Driveway, the site plan shows all of the carpool traffic entering and exiting through the Northern Car Driveway. This eliminates all turning traffic at the Southern Car Driveway. The results of the transportation study show that while the proposed development will result in increased vehicular queuing within the school property and some additional queuing along South Street, it is not expected to have a significant impact on the vehicular operations on surrounding roadways. For the purposes of this study, the term significant impact is defined as having an impact large enough to cause an overall intersection to reach level of service (LOS) E or F, if it is not expected to be LOS E or F in the existing or no build conditions. There is some existing multimodal infrastructure near the site. Existing pedestrian and bicycle traffic was observed and those volumes are expected to increase with the school expansion. The signalized intersection of South Street at NC 115/Main Street is expected to operate at acceptable levels of service under all analyzed scenarios. Although some queuing was observed in SimTraffic, they all clear within one signal cycle. The stop-controlled southbound approach of Baker Drive at Concord Road shows LOS E and F during all analyzed scenarios, but it is not uncommon for unsignalized intersection approaches to operate poorly during peak hour conditions, even if the side street volumes are relatively low. SimTraffic showed some queuing along Woodland Street during the AM peak hour, but since kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx iii

6 Introduction much of the traffic is carpool traffic, the long queuing should only occur for a short period of time. No significant queuing was noted on the Baker Drive approach. The stop-controlled intersection of South Street at Spring Street is expected to operate at acceptable levels of service under all analyzed scenarios. As noted above, volumes increase significantly at the Northern Car Driveway, resulting in LOS F conditions on the stop-controlled approach during the AM peak hour. Significant queuing is expected within the site and on southbound South Street approaching the site. A multi-modal analysis was performed for the study area using ARTPLAN 2012 and Florida DOT Generalized Level of Service tables. It showed that the signalized intersection of South Street at Main Street currently provides a LOS D for bicycle users and a LOS A for pedestrians. Those levels of service are expected to continue into the Future No Build and Future Build scenarios. The South Street corridor in front of the school is expected to maintain LOS D operations for bicycles and LOS B for pedestrians through the Build Out year. The table below shows the overall vehicular level of service and average delay (in seconds) for each study area intersection and approach included in this Transportation Impact Analysis (TIA). Further information about these results can be found in Section 6.0. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx iv

7 Introduction Level of Service and Delay Summary Davidson Elementary School Expansion Intersection Control Type 1 South St. & NC 115/Main St. Signalized 2 Woodland St./Baker Dr. & Concord Rd. 3 South St. & Spring St. 4 South St. & Bus Driveway #1 5 South St. & Northern Driveway #2 6 South St. & Southern Driveway #3 Side-Street Stop All-Way Stop Side-Street Stop Side-Street Stop Side-Street Stop Level of Service (Delay [s]) Approach Existing Future No Build Future Build AM Peak PM Peak AM Peak PM Peak AM Peak PM Peak Overall D (35.5) C (29.3) C (33.1) C (29.4) D (41.6) D (33.7) EB C (27.9) C (25.2) C (24.5) C (22.5) C (33.2) C (27.1) WB E (68.2) E (65.5) E (59.5) E (57.4) E (64.3) E (57.8) NB E (64.4) E (61.6) E (55.8) E (55.6) E (60.1) E (58.0) SB B (19.3) B (13.4) C (22.1) C (21.4) C (31.6) C (25.1) Overall B (10.8) A (7.5) A (5.0) A (4.5) B (10.2) A (5.0) EBL B (10.2) A (8.6) A (9.7) A (8.4) A (9.8) A (8.5) WBL A (9.7) A (9.3) A (9.3) A (9.0) A (9.7) A (9.0) NB F (65.9) C (22.7) D (29.4) C (17.6) F (50.4) C (18.4) SB F (##) F (78.7) F (118.3) E (37.2) F (206.5) E (42.7) Overall C (15.5) A (9.5) B (10.9) A (8.6) C (17.4) A (9.4) EB A (9.3) A (8.3) A (8.3) A (7.8) A (9.8) A (8.2) WB C (17.1) A (9.7) B (11.7) A (8.9) C (17.8) A (9.6) NB C (16.0) A (9.8) B (11.0) A (8.7) C (20.1) A (9.7) SB B (10.3) A (8.8) A (9.0) A (8.3) B (11.8) A (8.8) Overall # (1.7) # (0.6) # (2.0) # (0.7) # (3.1) # (0.7) WB C (15.8) B (11.4) C (18.6) B (11.9) E (46.8) B (13.6) SBL A (8.8) A (8.1) A (9.1) A (8.2) B (10.4) A (8.6) Overall # (6.2) # (3.1) # (8.1) # (3.3) # (##) # (15.1) WB C (17.8) B (12.2) C (23.8) B (13.2) F (##) E (38.8) SBL A (7.8) A (7.8) A (7.9) A (7.9) B (12.6) A (8.8) Overall # (5.4) # (2.9) # (6.6) # (3.0) - - WB D (27.9) B (13.2) E (41.1) B (14.4) - - SBL A (8.8) A (8.1) A (9.1) A (8.2) - - # No LOS provided; only an overall intersection delay ## Delay exceeds 300 seconds - No turning volumes with new site plan in place, so delay is 0 seconds kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx v

