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Policy on Level of Service in Activity Centers
1. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Policy on Level of Service in
Activity Centers
Board Transportation Committee
December 17, 2013
Department of Transportation
2. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Purpose of Presentation
• Provide information to the Board on a staff
recommendation to change the Transportation
Policy Plan level of service (LOS)D standard to LOS E
for activity centers
• Activity centers consist of:
–
–
–
–
–
Transit Station Areas
Community Business Centers
Revitalization Areas
Suburban Centers
Tysons Urban Center
Department of Transportation
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3. County of Fairfax, Virginia
What is Level of Service (LOS)?
• LOS measures how well
traffic moves along a
roadway
• In activity centers delays
at intersections typically
determine LOS – see
table
3
LOS
≤ 10
A
> 10 - 20
B
> 20 - 35
C
> 35 - 55
D
> 55 - 80
E
> 80
Department of Transportation
Average Delay per
Vehicle (seconds)
F
4. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Present LOS Standards
Fairfax County
•Current LOS standard is D
VDOT/FHWA
•LOS standard for National Highway System
(NHS) routes is D
Department of Transportation
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5. County of Fairfax, Virginia
County Policy Plan
Transit Oriented Development Guidelines
(Appendix to Land Use Policy Plan)
“The design of streets should encourage lower traffic
speeds and superior pedestrian circulation….”
Transportation Policy Plan
“Support public transportation and non-motorized
travel through design…”
Department of Transportation
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6. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Recently Approved LOS Standards in
County
• Springfield CBC, Springfield Metrorail Station Area:
LOS E
• Baileys Crossroads CBC: LOS E, except Leesburg Pike
which is LOS D
• Annandale CBC: LOS E, except Little River Turnpike
which is LOS D
• Tysons Urban Center: LOS E
• Reston Transit Station Areas: LOS E (proposed)
Department of Transportation
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7. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Impacts of a LOS E Standard for
Activity Centers
• Increases a pedestrian/bike friendly
environment by slowing traffic
• Limits the width of streets
• Reduces transportation infrastructure costs
• Increases highway congestion and delay
Department of Transportation
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8. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Impact of LOS E: Example 1
Intersection
Reston Pkwy and
Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston Pkwy and DTR
On/Off Ramps
Hunter Mill Road and
Sunrise Valley Drive
Delay (seconds) Additional Mitigation
Required to Move
LOS E LOS D
from LOS E to LOS D
79
42
57
50
65
50
Department of Transportation
8
Four additional turn
lanes
One additional turn
lane
One additional turn
lane
9. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Impact of LOS E: Example 2
Note: Red arrows indicate additional turn lanes required to achieve LOS D
Department of Transportation
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10. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Local Jurisdictions: LOS Policy
• Arlington County
– Emphasis on multimodal level of service
• Montgomery County
– Has a minimum of LOS D / LOS E for “urban” areas
• Prince William County
– Has a minimum of LOS D for intersections
• Loudoun County
– Has a minimum of LOS D for all roads in the
County
Department of Transportation
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11. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Jurisdictions in U.S. that Apply
LOS E in Activity Centers
•
•
•
•
•
•
King County, Washington
Riverside County, California
Santa Ana, California
City of Sacramento, California
Phoenix, Arizona
San Diego, California
Department of Transportation
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12. County of Fairfax, Virginia
Conclusion & Recommendation
Conclusion:
•The application of LOS E in activity centers will reduce
traffic speeds and create a more pedestrian/bike friendly
environment. This is in conformance with elements of
our existing Policy Plan.
Recommendation:
•Change (through a Plan Amendment) the
Transportation Policy Plan LOS D standard to LOS E for
activity centers. The standard for NHS roads within
activity centers will remain at LOS D.
Department of Transportation
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Editor's Notes
A few plan amendments for activity centers have been approved by the BOS with LOS E as a standard.
However our transportation policy plan specifies a LOS D as a countywide standard.
What we are addressing is changing from LOS D to E – see table.
So we are proposing changing our policy plan for activity centers from a maximum delay of 55 seconds to 80 seconds.
VDOT and the FHWA also apply a non-degradation policy. So if we propose a change to a NHS route or amend our comprehensive plan and that is submitted to VDOT according to state legislation, we can under some circumstances mitigate an intersection to existing conditions even if presently it is not at LOS D.
This is the most important reason for the recommended change to our policy plan: to plan for a pedestrian friendly and bicycle friendly environment in our activity centers where we have more pedestrians and bikers.
On the physical side we plan for complete streets: There are three important components to make this happen:
Firstly streets with wide enough sidewalks for pedestrians, bike lanes (on avenues and collectors), on-street parking and what is effected the LOS policy applied:
Streets that are not wide (ideally a maximum of 4 lanes to cross and not 6 or 8 or 10 lanes to cross
And streets with lower vehicle speeds. We need lower vehicle speeds (10, 20 or 30 mph maximum) rather than 40 or 50 mph to support non-motorized travel and have superior pedestrian circulation.
So there is a direct connection between LOS and the width of streets and the speed of vehicles.
As I mentioned earlier, we have already applied LOS E in recent plan amendments as shown here.
What does LOS E rather than LOS D mean in practical terms?
This example which is purely illustrative, from our recent analysis in Reston, shows the change in delay at intersections and the additional infrastructure required to meet LOS D.
One exclusive turn lane can cost approximately $400,000 depending on the length of the turn lane and the ROW cost. So the total cost can add up to a substantial amount of money.
Here is another example – this time in Tysons along International Drive.
This shows the impact on travel time, delay and speed. Because of the higher volumes and longer cycle lengths at the intersections, in this case there is not a significant change.
We looked at other jurisdictions.
Arlington County is applying multimodal level of service. It takes into consideration the LOS of all modes and provides an aggregate LOS. The amount of effort to do this is substantial and the associated data to be collected is significantly more.
When applying complete streets, we are applying all we can do to obtain a high LOS for the non-motorized modes and transit so we do not see a need to determine a multimodal LOS
The number of jurisdictions applying LOS E in activity centers is growing although still small. We believe it is not more than about 10% of jurisdictions in the US today.