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This study has been conducted to assess the traffic impacts and evaluate the access and egress requirements for the proposed Cary Park Planned Unit Development (PUD) Amendment known as the Larkin Smith Tract. The project site is to be located in the northwestern portion of Cary, North Carolina. This report identifies the impact of traffic generated by the proposed development and evaluates it with regard to capacity, safety, and roadway requirements. The following provides a brief summary of this study’s findings.

The project proposal is a mixed-use development to contain residential, retail, and office uses. This project site is to be located north of Carpenter Fire Station Road, east of Cary Glen Boulevard adjacent to the future alignment of I-540. As proposed, 200 multi-family townhome/condominium units 200,000 square-feet (S.F.) of commercial retail, and 200,000 S.F. of general office space, will be constructed on-site. Under the current development plan, the project will be constructed and occupied by 2008.

Access for this future development will be provided via two full movement access driveways one which will directly access Carpenter Fire Station Road on the other accessing Cary Glen Boulevard.

It should be noted that future regional access to the project will also be provided by the planned Western Wake Expressway, which is proposed to be constructed by the NCDOT in the immediate area of the site and is planned to terminate at NC 55. When constructed and reasonable access obtained, this future Expressway would provide excellent regional access for traffic generated by this project. However, for study purposes, the Western Wake Expressway has not been assumed to be in place by the planning horizon of the project due to its construction schedule.

Existing conditions have been gathered for the following four intersections, which make up the project study area as directed by Town of Cary staff:

• Carpenter Fire Station Road at Green Level to Durham Road;
• Carpenter Fire Station Road at Cary Glen Boulevard;
• Green Level to Durham Road at Cary Glen Boulevard; and
• NC 55 at Carpenter Fire Station Road.

This study area is located within the Northwest Transportation Zone, which requires that peak-hour volumes utilize a 90-minute average peak in accordance with the Town’s APFR Ordinance 01-012. Traffic volume data within the study area has been obtained for the weekday AM (6:30 - 9:30 AM) and PM (3:30 - 6:30 PM) peak periods. From this data, peak-hour multipliers of .966 and .947 were developed for the AM and PM peaks, respectively, and has been utilized within this report as required by the ordinance.

To represent Future 2008 traffic volume conditions within the study area, the Existing traffic flow volumes were upwardly adjusted to account for normal traffic growth and any other currently approved projects within the study area.

Discussions with Town of Cary staff indicate that an annual growth rate of 5 percent per year is to be used for traffic on NC 55 and 10 percent per year for all other volumes. These growth rates were applied to the Existing peak-hour traffic volumes to estimate Future 2008 conditions without the proposed development. It should be noted that, in addition to the normal annual growth in traffic, a percentage of traffic associated with the Cary Park and Amberly PUDs has been included in the 2008 No-Build traffic volumes. Due to the design year of the project, and design years of the two background developments, 50-percent of the traffic generated by the two background developments has been included in this study.

Within the defined study area, NC 55 is programmed to be widened from its current two-lane cross-section, to a four-lane divided facility by the NCDOT. Along with the proposed widening, the signalization of the NC 55/Carpenter Fire Station Road and NC 55/Morrisville Carpenter Road intersections is expected with the addition of applicable turning lanes. This improvement is planned to be started by 2003/2004, and will extend from US 64 through the study area to I 40.

As part of the Amberly PUD and Cary Park PUD projects, two roadway projects are anticipated to be constructed within the study area. Panther Creek Parkway will be constructed as a two-lane facility from Green Level to Durham Road to NC 55, opposite McCrimmon Parkway. Also, Cary Park Boulevard will be extended as a two-lane facility from its current terminus at Carpenter Fire Station Road northward to intersect with the above-cited Panther Creek Parkway. With these projects, signalization is anticipated at the Green Level to Durham Road/Cary Glen Boulevard, Green Level to Durham Road/Panther Creek Parkway, Green Level to Durham Road/Carpenter Fire Station Road, and Carpenter Fire Station Road/Cary Glen Boulevard intersections with the addition of applicable turning lanes.