8 Introduction The following changes or improvements to the site plan / traffic patterns are recommended: Provide a dedicated pedestrian walkway between the school entrance and the greenway trailhead. Convert pavement markings within the parking lot to reflect a one-way pattern in the area in front of the school and near the greenway to improve safety. See Figures 9 and 10 for conceptual drawings of this operation during peak and off-peak periods, respectively. Station a staff member near the greenway entrance to facilitate double stacking when necessary (see Figure 9). The double stacking does not appear to be intuitive given that it is only present for a short distance. Place cones or drums at the driveways or connections where vehicles are not to enter or exit during peak periods (see Figure 9). Prohibit left-turns out of the Northern Car Driveway during peak school periods, especially in the morning. The Southern Car Driveway could operate as an out only during peak periods to serve drivers who want to travel south on South Street. See Figure 9. The following improvements are recommended for consideration in order to mitigate the additional traffic generated by the proposed expansion, to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in the area of the school, and/or to encourage students and parents to bike or walk to school: Consider installing a sign along South Street which discourages local thru traffic from using South Street during peak school traffic times. This would reduce the potential for wrong-way drivers along South Street who are trying to avoid the carpool line. Consider ways to increase bus ridership, multi-student carpooling, biking, and walking to school in order to mitigate the additional traffic generated by the middle school. Given that some parents currently park at the baseball fields across South Street and walk to pick up or drop off their children, consideration should be given to making that parking area a more official park and walk area. This would remove vehicles from the carpool line and still encourage students and parents to walk to and from their vehicles off-site. Station a police officer at the Northern Car Driveway during peak periods to ensure safe and efficient carpool operations and to minimize vehicular delay and queues along South Street. Maintain crossing guards at the crosswalk near the bus driveway and at the South Street / Spring Street intersection. Connect missing sidewalk connection located in the northeast quadrant of South Street and Mimosa Street. Upgrade existing bike racks (or install new) to inverted U -type racks Construct a sheltered bike parking area Provide a public bike repair station Improve bicycle signage within the study area Provide a sidewalk connection and signage to the greenway trailhead to the south Implement a bicycle boulevard on South Street from the greenway to the intersection with Main Street. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx vi

9 Introduction 1.0 INTRODUCTION Davidson Elementary School is located along the east side of South Street, just south of Mimosa Street in Davidson, North Carolina, as illustrated in Figure 1. The proposed expansion, which is estimated to be completed by the year 2021, will add a middle school to the existing Davidson Elementary School site. A preliminary site plan prepared by Little Diversified Architectural Consulting is illustrated in Figure 2. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the proposed expansion in terms of projected traffic conditions, evaluate the ability of the adjacent roadways to accommodate the additional traffic volumes, and to recommend transportation improvements, including non-vehicular mobility improvements, needed to mitigate congestion that may result from the additional site traffic. This report presents trip generation, trip distribution, traffic analyses, and recommendations for transportation improvements needed to meet anticipated traffic demands. This report examines the morning and afternoon school peak hours for the 2017 Existing, 2021 No Build, and 2021 Build with proposed expansion conditions. Figure 1: Site Location and Study Area Map 1 Chairman Blake Ln 2 South St Spring St 3 Southern Car Driveway Legend 1 Bus Driveway Northern Car Driveway Study Intersection Davidson Elementary School Greenway Entrance (ped/bike only) kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 1

10 Introduction Figure 2: Site Plan kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 2

11 Inventory of Traffic Conditions 2.0 INVENTORY OF TRAFFIC CONDITIONS 2.1 STUDY AREA As agreed upon by the Town of Davidson and the Applicant, the following intersections were included in the study area: NC 115 (Main Street) at South Street (signalized) Concord Road at Woodland Street/Baker Drive (side-street stop) South Street at Spring Street (four-way stop) South Street at Bus Driveway (side-street stop) South Street at Northern Car Driveway (side-street stop) South Street at Southern Car Driveway (side-street stop) South Street at Greenway (pedestrians/bicycles only) Figure 3 shows a diagram of the existing lane geometry and traffic control in the study area. 2.2 EXISTING CONDITIONS NC 115/Main Street is a two-lane facility running north-south through the study area. It intersects with South Street and Chairman Blake Lane at a signalized intersection north of the school. The posted speed limit along Main Street is 20 miles per hour (mph) near the study area. South Street has sidewalks throughout much of the study area. There is on-street parking along Main Street serving retail developments. The NCDOT 2016 Average Daily Traffic 1 (ADT) for Main Street is 16,000 vehicles per day (vpd) south of Concord Road, and 14,000 vpd north of Concord Road. NC 115 (Main Street) Looking North kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 3

12 Inventory of Traffic Conditions South Street Looking North South Street is a two-lane local road running northsouth through the study area. South Street starts at Main Street and terminates at Heights Way, south of the study area. The posted speed limit along South Street is 20 mph north of the school and 25 mph south of the study area. South Street has sidewalks throughout much of the study area. There is on-street parallel parking along South Street adjacent to Davidson Elementary School. Parking is restricted between the hours of 3pm and 4pm, during which times that space is used as a carpool stacking area. No NCDOT ADT data is available for this road. Concord Road is a two-lane roadway running east-west through the study area. It starts at South Main Street on the north side of the study area and terminates at Davidson- Concord Road to the east. The posted speed limit along Concord Road is 25 mph near the study area. There are dedicated bike lanes along Concord Road between NC 115/Main Street to the west, and Pine Road to the east. There is on-street parallel parking along Concord Road serving the residential and mixed-use developments. The NCDOT 2016 ADT 1 for Concord Road is 13,000 vehicles on the western end and 11,000 just east of the study area. Concord Road Looking East Woodland Street Looking South Woodland Street/Baker Drive Woodland Street/Baker Drive is a two-lane local road running north-south and serving the residential developments in the eastern portion of the study area. Baker Drive starts at Davidson College s Belk Dormitory north of the study area and continues as Woodland Street south of Concord Road. Woodland Street turns west into Spring Street and intersects with South Street. The posted speed limit along Woodland Street is 25 mph near the study area. No NCDOT ADT data was available for this road. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 4

