Clyde Brown Elementary School Millis, MA Transportation Assessment August 8, 2017 Prepared for: Tappe Architects Six Edgerly Place Boston, MA 02116 Submitted by: Nitsch Engineering 2 Center Plaza, Suite 430 Boston, MA 02108 Nitsch Project #11294.0-1-
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION... 3 2 EXISTING CONDITIONS... 6 2.1 Clyde Brown Elementary School Site Visit... 6 2.2 Clyde Brown Elementary School Site Access and Egress... 6 2.3 Clyde Brown Elementary School Traffic Circulation and up/off... 6 2.4 Traffic on Surrounding Roadways During /... 8 2.5 Clyde Brown Elementary School Parking Supply and Demand... 11 3 PROPOSED CONDITIONS... 14 3.1 Proposed Clyde Brown Elementary School Site Access and Egress... 14 3.2 Trip Generation... 14 3.3 Proposed up/off... 15 4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION... 16 4.1 Conclusions... 16 4.2 Recommendations... 16 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Clyde Brown / Quantity: January 21, 2016... 7 Table 2 Clyde Brown / Quantity: May 10, 2016... 8 Table 3 - Proposed Trip Generation... 15 Table 4 Proposed Clyde Brown / Quantity... 15 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Locus Map... 4 Figure 2 Existing Conditions... 5 Figure 3 Clyde Brown Elementary School-AM Queue... 9 Figure 4 Clyde Brown Elementary School-PM Queue... 10 Figure 5 Parking Lot Overview... 12-2-
1 INTRODUCTION As part of the Site Plan Approval Submission to the Town of Millis Planning Board for the proposed Clyde Brown Elementary School reconstruction project in Millis, Massachusetts, Nitsch Engineering has prepared this Transportation Assessment based on observation of the existing internal traffic circulation and queue lengths during the normal drop-off and pick-up periods at Clyde Brown Elementary School, located at 5 Park Road, and evaluated the future circulation and queue lengths for the proposed school. We will collect Automatic Traffic Recorder (ATR) counts and Turning Movement Counts (TMC) when the school is in session and complete a more detailed Transportation Impact Study, that includes analyses and evaluation of roadway and intersection capacity, and a traffic signal warrants analysis for the next submission. The Locus Map of the study area is shown in Figure 1 and a map of the existing Clyde Brown Elementary School site is shown in Figure 2. -3-
BULLARD LANE WALNUT STREET BROOKVIEW ROAD MIDDLESEX STREET FRONTIER LANE ORCHARD STREET TIMBERLINE ROAD ISLAND ROAD PADDOCK LANE ISLAND ROAD CAUSEWAY STREET RIDGE STREET UNION STREET CURVE STREET AUBURN ROAD EXCHANGE STREET POLLARD DRIVE LAVENDER STREET VAN KLEECK ROAD IRVING STREET ADAMS STREET FOREST ROAD MAIN STREET CEDAR STREET FARM STREET ACORN STREET SPENCER STREET PLEASANT STREET SPRING STREET PLAIN STREET 0 1,000 2,000 4,000 Feet VILLAGE STREET Figure 1: Locus Map Clyde F. Brown Elementary School Millis, Massachusetts Data Source: MassGIS Nitsch Project #11294
EXCHANGE STREET MAIN STREET PARK ROAD SPRING STREET GREENWOOD DRIVE 0 50 100 200 Feet Clyde F. Brown Elementary School Millis, Massachusetts Data Source: MassGIS Nitsch Project #11294
2 EXISTING CONDITIONS 2.1 Clyde Brown Elementary School Site Visit Nitsch Engineering conducted two site visits, first on Thursday January 21, 2016, and again on Tuesday May 10, 2016 to observe the site circulation associated with the weekday morning drop-off, weekday afternoon pick-up and general queue lengths around the Clyde Brown Elementary School site. To be conservative in our Feasibility Study, we used the higher numbers from the observed data. 2.2 Clyde Brown Elementary School Site Access and Egress Clyde Brown Elementary School is located at 5 Park Road, south of Main Street (Route109) Road in Millis. The School is accessed from Spring Street and Park Road. The main access and egress to the school (parental drop-off and pick-up, as well as some of the teachers and staff) occurs from Spring Street through Betty DeAngelis Way to the main parking lot. Betty DeAngelis Way is approximately 2500 feet long and 28 feet wide. A 6-foot wide sidewalk is present at the northerly side of the Betty DeAngelis Way, which connects