Pond & Company, Inc. 3500 Parkway Lane Suite 600 Norcross, GA 30092 Architects Engineers Planners 678.336.7740 678.336.7744 www pondco.com P F MEMORANDUM To Company From Date Subject Mr. David Borkowski, PE - City Engineer Peachtree City Pond Project No. Copies to Eric Lusher, AICP January 15, 2015 Richard Fangmann, PE, PTOE Traffic Impacts of Potential Redevelopment of Dolci Lodge INTRODUCTION This memorandum documents anticipated changes in traffic volume and possible impacts to the transportation system that could be expected with the potential for the redevelopment of the Dolci Lodge. Located to the east of SR 74, with direct access onto Aberdeen Parkway, the Dolci Lodge currently includes 233 hotel rooms, a convention center totaling 153,394 square feet, and 25,199 square feet of restaurant space. As shown in Table 1 below, the potential redevelopment makes some minor but negligible changes to the amount of convention and retail space while increasing the number of hotel rooms considerably. Table 1 Existing vs. Potential Dolci Lodge Usage Usage Existing Proposed Hotel Rooms 233 Rooms 398 Rooms Convention Center 153,394 Square Feet 151,173 Square Feet 25,199 Square Feet 22,442 Square Feet Restaurant TRIP GENERATION The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) publishes the standard reference Trip Generation Manual (9th Edition), which was used to estimate the differences in traffic demand that can be expected with the potential changes. This tool documents traffic studies of similar land uses across the country and correlates traffic demand with different attributes of each land use. In the case of Dolci Lodge, the most advisable land use to utilize is "Land Use: 301- Hotel", which includes "places of lodging that provide sleeping accommodations and supporting facilities such as restaurants, cocktail lounges, meeting and banquet rooms or convention facilities, limited recreational facilities, and/or other retail and service shops." As shown in Table 2, the Trip Generation Manual was utilized to correlate the number of existing and anticipated hotel rooms at the Dolci Lodge to traffic demand over the course of a typical weekday, a weekday AM peak hour, and a weekday PM peak hour. As a result, it is estimated that on a typical weekday, the potential changes to the Dolci Lodge will increase traffic by no more than 1,348 vehicles a day, 86 vehicles (51 inbound//35 outbound) in the AM peak Hour, and 99 vehicles (51 inbound/48 outbound) in the PM peak hour. Table 2 Existing vs. Potential Dolci Lodge Trip Generation Daily ITE Number of Scenario Code Units In Out AM Peak Hour PM Peak Hour Total In Out Total In Out Total Existing 310 233 Rooms 952 952 1904 73 51 124 71 69 140 Proposed 310 398 Rooms 1626 1626 3252 124 86 210 122 117 239 Sheet 1 of 5 Pond & Company, Inc. Architects Engineers Planners 3500 Parkway Lane Suite 600 Norcross, GA 30092 678.336.7740 678.336.7744 www pondco.com P F TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM IMPACTS The additional vehicles estimated to be generated by the potential redevelopment of the Dolci Lodge were reviewed for their likely impact to the surrounding transportation system. This was performed in a two-step process: (1) By considering the likely patterns of where the additional traffic will distribute to and from. (2) Considering existing traffic flows in the vicinity of the Dolci Lodge to determine the total amount of anticipated future traffic and performing capacity analysis Existing traffic demands on the transportation network were considered to develop the likely patterns of where the additional traffic will distribute, with a relatively large preference for trips to originate to and from the north (to/from Atlanta). The results of this process and the resulting additional daily traffic volumes are shown in Figure 1. These resulting volumes were then added to existing traffic flows (shown in Figure 2) to estimate future daily traffic with the potential redevelopment. As shown in Table 3, the existing and estimated future daily traffic were analyzed for general planning-level segment Level of Service. As these results show, the majority of the study area segments operate at LOS A/B indicating overall good flow, with the exception of SR 54 (West of SR 74) which operates at LOS E/F indicating constrained conditions. However, the small amount of additional traffic generated by the potential Dolci Lodge redevelopment does not change LOS from the existing to the anticipated future (with the redevelopment) scenario at any of the locations, meaning that from an overall perspective additional study is not appropriate. Other considerations include impacts to traffic signals and individual intersections in the vicinity of the Dolci Lodge. The segment analysis has limited ability to understand the operations and effects of traffic signals (which is why SR 74 is indicated to be a LOS A/B despite some sporadic congestion at individual intersections at certain times of the day). Nonetheless, this analysis suggests the impacts to any of the individual intersection locations will likely be negligible at any specific time of day. A further consideration is access at the intersection at Aberdeen Parkway and SR 74 which will process a considerable amount of the additional Dolci Lodge traffic. The possibility of needing signalization at the intersection was considered but it is likely the additional Dolci Lodge traffic will not warrant a traffic signal. This is primarily due to the majority of the traffic orienting to and from the north on SR 74. For the majority of incoming traffic (the southbound left from southbound SR 74 to eastbound Aberdeen Parkway) there is an exclusive turn lane with a reasonable amount of storage and likely gaps in the conflicting northbound traffic created from the traffic signals to the south. For the majority of outgoing traffic (the westbound right from westbound Aberdeen Parkway to northbound SR 74), there is a channelized right turn lane with likely gaps in the same conflicting northbound traffic created from the traffic signals to the south. Likewise, the presence of this channelized right turn lane suggests that any signal warrant analysis would likely require “removing the minor-street right-turns”, a methodology preferred by the Georgia Department of Transportation. The removal of these right turns would likely result in not enough minor street traffic to warrant a traffic signal. Furthermore, for drivers preferring the protection of a traffic signal, a signal is currently proposed in the SR 54 Corridor Traffic Study to the south at Westpark Drive which has internal network access to Aberdeen Parkway and the Dolci Lodge. Sheet 2 of 5 Pond & Company, Inc. Architects Engineers Planners 3500 Parkway Lane Suite 600 Norcross, GA 30092 678.336.7740 678.336.7744 www pondco.com P F Sheet 3 of 5 Pond & Company, Inc. Architects Engineers Planners 3500 Parkway Lane Suite 600 Norcross, GA 30092 678.336.7740 678.336.7744 www pondco.com P F Sheet 4 of 5 Pond & Company, Inc. 3500 Parkway Lane Suite 600 Norcross, GA 30092 Architects Engineers Planners Table 3 Existing and Anticipated Traffic Volumes and Level of Service Location Existing Daily Traffic SR 74, North of Aberdeen Parkway SR 74, South of Aberdeen Parkway SR 74, South of SR 54 SR 54, West of SR 74 SR 54, East of Northlake Drive Aberdeen Parkway, East of SR 74 Riley Parkway, North of Aberdeen Parkway 30,206 30,206 20,100 42,210 23,720 3,090 2,930 Level of Service A/B A/B A/B E/F A/B A/B A/B 678.336.7740 678.336.7744 www pondco.com P F Anticipated Future (with Dolci Lodge Redevelopment) Daily Traffic Level of Service 31,109 A/B 30,502 A/B 20,248 A/B 42,558 E/F 23,828 A/B 4,289 A/B 2,971 A/B CONCLUSIONS Based on the results of this analysis, a relatively small amount of additional traffic is anticipated with the proposed Dolci Lodge redevelopment. This additional traffic is not anticipated to fundamentally change traffic operations in the vicinity. Additionally, access considerations at Aberdeen Parkway suggest that the existing lanes and traffic control configuration of the intersection at SR 74 and Aberdeen Parkway is likely appropriate to process the anticipated additional traffic. Therefore, more detailed study of the Dolci Lodge redevelopment is not recommended at this time. Sheet 5 of 5