13 Inventory of Traffic Conditions Spring Street is a two-lane local road serving the residential developments just north of Davidson Elementary School. Spring Street Starts as Woodland Street to the east and terminates south of Walnut Street on the northwest quadrant of the study area. There is on-street parallel parking near the north end of Spring Street. There are no posted speed limit signs along this road, but by ordinance, all Town roads are 25 mph if not otherwise posted. No ADT data was available. 2.3 SITE VISIT Spring Street at South Street A site visit was conducted on the same day that traffic counts were collected, Tuesday, October 17, Traffic patterns, queuing, and carpool stacking were observed, as were operating conditions on the study area roadways. The weather was sunny with a high of 67 degrees and a low of 43 degrees. The morning peak was a little cool, but by the afternoon, temperatures were high enough to make for an enjoyable walk or bike ride. Crossing Guard and Afternoon Queuing on South Street There is currently approximately 350 feet of carpool queuing space available within the site itself. Once that space is occupied, vehicles begin to queue onto South Street. A crossing guard is present at the crosswalk on the south leg of South Street at the Bus Driveway as well as at the intersection of South Street and Spring Street. The crossing guard stops on-coming vehicular traffic to allow students and parents to cross the street. In the morning peak period, it was observed that carpooling parents enter the site via the Southern Car Driveway, drop off their student(s), and exit via the Northern Car Driveway. This same pattern applied to afternoon pickup. Vehicles queued up onto South Street between approximately 8:05 am and 8:30 am. Queuing was never observed to extend northward beyond the Northern Car Driveway, as vehicles seemed to be processed efficiently within the school kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 5

14 Inventory of Traffic Conditions parking lot. It was observed, however, that vehicles traveling southbound on South Street who are not dropping off students, would frequently drive on the wrong side of the road to pass the vehicles queued up in the carpool line. The crossing guard mentioned that it is something that happens on a regular basis. This creates a very dangerous situation if on-coming traffic were present. During the afternoon peak, vehicles began stacking up along South Street at approximately 3:05 pm. Vehicles queue up in marked parallel parking spaces along South Street which are signed as No Parking between the hours of 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm. This allows the queued vehicles to stack while still allowing thru traffic along South Street to progress. At its peak, the queue reached Mimosa Street, approximately 1000 feet north of the Southern Car Driveway, where vehicles enter the site. Marked parallel parking spaces begin just south of the Southern Car Driveway and end at the Bus Driveway. Therefore, there are not marked spaces in the area where vehicles queue between the Bus Driveway and Mimosa Street. However, the roadway width allows the stacked vehicles to still remain outside of the southbound travel lane, maintaining the two-way travel pattern. All queues were cleared by approximately 3:45 pm. It was observed that many parents were walking to pick their children up from school, and crossing at the crosswalk near the Bus Driveway. However, the crossing guard stated that many of the parents who cross there are walking over to a parking lot behind the baseball fields, where they have parked their car. 2.4 PROJECTED ROADWAY IMPROVEMENTS Afternoon Queuing on South Street There are no known transportation projects planned in the immediate vicinity of this development that will be constructed prior to the build out year of kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 6

15 Inventory of Traffic Conditions Figure 3: Existing Geometry 1 1 Chairman Blake Ln South St Spring St Davidson Elementary School Legend 6 1 Study Intersection kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 7

16 Traffic Generation 3.0 TRAFFIC GENERATION 3.1 METHODOLOGY Standard practice is to use trip generation rates and equations provided in the ITE Trip Generation Manual, 9 th Edition 2 to develop the estimated number of trips generated for each land use on a site. However, the NCDOT Municipal School Transportation Assistance (MSTA) provides a School Calculator spreadsheet 3 which assists in the determination of trip generation for schools. This spreadsheet was used in estimating the number of AM and PM school traffic generated by the proposed expansion. The spreadsheet can be found in the Appendix. 3.2 MULTI-MODAL CONNECTIVITY REDUCTION It was assumed that some portion of the students would walk or bike to the adjacent parcels, rather than driving. The turning movement counts at the school driveways showed volumes approximately 10 percent lower than the trips estimated by the MSTA school calculator 3. Based on this, a 10 percent bike/pedestrian reduction was assumed for the new middle school trips. 3.3 TRIP GENERATION PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Schools provided the following information regarding the existing and proposed conditions at Davidson Elementary School: Existing o # of students = 708 o # of buses = 10 o # of staff members = 75 Proposed Middle School o # of students = 480 o # of buses = 6 o # of staff members = 23 Table 1 shows the number of trips calculated by the MSTA school calculator 3 for the existing elementary school and for the proposed middle school during the morning and afternoon school peak periods. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 8

