Parking Lot and Access Assessment

2.0 PARKING LOT REVIEW

The proposed parking lot will be an expansion of the existing parking lot off Admirals Road. The site is expected to host a small number of major events throughout the year; however the parking lot is intended to supply parking for typical day-to-day use of the Victoria Scottish Community Centre. During major events parking overflow plans will be required. The Victoria Highland Games Association is in discussions with the nearby Canadian Tire and the Shoreline Community Middle School regarding potential use of their parking lots for overflow parking during these major events.

The proposed parking lot layout consists of 55 perpendicular parking stalls including one accessible and 18 designated small car stalls. A portion of the stalls (seven) are angled which creates a one-way traffic flow counter-clockwise through the lot. This layout had the benefit having vehicles have to turn right within the site and loop around to access the drop off area (which will be on the correct side for drop-off). In addition, the main driveway / aisle from the road becomes an exit only which has vehicles queue in the straight section of the lot rather than having exiting traffic from the main aisle and the aisle immediately within the lot (so close to the exit). The one way circulation will also allow for better circulation during peak demand. See Figure 2 for the parking layout.

3.0 TRAFFIC IMPACT

The number of trips that will be generated by the proposed development during the PM peak hour (typical peak of traffic) was estimated using the Institute of Transportation Engineer’s (ITE) Trip Generation Manual (10th Edition). The ITE trip generation results are shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1: PM PEAK HOUR TRIP GENERATION

The proposed development is expected to generate 17 trips (8 in / 9 out) during the PM peak hour. Admirals Road, Craigflower Road, and Island Highway are heavily congested during the peak hours and will not be impacted by the low traffic volumes generated by the development. The PM peak hour traffic on Admirals Road, north of Craigflower Road is approximately 1,000 vph (two way total). The addition of the Community Centre trips represents less than 2% additional traffic. Traffic on Admirals Road, during the weekday peak periods, can vary by at least this much. Peak usage of the site is expected to occur during off-peaks on the weekdays and / or on weekends when traffic is lower on Admirals Road.

4.0 ACCESS REVIEW

The proposed development will use the existing parking lot access off of Admirals Road. The access is currently a right-in / right-out access (with painted gore as the method of restriction) located 60m from the Admirals Road / Island Highway / Craigflower Road intersection. The existing access is shown in Figure 2.

Under the existing right-in / right-out configuration, drivers approaching from west of the site (on Admirals Road and Craigflower Road and Island Highway) currently are required to continue north on Admirals Road past the site in order to turn around on the local road network.

Allowing left turns into the site would require turning vehicles to wait for a gap in traffic in both opposing lanes which would be difficult due to the high volume of traffic during the peak periods. In addition the provision of a left turn lane on Admirals Road cannot be accommodated to remove turning vehicles from the through traffic on Admirals Road. This may cause vehicles to have to unexpectedly stop, on Admirals Road, and may spill back into the intersection. Similarly for exiting vehicles there will be limited gaps to be able to safely turn left from the site. Therefore it is recommended to maintain the existing right-in / right-out access configuration. If vehicles are observed illegally turning left into or out of the site, consideration should be given to installing a physical barrier such as a raised island to prevent left turns.

Clear directions should be provided to users of the Victoria Scottish Community Centre to utilize Gorge Road or Admirals Road (from the east) to access the site.

5.0 CONCLUSIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS

The review of the proposed parking lot layout allows for a total of 55 stalls.

The low volume of traffic (17 trips during the PM peak) generated by the development will not impact the operations of Admirals Road, Craigflower Road, and Island Highway, which are already significantly congested (with high volumes) during peak hours.

The existing right-in / right-out access, on Admirals Road, is the most appropriate configuration and should be maintained.