Another planned roadway project in the area is the Wake Expressway which is planned to end at NC 55 via a grade-separated interchange. South of NC 55, the Wake Expressway should, at a minimum, continue as a two-lane facility terminating at Panther Creek Parkway (proposed) via an at-grade intersection. Right-of-way acquisition for this project is expected to begin in 2006, with construction anticipated to begin in 2008 and end in 2010. For the purposes of this study, neither the Western Wake Expressway nor its extension to Panther Creek Parkway has been considered due to its expected completion date.

For this project, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation manual was utilized to estimate project trips generated by the proposed facility.

Based on this information, the proposed development can be expected to generate a total of 12,680 (two-way) vehicle trips on a weekday daily basis, of which a total of 558 trips (384 entering, 174 exiting) are expected during the weekday AM peak-hour. During the PM peak-hour, 1,265 trips (542 entering, 723 exiting) can be expected.

Traffic generated by the site will be primarily distributed to and from NC 55 and Green Level to Durham Road.

As a result of this project, traffic volume increases at the study area intersections are expected to be approximately 28 percent at the proposed Panther Creek at Cary Glen Boulevard intersection. Smaller increases are expected at the remaining study area intersections.

The Northwest Transportation Zone requires a minimum Level-of-Service standard of a D based on the 90-minute average peak.

Under Existing conditions, traffic operations at all study area intersections are acceptable (LOS D or better) during both the weekday AM and PM peak hours, with the exception of the Carpenter Fire Station at NC 55 intersection, which operate poorly during both time periods due to the high volume of through traffic on NC 55.

Under 2008 No-Build conditions, which account for annual growth, the partial build-out of both the Cary Park and Amberly PUDs, and all previously cited roadway improvements, each of the study area expected to operate acceptably (LOS D or better).

With the addition of project related traffic, operations are expected to deteriorate to a LOS E at the NC 55 at Carpenter Fire Station intersection, and a LOS F at the Panther Creek at Cary Glen Boulevard intersection.

The final phase of the analysis process is to identify mitigating measures, which may either minimize the impact of the project on the transportation system or tend to alleviate poor service levels not caused by the project. Measures considered necessary to mitigate roadway system deficiencies are discussed below as they relate to the impacts of the proposed project.

As part of the proposed development plan, access to/from the proposed project will be provided via two access driveways, one along Carpenter Fire Station Road and the other along Cary Glen Boulevard. Based on the anticipated traffic volumes, the following geometrics and traffic control are suggested for each access point:

• Eastbound Approach: Separate left-turn and through lane;
• Westbound Approach: Through, and a separate right-turn lane;
• Southbound Approach: Separate left-turn lane, and a separate right-turn lane; and
• STOP sign control with Carpenter Fire Station Road as the major street.

• Northbound Approach: Separate through and a separate right-turn lane;
• Southbound Approach: Separate through and a separate left-turn lane;
• Westbound Approach: Separate left-turn and right-turn lane; and
• STOP sign control with Cary Glen Boulevard as the major street.

It should be noted that as planning/development continues in this area, other site drives by future developments should be aligned wherever possible to create four-legged intersections.

With the above-cited geometrics and traffic control in place, the Carpenter Fire Station Road site driveway intersection is anticipated to operate at a LOS F under 2008 Build Conditions. This can be attributed to the high volume traffic anticipated on Carpenter Fire Station Road coupled with its limited roadway cross-section. This site access has the potential need for signalization and should provide for the potential of dual left-turns egressing the site if the traffic projections/buildout of the site as presented in this report become a reality.

The logical location for signalization would be at the "front door" of the commercial area (retail and office) of the site. At this time, specific land use locations within the site have not been identified; therefore, it would be inappropriate to specify the exact location of a signal at this time although the installation of a signal should be planned for.

Review of the intersection analyses indicates that the proposed project results in an impact at two intersections resulting in poor service levels as compared to Future 2008 No-Build Conditions.

Given the fact that necessary auxiliary turning lanes have already been assumed and/or provided for all locations, in order to improve the projected poor operating levels within the study area, the following roadway improvements are suggested:

• Widen NC 55 to provide for three travels in each direction; and

• Review the potential of signalizing the Panther Creek at Cary Glen Boulevard intersection.

Assuming the implementation of these improvements, operations will be dramatically improved to acceptable service levels.