Christie Point Transportation Impact Assessment Final Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Site Location & Study Area 1.2 Scope of Transportation Impact Assessment (TIA)

2. EXISTING CONDITIONS 2.1 Land Use 2.2 Transportation Network 2.2.1 Street Network 2.2.2 Walking Network 2.2.3 Cycling Network 2.2.4 Transit Network 2.3 Local Area Travel Characteristics 2.3.1 Travel Mode Splits 2.3.2 Transportation Modes Policies & Plans 2.4 Existing Peak Hour Traffic Volumes 2.5 Existing Traffic Operations 2.5.1 Analysis Method 2.5.2 Traffic Analysis Time Periods 2.5.3 Existing Condition Findings 2.6 Mitigation Existing Conditions 2.6.1 Island Highway and Admirals Road 2.6.2 Island Highway and Shoreline Drive

3. TRAFFIC IMPACT ANALYSIS 3.1 Proposed Development 3.2 Christie Point Development Generated Traffic 3.2.1 Existing Site Trip Generation 3.2.2 Trip Distribution and Assignment 3.3 Future Total Traffic Conditions 3.3.1 Island Highway and Admirals Road Intersection 3.3.2 Island Highway & Shoreline Drive 3.4 SimTraffic Analysis 3.5 Site Impact Mitigation for Total Traffic Scenarios 3.5.1 Island Highway and Admirals Road 3.5.2 Island Highway and Shoreline Drive

4. PARKING 4.1 Existing Parking Supply and Demand 4.1.1 Existing On-Site Vehicle Parking Supply 4.1.2 Existing On-Site Vehicle Parking Demand 4.2 Development Vehicle Parking Demand 4.2.1 Town of View Royal Bylaw Vehicle Parking Requirements 4.2.2 Rental Multi-Family Residential 4.3 Bicycle Parking 4.4 Parking Summary

5. LOADING

6. TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT 6.1 Infrastructure & Site Design 6.2 Information Brochure 6.3 Parking Pricing 6.4 Car Sharing 6.5 Ride-Share 6.6 Bicycle Amenities

7. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS 7.1 Conclusions 7.2 Recommendations

APPENDIX A Traffic Flow Diagrams APPENDIX B Synchro Outputs APPENDIX C TAC Signal Warrant

---

EXHIBITS

TABLES

---

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Realstar has proposed the redevelopment of its Christie Point rental apartment complex, located on a narrow peninsula within Portage Inlet which is at the northwest end of the Gorge Waterway in View Royal, BC. There are currently 161 2-bedroom residential units on the site; Realstar is proposing to replace these units with 473 new rental units spread between seven buildings.

The Christie Point development is located at the north end of Craigowan Road, which is accessed from Shoreline Drive, which in turn connects to Island Highway. The Christie Point development will continue to be accessed from a single entry point located at the south end of the property.

Bunt & Associates was engaged by Realstar to undertake a Transportation Impact Assessment (TIA) study in support of the rezoning of the site to allow the proposed 473 rental residential units. The Study Area and scope of the TIA was established through discussions with View Royal staff.

Traffic

The study area included two intersections, namely Island Highway and Admirals Road and Island Highway and Shoreline Drive. Bunt completed Weekday PM Peak hour traffic counts on June 16, 2016 at these two intersections. The Study Area’s Weekday PM peak hour of traffic was observed to be earlier than typical resident streets, at 2:45 PM to 3:45 PM. The existing Christie Point site with 161 residential units was observed to generate up to 45 two-way vehicle trips during the Weekday PM peak hour (32 inbound and 13 outbound). This trip generation rate is lower than typical North American Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual 9th Edition average rates for similar residential land use but consistent with rates found at other rental residential buildings studies by Bunt which tend to have low auto ownership levels and higher use of alternative travel modes. Subsequent traffic counts in November of 2016 were approximately 12% lower than the analyzed June volumes. Analysis of the lower November traffic volumes resulted in the same operational issues and recommended mitigation measures as the June dataset.