17 Traffic Generation Table 1: Davidson Elementary/Middle School Trip Generation Table Land Use # of Students # of Staff # of Buses AM Peak Hour Existing Elementary School Trips* PM Peak Hour Total In Out Total In Out Car Trips (Parents +Staff) Bus Trips Subtotal (Existing Trips): Proposed Middle School Trips Car Trips (Parents + Staff) Bus Trips Pedestrian/Bicycle Trip Reduction (10%) Subtotal (New Trips): Total Vehicle Trips: * Car trips shown for existing elementary school are based on traffic counts collected at site driveways, not based on the MSTA School Calculator 3. Bus trips are based on MSTA calculator estimates. The trip generation for the elementary school shown above was calculated based on existing peak hour trips counted at the site. These values were then compared to the entering & exiting volumes calculated by the MSTA School Calculator 3. This information was used to determine the number of trips which use other modes to get to and from school. The difference between the MSTA calculated trips and the counted traffic volumes showed that approximately 10 percent of the traffic to and from the school was via biking or walking. This is how the 10 percent vehicular reduction for the new middle school trips was derived. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 9

18 Traffic Distribution 4.0 TRAFFIC DISTRIBUTION 4.1 SITE TRIP DISTRIBUTION In order to accurately determine the effect of the proposed development on the surrounding roadway network, an estimate of the expected distribution of traffic entering and exiting the site is needed. The following percentages were used in the AM and PM peak hours for the proposed site. 40 percent to/from the east on Concord Road 30 percent to/from the north on NC 115 / North Main Street 10 percent to/from the west on NC 115 / South Main Street 5 percent to/from the east on Chairman Blake Lane 5 percent to/from the west on Spring Street 5 percent to/from the east on Spring Street / Woodland Street 5 percent to/from the south on South Street These percentages were developed using a combination of existing traffic volume counts, historic AADTs provided by NCDOT, and engineering judgment. Figure 4 shows the distributions described above as well as the turning movement percentages at each intersection. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 10

19 Traffic Distribution Figure 4: Proposed Davidson Middle School Trip Distribution Chairman Blake Ln 5% IN (OUT) South St IN (OUT) Spring St 5% 3 5% 5 3 IN Davidson Elementary School Campus 4 6 IN (OUT) 5 Legend IN (OUT) 6 1 Study Intersection 5% IN (OUT) kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 11

20 TRAFFIC VOLUMES 5.0 TRAFFIC VOLUMES Morning (6:00 9:00 am) and afternoon / evening (2:00 7:00 pm) turning movement counts were collected in 5-minute intervals on Tuesday, October 17 th, 2017 at the intersections listed below. It should be noted that these counts were collected on a normal business and school operating day. NC 115 (Main Street) at South Street Concord Road at Woodland Street/Baker Drive South Street at Spring Street South Street at Bus Driveway South Street at Northern Car Driveway South Street at Southern Car Driveway The peak hours were determined based on the highest total traffic during a consecutive 60-minute period during the morning and afternoon school peak periods. The morning peak hour was between 7:30 am and 8:30 am and the afternoon peak hour was from 2:50 pm to 3:50 pm. Raw count data for the intersections listed above are included on the project CD. The existing traffic volumes are shown on Figure APPROVED DEVELOPMENTS According to the Town of Davidson, there is one approved development in this area that will be completed prior to the proposed site s build out year of The Villages of South Main (PID # , # , # , and # ) includes 19 townhomes, which are expected to generate a minimal amount of traffic. The growth as a result of this development is assumed to be accounted for in the annual growth rate detailed in Section 5.2 of this report. 5.2 FUTURE TRAFFIC GROWTH Future traffic growth is the increase in traffic volumes due to usage increases and non-specific growth throughout the area. The 2017 existing volumes were grown by a 3 percent annual rate to estimate the traffic volumes for the 2021 build out year. The 2021 No-Build volumes are shown in Figure TOTAL BUILD TRAFFIC WITH PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT To obtain the total 2021 Build Out traffic volumes, the distributed site traffic was added to the 2021 No Build traffic volumes. The total AM and PM peak hour turning movement volumes for the study area intersections were then calculated and analyzed for the year The distributed site traffic volumes are shown in Figure 7 and the total 2021 Build Out traffic volumes are illustrated in Figure 8. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 12

21 TRAFFIC VOLUMES 1 Figure 5: Existing (2017) Traffic Volumes 1 Chairman Blake Ln South St Spring St Davidson Elementary School Legend 6 1 Study Intersection kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 13

22 TRAFFIC VOLUMES Figure 6: Future (2021) No Build Traffic Volumes 1 1 Chairman Blake Ln South St Spring St Davidson Elementary School Legend 6 1 Study Intersection kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 15

23 TRAFFIC VOLUMES Figure 7: Site Traffic Volumes 1 1 Chairman Blake Ln Chairman Blake Ln South St Spring St Davidson Elementary School Legend 6 1 Study Intersection kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 16

24 TRAFFIC VOLUMES Figure 8: Future (2021) Build Traffic Volumes 1 1 Chairman Blake Ln South St Spring St Davidson Elementary School Legend 6 1 Study Intersection kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 17

