Policy on Level of Service in Activity Centers
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Policy on Level of Service in Activity Centers
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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 2
- 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 4
- 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 5
- 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 6
- 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 7
- 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 9
- 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 10
- 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 11
- 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 12
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.