The Island Highway and Admirals Road intersection (signalized) is currently (2016) approaching capacity for various movements, with delays relatively balanced between approaches and movements. The westbound approach and northbound to westbound left turn movements resulted in V/C ratios of 0.89 and 0.86 respectively. The observed long queues for these movements and also the southbound to westbound right turn movement indicate that the intersection is in fact operating beyond capacity. Bunt observed operating conditions in the field worse than modeled. We believe this is due to the limitations of the traffic count methodology of counting serviced volumes but also the limitations of the Synchro software traffic operations model in accounting for the significant operational issues caused by the outside westbound lane drop at Shoreline Drive. This lane drop requires merging by through vehicles from two lanes immediately west of Admirals Road into one lane within 150m. When heavy platoons in these two lanes are present, created by the operations of the signal, queues form which spill back into the intersection itself.

The Island Highway and Shoreline Drive intersection (Shoreline Drive Stop control) was shown to encounter substantial delays for vehicles wishing to turn left from Shoreline Drive (southbound) to Island Highway (eastbound). The V/C ratio is 2.27 with a LOS F. As observed, vehicles wishing to turn left from Shoreline Drive to Island Highway essentially must rely on the kindness of Island Highway vehicles to let them proceed.

The proposed 473 unit development is expected to have a trip generation rate similar to the existing site which would result in approximately 132 total two-way trips (94 inbound and 38 outbound) during the 2:45 to 3:45 PM Peak hour of the adjacent school traffic peak. The site during the more typical peak hour of 4:30 to 5:30 PM was observed to have a very similar trip generation rate as the described peak hour.

The proposed development is anticipated to increase Weekday PM Peak Hour volumes at the Island Highway and Admirals Road intersection by approximately 1.6%, slightly worsening V/C and LOS performance. There are no significant mitigation measures possible at this intersection to improve operations, except those which would widen the footprint of the intersection.

During the Weekday PM Peak hour periods of the adjacent school traffic, and the Christie Point development, the proposed development is anticipated to add approximately 15 vehicles per peak hour to the critical southbound to eastbound left turn movement at the Island Highway and Shoreline Drive intersection. It is the addition of this southbound left turning traffic which is expected to be the most significant traffic operations issue associated with the development of the site.

If the intersection remains with its current laning and traffic control more southbound to eastbound left turning vehicles will encounter this significant delay. An increase in vehicles wishing to perform this left turn will lead to exacerbated delays. Even the current delays are considered to be unsafe as vehicles will often feel the need to edge their way into the Island Highway traffic stream to conduct their left turn movement.

To mitigate the existing and future operational and safety issues described above, it is recommended that signal control be installed at the Island Highway & Shoreline Drive intersection to support the site’s increased densities, but also to support existing neighbourhood traffic, school pick-up/drop-off operations and pedestrian crossing safety.

Bunt tested both a “half signal” option which would retain the existing roadway laning configuration, and a full traffic signal option with reconfigured laning to create two westbound through lanes at Island Highway & Admirals Road. According to TAC’s Traffic Signal Warrant methods, Bunt’s analysis indicated that a signal would not be warranted based on vehicle volumes alone, however, if pedestrians are attracted to this new crossing location (an assumed latent demand) then a signal would be warranted.

Based on our analysis is Bunt’s recommendation that the Half Signal configuration would result in westbound traffic stopping for southbound traffic, while eastbound traffic would remain free flow. The southbound side street movement green indication would be triggered by vehicles detected in the southbound left turn lane. The detector loop could be set back from the stop bar so that the green indication would be triggered only when southbound left turn queues reached a pre-set threshold length. In this manner, impacts on westbound through traffic operations could be minimized. The Half Signal could also include pedestrian push buttons to allow a fully protected pedestrian crossing of Island Highway at Shoreline Drive which is considered to be of significant benefit as it would provide support for school children crossing to the south side of Island Highway. Including pedestrian push buttons at the half signal would require stopping eastbound Island Highway traffic but only when the pedestrian button is actuated.