25 TRAFFIC ANALYSIS 6.0 TRAFFIC ANALYSIS Capacity analyses were performed for the roadway network in the project study area. The traffic analysis program Synchro Version 9.1 was used to analyze all signalized and stop-controlled intersections according to methods put forth by the Transportation Research Board s Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) 4. The Highway Capacity Manual defines capacity as the maximum rate of flow at which persons or vehicles can be reasonably expected to traverse a point or uniform section of a lane or roadway during a specified time period under prevailing roadway, traffic, and control conditions, usually expressed as vehicles per lane per hour. Level-of-service (LOS) is a term used to describe different traffic conditions and is defined as a qualitative measure describing operational conditions within a traffic stream, and their perception by motorists/ or passengers. LOS varies from Level A, representing free flow, to Level F where traffic breakdown conditions are evident. Traffic conditions with LOS of E or F are deemed unacceptable and represent significant travel delay, increased accident potential, and inefficient motor vehicle operation. At an unsignalized intersection, the primary traffic on the main roadway is virtually uninterrupted. Therefore, the overall delay for the intersection is usually less than what is calculated for the minor street movements. The overall intersection delay and the delay for the intersection s minor street(s) are reported in the summary tables of this report. Generally, LOS D is acceptable for signalized intersections in suburban areas during peak periods. The ITE Recommended Practice Manual, Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach 5 states, Often in urban areas, thoroughfare capacity is a lower priority than other factors such as economic development or historical preservation, and higher levels of congestion are considered acceptable. With the current method of reporting LOS for unsignalized intersections, it is not uncommon for some of the minor street movements to be operating at a LOS F during peak hour conditions. Table 2 and Table 3 present the criteria of each LOS as indicated in the Highway Capacity Manual 4. Table 2: Level of Service Criteria Signalized Intersections Level-of-Service Criteria Signalized Intersections Level-of-Service Stopped Delay per Vehicle (sec) A 10.0 B >10.0 and 20.0 C >20.0 and 35.0 D >35.0 and 55.0 E >55.0 and 80.0 F >80.0 kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 18

26 TRAFFIC ANALYSIS Table 3: Level of Service Criteria Unsignalized Intersections Level-of-Service Criteria Unsignalized Intersections Level-of-Service Stopped Delay per Vehicle (sec) A 10.0 B >10.0 and 15 C >15 and 25 D >25 and 35 E >35 and 50 F >50 Capacity analyses were performed for the following intersections defined within the study area for 2017 Existing, 2021 No-Build, and 2021 Build conditions. NC 115 (Main Street) at South Street (signalized) Concord Road at Woodland Street/Baker Drive (side-street stop) South Street at Spring Street (four-way stop) South Street at Bus Driveway (side-street stop) South Street at Northern Car Driveway (side-street stop) South Street at Southern Car Driveway (side-street stop) All Synchro files and detailed printouts can be found on the Appendix CD. A brief summary of the results of the analyses is provided in the following sub-sections. SimTraffic runs were completed for all three scenarios to observe the predicted traffic operations throughout the study area during each of the peak hours. Detailed SimTraffic Queuing and Blocking Reports can be found in the Appendix. A summary of the simulation observations for each scenario is provided in the following sub-sections. The signal plan for the intersection of South Street at NC 115/Main Street was obtained from NCDOT to determine the existing signal phasing, minimum green, yellow and all-red times. The timings were used for the 2017 existing scenario. For all future year scenarios, timings and phasing outlined in the NCDOT Congestion Management Capacity Analysis Guidelines 6 were used. The cycle length and splits were optimized in Synchro for all scenarios. 6.1 EXISTING CONDITIONS ANALYSIS Based on NCDOT MSTA guidance 3, a Peak Hour Factor (PHF) of 0.5 was assumed at each of the school driveways. A peak hour factor of 1.0 would indicate that the peak hour traffic arrives evenly throughout each of its four 15-minute periods. Because most school traffic arrives within 15 to 30 minutes of school start and end times, a lower peak hour factor needs to be assumed. A PHF of kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 19

27 TRAFFIC ANALYSIS 0.5 reflects the concentration of carpool and bus traffic within a shorter window during the peak hour. The peak hour factors used at all other intersections was determined based on the existing peak hour counts. The levels of service and delays for the study intersections under existing conditions are shown in Table 4. Table 4: Existing (2017) Level of Service and Delay No. Intersection Control Type Approach Level of Service (Delay [s]) AM Peak PM Peak Approach Overall Approach Overall 1* NC 115 / South St. / Main St. & Chairman Blake Ln Signalized EB C (27.9) C (25.2) WB E (68.2) E (65.5) D (35.5) NB E (64.4) E (61.6) SB B (19.3) B (13.4) C (29.3) 2** Woodland St. / Baker Dr. & Concord Rd. Side- Street Stop EBL B (10.2) A (8.6) WBL A (9.7) A (9.3) # (10.8) NB F (65.9) C (22.7) SB F (##) F (78.7) # (7.5) EB A (9.3) A (8.3) 3 South St. & Spring St. All-Way Stop WB C (17.1) A (9.7) C (15.5) NB C (16.0) A (9.8) A (9.5) SB B (10.3) A (8.8) 4 South St. & Bus Driveway Side- Street Stop WB C (15.8) B (11.4) SBL A (8.8) # (1.7) A (8.1) # (0.6) 5 South St. & Northern Car Driveway Side- Street Stop WB C (17.8) B (12.2) SBL A (7.8) # (6.2) A (7.8) # (3.1) 6 South St. & Southern Car Driveway Side- Street Stop WB D (27.9) B (13.2) SBL A (8.8) # (5.4) A (8.1) # (2.9) * Directional labels used for this intersection are: EB/WB -> NC 115 (S Main St.)/Chairman Blake Ln.; NB/SB -> (South St./N Main St.) ** Directional labels used for this intersection are: EB/WB ->Concord Rd; NB/SB ->Woodland St./Baker Dr. # No LOS provided; only an overall intersection delay ## Delay exceeds 300 seconds kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 20