the sidewalk along Spring Street to Clyde Brown Elementary School through the parking lot. Park Road access is used mainly for the Bus drop-off and pick-up, deliveries, extended school, and staff parking. A 6- foot wide sidewalk is present at the northerly side of Park Road, which connects the sidewalk along Main Street to Clyde Brown Elementary School through the parking lot. 2.3 Clyde Brown Elementary School Traffic Circulation and up/off Existing Morning off Circulation via: Park Road The Clyde Brown Elementary School extended day traffic arrives at Park Road from 7:15 AM through 8:45 AM. We observed that parents arrive and park along driveway and walk their children to the school. A total of 64 parental drop-offs were observed during the morning. Buses arrive at Park Road from 8:10 AM through 8:25 AM. Buses enter and exit the site from Park Road, via the exclusive bus driveway. After dropping off students, the buses proceed to the turnaround at the end of the driveway and leave the site. A total of seven buses drop off students at the school. At the time of the site visit we didn t observe any student walkers or bicyclists at this entrance. Spring Street The Clyde Brown Elementary School traffic arrives at Spring Street from 7:45 AM through 8:45 AM. We observed that some parents arrive and park at the parking lot and walk their children to the school. A total of 87 parental drop-offs were observed during the morning. At the time of the site visit we observed 8 student walkers at this entrance, however, we did not observe any bicyclists. 54 vehicles exiting the site were observed travelling northbound on Spring Street while 23 vehicles were observed traveling southbound. -6-
PM AM Existing Afternoon up Circulation via: Park Road The afternoon pick-up period occurs approximately from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM. Parents start arriving around 2:00 PM and queue up at the school s back parking lot to wait for their children. Once they have collected their children they leave via Park Road to Main Street or Plain Street, and normal traffic returns around 3:30 PM. A total of 69 parental pick-up vehicles were observed during afternoon dismissal. Buses enter and exit the site from Park Road. A total of seven buses pick up students at the School s exclusive bus driveway. At the time of the site visit we didn t observe any student walkers or bicyclists. Spring Street The afternoon pick-up period occurs approximately from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM. Parents start arriving around 2:00 PM and queue up at the school s main parking lot to wait for their children. We observed a 32-car queue at the parking lot during the pick-up period. Once the parents have collected their children they leave via Betty DeAngelis Way to Spring Street, and normal traffic returns around 3:30 PM. A total of 81 parental pick-up vehicles were observed during afternoon dismissal. At the time of the site visit we didn t observe any student walkers or bicyclists. 48 vehicles exiting the site were travelling northbound on Spring Street while 29 vehicles were traveling southbound. Tables 1 and 2 quantify the parent and bus drop-off/pick-up totals for the school during each site visit. Table 1 Clyde Brown / Quantity: January 21, 2016 Location Park Road Spring Street Type Parent Bus Parent Bus Time 7:15-7:30 7:30-7:45 17 7:45-8:00 7 1 8:00-8:15 4 3 7 8:15-8:30 29 3 80 2:00-2:15 7 4 2:15-2:30 18 25 2:30-2:45 16 14 2:45-3:00 23 5 34 3:00-3:15 4 1 4 3:15-3:30 1 TOTAL 57 69 6 6 88 81 0 0-7-
PM AM Table 2 Clyde Brown / Quantity: May 10, 2016 Location Park Road Spring Street Type Parent Bus Parent Bus Time 7:15-7:30 18 7:30-7:45 8 7:45-8:00 7 1 8:00-8:15 5 3 3 8:15-8:30 16 4 82 2:00-2:15 2 11 2:15-2:30 11 28 2:30-2:45 11 32 2:45-3:00 19 7 8 3:00-3:15 6 2 3:15-3:30 6 TOTAL 54 55 7 7 86 81 0 0 2.4 Traffic on Surrounding Roadways During / During the May 10, 2016 site visit, Nitsch Engineering also visually observed the traffic conditions at the following intersections surrounding the school: Main Street at Spring Street; Main Street at Park Road; Plain Street at McCabe Avenue; and Plain Street at Monroe Street. The purpose of this exercise was to visually observe the intersections and provide a qualitative assessment of the impacts associated with the school s drop-off and pick-up traffic. All four intersections seemed to be operating well during these periods, except for the intersection of Main Street at Spring Street during the afternoon pick-up where occasionally a queue of maximum ten car lengths was observed on the Spring Street northbound approach to the intersection. -8-