The primary Weekday PM Peak Hour operational issue with introducing a new traffic signal in this location is that the required red phase for westbound Island Highway traffic, even though short in duration (approximately 11 seconds, or 14 seconds if a pedestrian crossing were included for pedestrian clearance) would exacerbate the considerable existing westbound traffic delays on Island Highway, which were observed in our field observations to spill back to the Island Highway and Admirals Road intersection.

At present, there is only one westbound through lane on the Island Highway through the Shoreline intersection. However, there appears to be sufficient width to develop two westbound lanes through this intersection, and extend it a minimum of 100m west of Shoreline Drive through minimal (approximately 2m) encroachment on Island Highway’s north curb. This change would require a full rather than half traffic signal, along with the removal of the existing westbound to northbound left turn bay, and the existing receiving lane for southbound to eastbound left turns; however, this signal would reduce the problem with westbound spill-back to the Island Highway and Admirals Road intersection particularly if coordinated with the Island Highway & Admirals Road traffic signal. Extending the two lane westbound width on Island Highway further to the west would move the two to one lane merge point further away from the heavy traffic platoons created by the Island Highway and Admirals Road intersection. Shifting the merge point further to the west is considered a necessary component of a traffic signal installation at Shoreline Drive, but would have the significant added benefit of reducing queue spill back problems into the congested intersection of Island Highway and Admirals Road. It will also benefit existing and future pedestrians, and the school accessibility. For these reasons, it is Bunt’s view the cost of the new traffic signal and associated roadway laning reconfiguration should be a shared cost between the Christie Point site developer and the Town of View Royal.

Parking

Parking for Christie Point will be located at-grade, on the private internal roadway, and also in one-level underground parkades. The site developer proposes a total of 593 parking spaces; 71 of these would be reserved for visitors, and the remaining 522 would be for residents equaling a proposed parking supply rate of 1.1 vehicle space per unit, and 0.15 visitor spaces per unit.

The development’s proposed parking supply is 119 spaces lower than that required by direct application of the View Royal Bylaw rates of 1.5 stalls per unit. This proposed 593 parking supply is however expected to accommodate peak period parking demands based on our research of similar rental residential developments and in consideration of the location.

Christie Point will be providing bicycle parking in excess of bylaw requirements. 520 Class 1 bike spaces equates to 1.1 spaces per unit. In addition there will be 54 Class B bicycle spaces or at minimum one 6 space rack at the entry of each building.

Loading

On-site loading, recycling and garbage collection facilities will be provided on-site. Recycling and garbage collection facilities will be designed to accommodate a SU9 loading truck design vehicle.

Transportation Demand Management (TDM)

The site is well located within walking distance of transit and amenities. The development plan can encourage cycling, transit use and walking with various TDM strategies such as:

• Provide a designated pedestrian sidewalk connection into the property with improved internal pedestrian amenities on-site;
• Provide bicycle parking (Class 1 and Class 2) in excess of bylaw requirements. The proposed development will be well equipped with bike storage facilities, including covered and secure bike parking for resident use, and outside Class 2 bicycle racks in convenient locations for shorter term visitor bike parking;
• Include a bicycle repair station;
• Unbundle vehicle parking space costs from unit costs;
• Provide a Transportation Information Brochure for new residents;
• Promote Ride Sharing; and
• Promotion of Car Sharing.

Summary

It is our opinion that the proposed Christie Point development plan is well suited to this site due to the location’s strong connections to transit and its proximity to the E&N Rail Trail. It adds residential density to a location with strong cycling, transit and walking options. The primary challenge in increasing density of the site is the increase in turning movement demands at the Island Highway and Shoreline Drive intersection and the resulting high delays and safety problems that will be exacerbated. It is our opinion a new traffic signal combined with reconfiguration of travel lanes on Island Highway would mitigate this significant existing problem. All modes of travel would benefit from proposed mitigation measures.

