The Barnhill Company is proposing to construct a new commercial development in Cary, NC. The proposed facilities will consist of a 4,000 square foot (SF) drive-in bank with three teller windows and a 4,500 SF fast food restaurant with a single drive-through window. Figure 1 shows the general location of the planned commercial development. The proposed site is located near the intersection of NE Maynard Road and Reedy Creek Road (North) in the northeastern quadrant of Cary. The proposed development is anticipated to be complete by 2003. This report analyzes the full build-out scenario for the year 2003, the no-build scenario for 2003, as well as the 2001 existing year traffic conditions. The proposed uses for this site are for traffic analysis only. This site has other development options available for office and commercial uses as outlined in the rezoning conditions on Page 1.

The proposed site will utilize existing Reedy Creek Plaza driveway access connections to NE Maynard Road and Reedy Creek Road (South). Both driveways include no turning restrictions onto either roadway. Both driveways currently service Reedy Creek Plaza, which features several commercial developments including a Food Lion grocery store.

This report analyzes and presents the traffic impacts that the Barnhill Company development will have on the following intersections:

• NE Maynard Road and Reedy Creek Road (North) / North Plaza Driveway
• NE Maynard Road and Reedy Creek Road (South)
• Reedy Creek Road (South) and South Plaza Driveway
• NE Maynard Road and Chapel Hill Road

2. EXISTING CONDITIONS

All of the analyzed intersections are existing, including the North and South Plaza Driveway connections to NE Maynard Road and Reedy Creek Road. The intersections of NE Maynard Road / Reedy Creek Road (North) and NE Maynard Road / Chapel Hill Road are currently signalized. The remaining two intersections, NE Maynard Road / Reedy Creek Road (South) and Reedy Creek Road (South) / South Plaza Driveway, are unsignalized. Reedy Creek Road (North and South) operates as a local collector facility that provides linkage to Harrison Avenue to the north and Chapel Hill Road to the south. NE Maynard Road serves as a major circulatory arterial providing access to multiple residential and commercial areas throughout the Town of Cary. The site driveways act as access for the Reedy Creek Plaza developments. Currently the site property is undeveloped and is located adjacent to Reedy Creek Plaza. The land surrounding the study area is primarily used for commercial and residential development.

 

3. PROBABLE IMPACTS OF THE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

The addition of new peak hour trips during the AM peak period and the PM peak period could cause potential site traffic impacts to the study area intersections. The intersection of NE Maynard Road / Chapel Hill Road currently experiences high traffic volume for both peak periods, and has many movements that experience lengthy delay. The addition of site traffic could force some traffic movements over capacity at this intersection and may cause operational problems in the future. These impacts will be mitigated somewhat by the Town of Cary Chapel Hill Road widening project. Traffic operations at site driveways could present a problem for left-turning vehicles due to moderate to heavy traffic flows on both NE Maynard Road.

4. TRAFFIC OPERATIONS ANALYSIS

With the addition of peak hour site generated trips to the projected 2003 background traffic volumes during the AM and PM peak periods, no intersection will experience overall deficient traffic operations. The intersection of NE Maynard Road / Chapel Hill Road operates over capacity in the AM peak hour currently, but conditions significantly improve with the added capacity provided by the Chapel Hill Road widening project. This project, based on conversations with Town staff is scheduled to be complete by site build-out and is included in the analysis. Operations at the stop-controlled site driveways will also be acceptable for all conditions. Nearby upstream signals will aid in providing adequate gaps for traffic turning into and out of the proposed site and existing Reedy Creek Plaza.

A summary of the traffic operations for each intersection, related to vehicular delays (intersection average as a whole if signalized, critical movement if stop-controlled) and Level-of-Service (LOS) is shown in Table ES-1 below.

V. MITIGATION RELATED TO THE PROJECT

In summary, there are no recommended improvements within the study area specifically caused by site traffic impacts in Condition 3 (year 2003 traffic with site). All signalized and unsignalized intersections operate at congestion levels that are less than Town-mandated standards. With all intersections operating acceptably, no improvements, warranted or otherwise, will need to be completed by the site buildout year of 2003.