28 TRAFFIC ANALYSIS As can be seen in Table 4, all study intersections operate at acceptable levels of service under existing conditions. The eastbound approach at NC 115/South Street/Main Street shows a Synchro 95 th percentile queue that is above capacity during both peak hours. SimTraffic runs were completed to further investigate queuing for this approach. SimTraffic showed that queues for this approach were observed to clear during each cycle. The southbound approach also showed some backup, but the queues cleared during each cycle. Major queuing was not observed for any of the other approaches. The stop-controlled southbound approach of Baker Drive at the intersection of Concord Road and Woodland Street/Baker Drive shows a level of service F during the AM peak. However, the Synchro 95 th percentile queue for that approach is only 19 feet and major queuing was not observed in SimTraffic. The intersection of South Street at Spring Street, and all three school driveways operate at acceptable levels of service under existing conditions. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 21

29 TRAFFIC ANALYSIS 6.2 FUTURE (2021) NO BUILD CONDITIONS ANALYSIS As with the existing conditions analysis, the peak hour factor at the school driveways remained 0.5. However, due to unknown peak hour spreading under future year conditions, the PHF for the other study intersections was set to 0.9, per NCDOT Congestion Management Capacity Analysis Guidelines 6. The levels of service and delays for the study intersections under Future No Build conditions are shown in Table 5. No. 1* 2** Intersection NC 115 / South St. / Main St. & Chairman Blake Ln Woodland St. / Baker Dr. & Concord Rd. South St. & Spring St. South St. & Bus Driveway South St. & Northern Car Driveway South St. & Southern Car Driveway Table 5: Future (2021) No Build Level of Service and Delay Control Type Signalized Side- Street Stop All-Way Stop Side- Street Stop Side- Street Stop Side- Street Stop Approach Level of Service (Delay [s]) AM Peak PM Peak Approach Overall Approach Overall EB C (24.5) C (22.5) WB E (59.5) E (57.4) C (33.1) NB E (55.8) E (55.6) SB C (22.1) C (21.4) EBL A (9.7) A (8.4) WBL A (9.3) A (9.0) # (5.0) NB D (29.4) C (17.6) SB F (118.3) E (37.2) EB A (8.3) A (7.8) WB B (11.7) A (8.9) B (10.9) NB B (11.0) A (8.7) SB A (9.0) A (8.3) WB C (18.6) B (11.9) SBL A (9.1) # (2.0) A (8.2) WB C (23.8) B (13.2) SBL A (7.9) # (8.1) A (7.9) WB E (41.1) B (14.4) SBL A (9.1) # (6.6) A (8.2) C (29.4) # (4.5) A (8.6) # (0.7) # (3.3) # (3.0) * Directional labels used for this intersection are: EB/WB -> NC 115 (S Main St.)/Chairman Blake Ln.; NB/SB -> (South St./N Main St.) ** Directional labels used for this intersection are: EB/WB ->Concord Rd; NB/SB ->Woodland St./Baker Dr. # No LOS provided; only an overall intersection delay kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 22

30 TRAFFIC ANALYSIS As can be seen in Table 5, all study intersections operate at acceptable levels of service under future no build conditions. It may be counterintuitive that the future no build conditions improved in several locations, as compared to the existing year. This is likely due to the fact that intersections 1 through 3 (i.e. all intersections not including a site driveway) utilized peak hour factors of 0.9 rather than the counted PHF that was used during the existing scenario. Existing peak hour factors were generally less than 0.9, which resulted in worse delays than a 0.9 PHF. The eastbound approach at South Street and NC 115/Main Street continues to show a Synchro 95 th percentile queue that is above capacity during both peak hours. SimTraffic runs show that queues for this approach clear during each cycle. As in existing conditions, the southbound approach also showed some backup, but the queues cleared during each cycle. Major queuing was not observed for any of the other approaches. The stop-controlled southbound approach of Baker Drive at the intersection of Concord Road and Woodland Street/Baker Drive shows a level of service F during the AM peak and a level of service E during the PM peak. However, the 95 th percentile queue for the southbound approach is only expected to be 35 feet during AM peak and 55 feet during the PM peak. No major queuing was observed in SimTraffic. The intersection of South Street at Spring Street, and all three school driveways operate at acceptable levels of service under future no build conditions. A level of service E was noted during the AM peak hour on the stop-controlled approach at the Southern Driveway intersection. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 23