Today, drivers face significant delays turning left southbound to eastbound from Shoreline onto Island Highway; many drivers rely on other drivers providing them with gaps to enter the congested through lanes. This issue could be mitigated with the introduction of a Half or Full Traffic Signal installation; however if the Island Highway westbound approach remained with only one through lane, this new signal would considerably exacerbate existing delays and congestion for westbound Island Highway traffic which would create more spillback problems into the Island Highway and Admirals Road intersection. It is Bunt’s opinion that introduction of the new signal would have to be combined with modification of the travel lane markings in this segment of the Island Highway to provide two westbound lanes through the intersection, shifting the two to one lane merge point further west. There will be considerable operational benefits to this shift, and the new traffic signal could also support a new protected pedestrian signal, as well as allow cyclists to exit from Shoreline Drive onto the Island Highway in a protected phase. The adoption of the recommended mitigation measures presents an opportunity for View Royal to improve a significant existing traffic operational constraint.

The proposed Christie Point redevelopment increases residential density. From a transportation planning perspective this is supported as the site is in a walkable area located near a major public transit corridor and the E&N Trail which provides AAA cycling connections with major destinations. In of itself this transformation of Christie Point will be a positive contribution to the long term land use / transportation objectives of View Royal. The future residents of Christie Point will be making fewer and shorter automobile trips than would be the case if they were located in outlying suburban areas.

---

1. INTRODUCTION

The Christie Point rental residential site is proposed to be redeveloped. The site developer, Realstar, proposed to retain its rental residential land use, but increase the site density from 161 units to 473 units. The Town of View Royal requires a Transportation Impact Assessment Study to support the project approval process.

1.1 Site Location & Study Area

Christie Point is situated on a peninsula within Portage Inlet located near the terminus of the Gorge Waterway. It’s location within Vancouver Island’s Capital Regional District is shown in Exhibit 1.1.

The Study Area for traffic analysis includes the following two intersections:

• Island Highway and Admirals Road (signalized); and,
• Island Highway and Shoreline Drive (3-leg intersection, unsignalized, full movements);

1.2 Scope of Transportation Impact Assessment (TIA)

This TIA report summarizes the following:

• A review of existing transportation infrastructure and multi-modal travel characteristics including traffic volumes and traffic operating conditions;
• An assessment of the proposed development and its anticipated traffic impact on the adjacent road network;
• A review of the proposed on-site parking supply for vehicles and bicycles; and,
• Recommended Transportation Demand Management strategies to promote more sustainable transportation modes.

---

2. EXISTING CONDITIONS

2.1 Land Use

The existing Christie Point complex consists of 161 residential rental units. The site has five two-storey apartment buildings with 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom suites and four two-storey townhouse buildings with 3 bedroom townhomes.

The exiting apartments are all 2 bedroom units, ranging in size from 825 square feet to 925 square feet. The townhomes are an average of approximately 1,135 square feet.

2.2 Transportation Network

2.2.1 Street Network

Exhibit 2.1 illustrates the existing street network, traffic control, and travel lane configurations within the Study Area. It also shows existing 2016 Weekday PM peak hour traffic volumes based on Bunt & Associates’ traffic counts conducted on Thursday June 16, 2016. This date was selected as it occurred during regular school period for the adjacent Shoreline Middle School. A subsequent count was conducted on November 8, 2016, it observed lowered volumes consistent throughout the study area and resulted in consistent operational findings and recommendations, as such the higher June 2016 volumes were retained in our reporting analysis.

Island Highway is classified as a major arterial road. The nearest signalized intersection on Island Highway is at Admirals Road/Craigflower Road to the north east.