EXCHANGE STREET MAIN STREET PARK ROAD SPRING STREET GREENWOOD DRIVE 0 50 100 200 Feet Figure Clyde F. Brown Elementary School Millis, Massachusetts Data Source: MassGIS Nitsch Project #11294
EXCHANGE STREET MAIN STREET PARK ROAD SPRING STREET GREENWOOD DRIVE 0 50 100 200 Feet Figure Clyde F. Brown Elementary School Millis, Massachusetts Data Source: MassGIS Nitsch Project #11294
2.5 Clyde Brown Elementary School Parking Supply and Demand Nitsch Engineering performed two parking supply and demand counts: one on January 21, 2016, and another one on May 10, 2016. The utilization of the lot was taken at 10:00 AM. Figure 5 shows an overview of the Clyde Brown Elementary School parking lot, the total parking spaces, parking space type, and the highest lot utilization. -11-
EXCHANGE STREET MAIN STREET PARK ROAD SPRING STREET GREENWOOD DRIVE 0 50 100 200 Feet Figure Clyde F. Brown Elementary School Millis, Massachusetts Data Source: MassGIS Nitsch Project #11294
As can be seen from Figure 5, a total of 140 parking spaces were counted within the two parking lots at Clyde Brown Elementary School. The parking lot to the north of the School accessed from Park Road includes 66 spaces, two of which are accessible spaces. This meets the Architectural Access Board (AAB) Code of Massachusetts Regulations (521 CMR) for the required number of handicapped parking spaces. The two accessible spaces were not utilized at the time of observation. The overall lot utilization at this parking lot was 95% at the time of observation. The main parking lot, accessed from Spring Street includes 74 spaces, 4 of which are accessible spaces. This meets the Architectural Access Board (AAB) Code of Massachusetts Regulations (521 CMR) for the required number of handicapped parking spaces. The six accessible spaces were not utilized at the time of observation. The overall lot utilization at this parking lot was 50% at the time of observation. -13-
3 PROPOSED CONDITIONS The proposed school option, which consists of upgrading the access via Park Road to make it the main gateway to the school, will provide many enhancements to traffic circulations and controls. Such enhancements will include the following: 1. grading the pedestrian crossing and making minor modifications to geometry; the intersection will operate as semi-actuated signal control where the signal will turn red on Main Street only when a pedestrian pushes the button (countdown pedestrian signals) to cross the street or when there is traffic on Park Road exiting the schools. 2. Traffic destined to Town Hall will be isolated from school traffic, which should remove conflicts between the two. 3. Realigning the sidewalks between the neighborhoods and the schools through the new signalized intersection at Main Street will provide a safe passage to pedestrians and eliminate the midblock crossing, west of Exchange Street. This crossing is uncontrolled and not highlighted to increase awareness of people crossing. Vehicles travel at a high speed on this section of Main Street and thus compromise the safety of people crossing. Having a main gateway off Main Street and a responsive traffic signal control will encourage parents to use Main Street as a primary egress. This intersection sits at 90 degrees and the intersection sight distance is adequate for exiting vehicles onto Main Street. However, if the intersection sight distance is limited, it will not be relevant because the intersection is controlled by a traffic signal. Right turn on red will require adequate sight distance to exit the site. 3.1 Proposed Clyde Brown Elementary School Site Access and Egress The Proposed School will