31 TRAFFIC ANALYSIS 6.3 FUTURE (2021) BUILD CONDITIONS ANALYSIS As with the future no build analysis, the peak hour factor at the school driveways remained 0.5. Other study intersection peak hour factors were set to 0.9, per NCDOT Congestion Management Capacity Analysis Guidelines 6. The levels of service and delays for the study intersections under Future Build conditions are shown in Table 6. No. 1* 2** Intersection NC 115 / South St. / Main St. & Chairman Blake Ln Woodland St. / Baker Dr. & Concord Rd. South St. & Spring St. South St. & Bus Driveway South St. & Northern Car Driveway South St. & Southern Car Driveway Table 6: Future (2021) Build Level of Service and Delay Control Type Signalized Side- Street Stop All-Way Stop Side- Street Stop Side- Street Stop Side- Street Stop Approach EB C (33.2) Level of Service (Delay [s]) AM Peak PM Peak Approach Overall Approach Overall C (27.1) WB E (64.3) E (57.8) D (41.6) NB E (60.1) E (58.0) SB C (31.6) C (25.1) EBL A (9.8) A (8.5) WBL A (9.7) A (9.0) # (10.2) NB F (50.4) C (18.4) SB F (206.5) E (42.7) EB A (9.8) A (8.2) WB C (17.8) A (9.6) C (17.4) NB C (20.1) A (9.7) SB B (11.8) A (8.8) WB E (46.8) B (13.6) # (3.1) SBL B (10.4) A (8.6) WB F (##) E (38.8) # (##) SBL B (12.6) A (8.8) WB SBL - - C (33.7) # (5.0) A (9.4) # (0.7) # (15.1) * Directional labels used for this intersection are: EB/WB -> NC 115 (S Main St.)/Chairman Blake Ln.; NB/SB -> (South St./N Main St.) ** Directional labels used for this intersection are: EB/WB ->Concord Rd; NB/SB ->Woodland St./Baker Dr. # No LOS provided; only an overall intersection delay ## Delay exceeds 300 seconds - No turning volumes with new site plan in place, so delay is 0 seconds - kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 24

32 TRAFFIC ANALYSIS As can be seen in Table 6, most study intersections are expected to operate at acceptable levels of service under Future Build conditions. The eastbound approach at South Street and NC 115/Main Street continues to show Synchro 95 th percentile queues of 390 feet in the AM peak and 430 feet in the PM peak. SimTraffic runs show that queues for this approach clear during each cycle. As in Future No Build conditions, the southbound approach also showed some backup, but the queues cleared during each cycle. Major queuing was not observed for any of the other approaches. Similar to Future No Build conditions, the stop-controlled southbound approach of Baker Drive at the intersection of Concord Road and Woodland Street/Baker Drive shows a level of service F during the AM peak and a level of service E during the PM peak. Additionally, the northbound approach shows a level of service F during the AM peak under Future Build conditions. However, the 95 th percentile queue for the southbound approach is only expected to be 55 feet during the AM peak and 63 feet during the PM peak; and the 95 th percentile queue for the northbound approach is only expected to be 93 feet during AM peak. Queuing in SimTraffic showed fairly significant queuing along Woodland Street during the AM peak period. This should be concentrated around the school start time and should clear shortly after. No major queuing issues were noted along Baker Drive. The intersection of South Street at Spring Street operates at an acceptable level of service during both peak periods under Future Build conditions. The stop-controlled approach on the Bus Driveway at South Street is expected to operate at LOS E during the AM peak hour, but the Synchro 95 th percentile queue is only expected to be 67 feet. No major queuing was observed in SimTraffic. Due to the revised traffic pattern being proposed for carpool pick-up and drop-off, all carpool traffic enters and exits through the Northern Site Driveway #2. Due to this change, delays at the Southern Driveway #3 are eliminated, but delays at the Northern Driveway increase substantially. The delay on the stop-controlled approach is expected to exceed 300 seconds in the AM peak hour, and queue lengths could not be calculated by Synchro. During the PM peak period, the stop-controlled approach operates at LOS E and has a Synchro 95 th percentile queue of 185 feet. Significant queuing was observed on the westbound approach in SimTraffic during the AM peak, and traffic did occasionally queue up along South Street. No major queuing issues were noted in SimTraffic during the PM peak hour. Recommended potential improvements are listed in Section 9.0 of this report. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 25

33 Site Plan, Internal Circulation, and Parking Evaluation 7.0 SITE PLAN, INTERNAL CIRCULATION, AND PARKING EVALUATION 7.1 SITE PLAN REVIEW The proposed site plan provided by Little Diversified Architectural Consulting shows that the carpool pattern will change once the middle school is constructed. Rather than carpool vehicles entering at the Southern Car Driveway and exit through the Northern Car Driveway, as they do today, all carpool vehicles will enter and exit at the Northern Car Driveway. According to this plan, no vehicles will be permitted to use the Southern Car Driveway or the Greenway Entrance during school peak periods. The site plan indicates that, with these changes in place, a total storage length of 1,700 feet for a single line of carpool vehicles and 2,000 feet for partial double-stacked carpool vehicles. The MSTA spreadsheet shows that the average queue length for the combined elementary and middle school is 1,972 feet. With the ability to double stack vehicles for a portion of the parking lot, this length is accommodated by the proposed site plan. The High Demand Length for carpool vehicles is estimated to be 2,564 feet. This is beyond the provided storage shown in the site plan. However, as noted in Section 2.3, there is existing on-street parking along South Street, in which carpooling vehicles currently use to stack. With the proposed site plan redirecting carpool traffic to enter at the Northern Car Driveway, an additional 564 feet beyond the parking lot would place the back of the queue approximately at Mimosa Street. This is close to where queues extend today. Since vehicles currently use this space today as a queuing area, it seems acceptable to continue into the future, given that this extra storage space should only be required during high-volume events. 7.2 INTERNAL CIRCULATION AND QUEUING ANALYSIS Synchro 9.1 was used to evaluate pick-up and drop-off operations at the school entrances. SimTraffic shows that significant queuing is expected within the site and on southbound South Street approaching the site during the AM peak hour. This queuing is mostly due to high volumes conflicting with one another at the Northern Car Driveway intersection with South Street. Carpool operations do not appear to be the main source of the heavy queuing. No major queuing was observed during the PM peak hour simulation. Future No Build conditions were also evaluated as a comparison. With traffic being split between the two car driveways and volumes only including those carpool vehicles for the elementary school, no issues were observed in the simulation. The combination of the traffic pattern adjustment and the higher volumes as a result of the middle school addition lead to the increased congestion. Analysis of the Build conditions shows that if vehicular volumes are reduced by 20 percent, the significant queuing along South Street dissipates, except for a short time during the peak period. It is recommended that CMS and Davidson Elementary School work with the Town of Davidson kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 26