Shoreline Drive is the primary access to Christie Point and has an unsignalized T-intersection with Island Highway. Shoreline Drive has stop control at Island Highway. Shoreline Drive functions as a local road distributing traffic to/from the Island Highway. Craigowan Road, is another local road connecting to Shoreline Drive, provides the only access point into Christie Point. At the site boundary, the site’s internal private road functions like an extension of Craigowan Road.

At the Island Highway & Shoreline Drive intersection, southbound to eastbound lefts are assisted with the provision of “protected” left turn eastbound receiving lane with a narrow finger median; this lane configuration allows southbound left turning drivers to carry out their maneuver in two stages, which is beneficial as they must only find available gaps in westbound traffic prior to turning out of Shoreline Drive. The “protected” eastbound receiving lane then becomes an “add lane” in the eastbound travel direction through the Island Highway & Admirals intersection. This is an atypical laning arrangement in urban areas; it is primarily found in higher speed rural highway environments.

Just west of the Admirals Road & Island Highway intersection, the outside westbound travel lane is dropped at Shoreline Drive, requiring drivers in the outside travel lane to merge into the inside westbound travel lane. This merge occurs only 150m west of Admirals Road.

At the Island Highway & Admirals Road intersection there are protected advanced left turn phases for north, west and eastbound vehicles. The intersection’s channelized southbound to westbound right turn movement operates under signal control.

The private roadway on the site currently has speed bump speed control throughout its length and 90 degree parking. These features, along with its narrow width, assist with maintaining low vehicle speeds through the Christie Point development.

2.2.2 Walking Network

As highlighted in Exhibit 2.2, the site is conveniently located within walking distance to a large range of amenities, including grocery stores, schools, shops, community centres and parks. It is also located 400m - 1,000m from transit service on Island Highway.

A reasonable walking distance to bus transit is generally defined as a 5 – 10 minute walk, or a 400m – 800m distance. However, research indicates significant walking volumes can be achieved for up to 1,200m distances when the pedestrian is accessing high quality, frequent transit. For work trips, a walking commute time of approximately 25-30 minutes or a distance up to 2 kilometres generally is associated with a significant walking mode split (these distances are illustrated in Exhibit 2.2).

While there are some key walking destinations within reasonable distance, the existing pedestrian infrastructure within the Christie Point site and its connection to the surrounding area is limited:

• There are no sidewalks on-site; pedestrians share the approximate 8m width on internal Craigowan Road with vehicles and bicycles.
• Sidewalks are present along the west side of Shoreline Drive from Island Highway to the north end of Shoreline Middle School then cease, creating a 150 m section where Christie Point residents share the roadway with vehicles.
• There is no pedestrian crosswalk across Island Highway at the Island Highway & Shoreline Drive intersection. However there are protected pedestrian crossings of Island Highway 150m to the east at the signalized intersection at Admirals Road, and a pedestrian overpass located 250m to the west.
• Sidewalks are present along both sides of Island Highway.
• A trail along the north and west edges of Shoreline Middle School provides a shortcut to the E&N Trail and pedestrian amenities along Island Highway, west of the school.

2.2.3 Cycling Network

There are bike lanes provided on each side of Island Highway through the study area. There are bike lanes on each side of Admirals Road, but just north of its intersection with Island Highway, to the south of the intersection (Esquimalt jurisdiction) there are currently no bike lanes.

The E&N Rail Trail-Humpback Connector within the nearby E&N rail corridor is currently under construction and is nearly complete. It will be 17 kilometres in length when complete. It already provides connections to locations both the west and east of Christie Point and connects to other regional trails resulting in All Ages and abilities (AAA) quality cycling connections to communities throughout the Capital Regional District. The E&N Rail Trail is located just 500m southwest of the site. The E&N Rail Trail links the site to Victoria’s Downtown area (6.5km to east), and major employers in Esquimalt such as Victoria Shipyards and the Canadian Forces Base (2-3km to the east). At an average speed of 15km/hr these locations are all within a 10 -30 minute cycling range. The E&N Trail route is shown in Exhibit 1.1.