Re: Nelson County, Virginia gets their first traffic signal


John Mara wrote:
Adam Prince wrote:

<froggie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1140369651.806278.113900@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

John Mara wrote:

Judging from the link in the original post this isn't even a situation
of a cross STREET. It's a driveway to a business.

Not true. The article itself makes note of the amount of traffic
crossing US 29, not just turning on or off of US 29.

Also, this may help with the visualization....it's a Terraserver image
of the intersection in question:

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=17&X=3435&Y=20902&W=3&qs=%7cLovingston%7cVA%7c


and this is the view going southbound on 29:
http://www.gribblenation.com/vapics/us29/us29-va56-froggie.JPG


OK so this is the still all-too-common situation where someone builds a
business on a minor side road off a highway. This increases traffic to
the point where the DOT has to improve the intersection. The highway
which was intended to be a by-pass gradually turns into a strip mall mess.


If its on a side street, its fair game for developers.....if the DOT
wants the "bypass" to function as a bypass, it has to have complete
access control. Many DOT's learned this lesson the hard way, and are
now building bypasses as freeways (NC for example).

If the DOT has to improve the intersection with the main road, the DOT
is not doing its job. Most DOT's require a traffic impact study for
any development over a certain size (some states are more strict than
others), and depending on the results of the study, several things can
happen.

1) In Florida, with its strict concurrancy requirements, if there is
not enough capacity on the road to support the development and maintain
an acceptable level of service at a certain timeframe (usually 5 to 10
years down the line), then the development cannot be built. There are
a few exceptions to this policy, usually in center cities where there
is little through traffic and they are trying to promote high-density.


2) If the development will add an excessive amount of traffic to a
road, which will make it operate above capacity, but improvements will
make the road operate at an acceptable level of service, then usually
the developer is required to either pay an impact fee for the DOT to
make the improvements, or is required to make the improvements
themselves. Many times they will negotiate deals with the DOT's, such
as having the DOT pay for improvements on land that the developer
donates to the DOT for free, or the developer could work with other
developers in the area to jointly fund improvements that are required
as a result of multiple developments going into an area.

3) if the development will not add an excessive amount of traffic to
the road, and the roadway will operate below capacity in 5 to 10 years,
then the developer is generally free to build what he wants.

Most traffic studies examine the immediate area around the development,
but if it is determined that a large amount of "project traffic" will
be taking a certain route, then that route is usually included in the
study. If the development is over a certain size, then it becomes a
"DRI" (Development of Regional Impact), which means that roads which
are not usually studied in a typical traffic study, such as mainline
interstates, arterials in the next county, etc., are examined.
Typically DRI's require extensive study and are costly, and lots of
improvements result. For example, developers of Southpoint Mall in
DUrham, NC had to help fund a new SPUI on I-40, as well as widen some
segments of Fayetteville Road and NC 751, and installed a small handful
of signals.


I don't know what the rules are up in Albany, but if developers are
building and not paying for needed improvements as a result of their
development, something isnt right about that.


One last note: the Lovingston VA bypass is not about to be over
capacity anytime soon. In fact, my guess is that its one of the
lightest travelled sections of US 29 between Greensboro and
Gainesville.



John Mara

.

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