34 Site Plan, Internal Circulation, and Parking Evaluation and parents to integrate Travel Demand Management strategies into the plan for the addition of the middle school. 7.3 PARKING REQUIREMENTS The site plan shows that a total of 111 dedicated car parking spaces would be provided as part of the school expansion. Per Section 8 of the Town of Davidson Planning Ordinance 7, a minimum of 2.0 and a maximum of 2.25 parking spaces per classroom should be provided. The site plan indicates the elementary and middle schools will total 54 classrooms. This translates to a minimum of 108 parking spaces and a maximum of 122 spaces. Therefore, the proposed 111 spaces meets the requirements. The Town of Davidson Planning Ordinance 7 also requires that a minimum of 0.1 short-term and 0.04 long-term bicycle parking spaces per classroom be provided. This translates to a minimum of 6 short-term spaces and 2 long-term spaces. There are existing bicycle racks on-site which, if maintained or improved, should meet these requirements. 7.4 RECOMMENDATIONS The following improvements should be considered based on review of the site plan and analysis of internal circulation: There does not appear to be a designated pedestrian walkway leading from the school to the greenway on the south side of the school. It is recommended that a dedicated path be provided in order to accommodate walking and biking students without forcing them to directly interact with vehicular traffic. No significant changes to the lane geometry or bike/ped accommodations along South Street are noted. It is recommended that the school maintain crossing guards at both the crosswalk near the bus driveway and at the South Street and Spring Street intersection. The small area where double stacking is shown in the site plan does not appear to be intuitive to parents. Consideration should be made to providing a staff member at this location to direct parents where to go, if and when the double stacking storage is required to keep queues internal to the site. It is recommended that cones or drums be placed across the Southern Car Driveway and the Greenway Entrance at South Street during school peak periods to ensure that drivers know not to use those driveways to access the site. The existing stub length at both car driveways is minimal. While it is likely not reasonable or feasible to extend the stub length, consideration should be made to convert the circulating roadways within the parking lot (i.e. the carpool storage space) to a one-way pattern. This will reduce the number of potential conflict points for vehicles entering and exiting the school. Additionally, prohibiting left-turns out of the Northern Car Driveway during peak school periods would reduce the delay for vehicles exiting the school and would decrease the number of potential conflict points. This configuration will need to be kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 27

35 Site Plan, Internal Circulation, and Parking Evaluation vetted, but sample diagrams of the proposed patterns for peak and off-peak periods, respectively, are shown in Figures 9 and 10. Consider ways to increase bus ridership, multi-student carpooling, biking, and walking to school in order to mitigate the additional traffic generated by the middle school. kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 28

36 Site Plan, Internal Circulation, and Parking Evaluation Figure 9: Conceptual Peak Period Internal Circulation Plan kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 29

37 Site Plan, Internal Circulation, and Parking Evaluation Figure 10: Conceptual Off-Peak Internal Circulation Plan kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 30

38 MultiModal Analysis 8.0 MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS According to the Town of Davidson s Planning Ordinance 7, which was updated in August 2015, the Town requires evaluation of not only vehicular operations as part of the Transportation Impact Study, but also the capacity and function of other modes of transportation, such as pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit services. Through this added level of transportation planning evaluation, the Town s goal is to ensure that all new projects within the Town of Davidson will provide Bicycle Racks on School Site appropriate and adequate facilities that allow for the safe and convenient movement for all users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit riders, and motorists. 8.1 QUALITATIVE EVALUATION There are existing pedestrian facilities along South Street and throughout much of the study area. Sidewalks are present on both sides of South Street and, as mentioned in Section 2.3, a crossing guard is present during peak school traffic periods to facilitate safer pedestrian movements. There is a greenway access point just south of the school which connects to a small, two-lane road with sidewalks, but a narrow shoulder and no dedicated bicycle accommodations. Many of the roads in Davidson are low-speed, which naturally encourages pedestrian and bicycle movement. There are bike racks present on-site at the school, but based on field observations and data provided by CMS, it does not appear that more than 5 10 students currently ride their bike to school. The Davidson Walks and Rolls Transportation Plan 8 designates South Street as a family-friendly bike route to be implemented in the near term. Missing Sidewalk Connection at Greenway Entrance Even if they live nearby, it is possible that parents do not feel comfortable sending their young children (generally ages 5-10 in elementary school) off to walk or bike to school by themselves. However, parents may be more likely to allow their 11- to 14-year-old children to travel on foot or bike. Additionally, the middle school students may have younger siblings that they could walk, bike, or even kr u:\ \transportation\report\draft_davidson elementary school expansion tia - draft_ docx 31