continue to be accessed from Spring Street and Park Road. The main access and egress to the school (parental drop-off and pick-up, as well as some of the teachers and staff) will occur from Park Road to the circular counterclockwise driveway at the new main entrance. Spring Street will also be used as a secondary access/egress option through Betty DeAngelis Way to the main parking lot. Sidewalk along Park Road and Betty DeAgelis Way will connect the sidewalks along Main Street and Spring Street to Clyde Brown Elementary School through the parking lot. The bus pick-up/drop-off will occur at the designated bus lane located south of the school. The access to the bus lane will be off of Plain Street via the existing Middle School and High School access road. 3.2 Trip Generation The existing school enrolls 508 students. The enrollment at the new school will be 515 students for Kindergarten through 5 th grade, and approximately 75 children for Pre-kindergarten for a total student population of 590. Nitsch Engineering used the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) publication Trip Generation, 9th Edition to estimate the additional vehicle trip rates for the proposed school. Trip generation rates for the Elementary School were based on Land Use Code (LUC) 520 (Elementary School). We used the Number of Students as the independent variable to base the ITE trip generation rates. The vehicle trips associated with the additional students were calculated by the ITE trip generation rates, and added to the existing pick-up/drop-off numbers from existing elementary school to determine the proposed drop-off and pick-up rates. Table 3 summarized the total Site generated person trips for the three variables during the morning and evening peak hours. -14-
Table 3 - Proposed Trip Generation STUDENT EXISTING 82 TOTAL AVG. RATE TRIPS 0.45 37 300 300 % AM ENTERING 55 20 140 160 EXITING 45 17 140 157 AVG. RATE TRIPS 0.28 23 300 300 % PM ENTERING 45 10 150 160 EXITING 55 13 150 163 3.3 Proposed up/off Table 4 quantifies the estimated parent a drop-off/pick-up totals for the proposed school. Table 4 Proposed Clyde Brown / Quantity Type Parent Bus TOTAL 157 163 7 7-15-
4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION 4.1 Conclusions As part of the Site Plan Approval Submission to the Town of Millis Planning Board for the proposed Clyde Brown Elementary School reconstruction project in Millis, Massachusetts, Nitsch Engineering has prepared this Transportation Assessment based on observation of the existing internal traffic circulation and queue lengths during the normal drop-off and pick-up periods at Clyde Brown Elementary School, located at 5 Park Road, and assessed the future circulation and queue lengths for the proposed school. We examined the future conditions, as well as site circulation with respect to the projected student drop-off and pick-up at the new Clyde Brown Elementary School. This would result in an increase in traffic volumes at the School during the weekday morning drop-off and weekday afternoon pick-up, totaling approximately 317 additional trips (160 entering and 157 exiting) during the weekday morning drop-off, and approximately 323 additional trips (160 entering and 163 exiting) during the weekday afternoon pick-up. The parking lot will contain 194 spaces, of which approximately 20 to 30 spaces may be available for parental parking, based on existing parking utilization. The curb at the car loop is approximately 730 linear feet, which can accommodate an additional 37 vehicles. 4.2 Recommendations Based on the proposed Clyde Brown Elementary School, Nitsch Engineering offers the following recommendations: Designate Spring Street as a School Zone under State and local statute, and install the appropriate School Zone signs. Improve pedestrian experience along Plain Street by making improvements to the sidewalks and accessible ramps where needed to accommodate safe walk to school; and providing advanced warning signing of school entering and exiting traffic. Install ADA accessible crosswalks where needed. Reach out to parents via social media to increase safety awareness. -16-