TRAFFIC PARKING ANALYSIS

Transcription

1 TRAFFIC PARKING ANALYSIS NAPA FLEA MARKET COUNTY OF NAPA Prepared for: Tom Harding Napa-Vallejo Flea Market 33 Kelly Road American Canyon, CA 9453 Prepared by: 166 Olympic Boulevard, Suite 21 Walnut Creek, CA Tel: SEPTEMBER, 27

2 Napa-Vallejo Flea Market Traffic and Parking Issues (September 22, 27) This report provides an assessment of the traffic and parking conditions at the Napa Flea Market located on SH 29 and Kelly Road in Napa County. Figure 1 shows the location of the project as well as each entry and exit gate to the Market, as well as the layout of the parking areas. There are seven (7) gates in and out of the site during the Sunday Flea Market. Traffic. The directional traffic at each gate has evolved over time as the level of activity at the flea market has grown. The current plan is very efficient and operates very safely. There could be some minor modifications to the plan that may improve traffic flow and traffic safety, but there are no major changes that are recommended. The Highway 29 gate does raise the question of safety because of the high speed of traffic on Highway 29. However, this access has operated very safely for many years, and with little or no delay to the through traffic on Highway 29. It is recommended that the current traffic access plan continue to be permitted on Sundays, but that any expansion of this type of traffic to other days of the week be evaluated further. Parking. The site has four separate parking areas for customers and visitors that include 1,754 parking spaces. Many of the customers and visitors attend the event for a two-hour to fourhour duration, so there is significant turnover in the parking areas. The number of spaces in each lot is also shown on Figure 1. The site also includes a vendor s area with about 8 vendor s stalls. Many of the vendors use two or more stalls each Sunday. There is also a parking area that is used by employees and staff. Traffic Management Issues The total traffic on a Sunday where there is peak attendance is shown in the Table 1 below. This generally correlates and is roughly equivalent to the traffic volume that was measured on June 3 rd, 27. On this date, there were 3,2 customers and visitors using the parking area, which is one of the highest attended events at the Flea Market. During 26, the heaviest Sunday operation, the Flea Market data recorded a high total customer demand of about 3,4 vehicles. On the Sunday in question, it is estimated that the total trip generation from the Flea Market was about 8,7 vehicle trips, with about 4,35 entering and 4,35 exiting vehicles over the 12-hour period. The total of 4,35 vehicle trips is composed of 2,85 vehicles into the parking areas, 8 trips into the vendor s areas, and 7 vehicle trips by employees, staff, and traffic that is parked off-site. The total traffic volume at each individual gate has been estimated as shown in Table 1 and has been measured for a Sunday period between 6 AM and 6 PM. Site Operation The gates to the site are open on Sundays between 6 AM to 6PM. Access by the vendors starts at 6 AM and continues through 9 AM. Customer and visitor entrance starts about 8 am and continues until about 3 pm. The vendors close their shops at 4 pm and all vendors have left the site by 6 pm. All customers have generally vacated the site by about 4:3 pm. Figure 2 shows the 12-hour traffic volumes at each gate during the period of this study.

3 #3 ENTRY AND EXIT 6 ROAD #2 #1 5 GATE 1 STATE HIGHWAY HIGHWAY # 3 # SOUTH PKG LEGEND ACCESS POINTS MAJOR INTERNAL ROADS CUSTOMER PARKING VENDOR PARKING 418 NO. OF PARKING SPACES FIGURE 1 ACCESS POINTS TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDY Napa Flea Market City of Napa

4 Page 3 Napa Flea Market Traffic and Parking The site has one driveway connection to Highway 29, and six additional gates on Kelly Road. The Kelly Road gates include three entrance only pay stations, two exit only gates, and one gate on Case Court that serves both directions of traffic. The Case Court gate is generally used only on the days of maximum activity. Access to Highway 29 is a right-in driveway only and serves only the northbound direction of traffic. Within this driveway from Hwy 29, the traffic is divided into two pay gates that serve different parking areas. Table 1 Napa Flea Market Vehicle Access Patterns On Sunday, June 3, 27 Maximum Activity Level Map Ref Gate 1 1) Hwy 29 Northbound Lanes 2 2) South Pkg Kelly Exit Only Traffic Notes Total Inbound Traffic (6 am 6 pm) Total Outbound Traffic (6 am to 6 pm) Entrance Only 1, Exit Only ,61 3 3) Kelly Exit Exit Only ,6 4 4) Kelly Entry Entrance Only ) Kelly 1 Entrance Only ) Kelly 2 Entrance Only ) Kelly 3 Case Court Case Court (Both entry and exit) Total Traffic Volume Through the Gates between 6 am and 6 pm (12 hours on Sunday only) ,65 3,65 Traffic Operations. Traffic capacity and congestion are measured by the highest hourly traffic volume, and Table 2 shows the estimated maximum hourly traffic at each of the seven entry and exit gates, and also the hour during which this traffic volume occurs. As shown, there are wide variations in these traffic patterns. The Highway 29 gate has its maximum traffic volume on Sunday morning between 8: and 9: am during the time when the vendors enter, and the first customers arrive. This gate has continuous traffic entering the site throughout the morning, but drops off significantly in the afternoon. The gates on Kelly Road start to see heavier traffic entering the site at about 1 am, and this generally occurs continues until about 1:3 in the afternoon. There is also heavy traffic during the period that customers exit the site, which occurs in the afternoon between 2 and 4 PM. After 5 PM, the traffic conditions are very low. An analysis of the Pay Station operations shows that there is sufficient space at each gate to accommodate the maximum queue of vehicles that would occur. In particular at the Highway 29 entry, there is room to store over 4 vehicles in line at the entry gates. There are no occasions that occur where the queue affects the through traffic on Highway 29.

5 7 #3 ENTRY AND EXIT (11-12 am) 24 vph ROAD #2 8 vph (1-2 pm) (1-11 am) 31 vph 6 #1 5 GATE 42 vph (8-9 am) STATE HIGHWAY vph (3-4 pm) (1-11 am) 16 vph 3 4 SOUTH PKG # # 32 vph (3-4 pm) ESTIMATES BASED ON PARTIAL TRAFFIC COUNTS AT EACH GATE. FIGURE 2 ESTIMATED HIGHEST HOURLY TRAFFIC AT EACH GATE TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDY Napa Flea Market City of Napa

6 7 #3 ENTRY AND EXIT 77 ROAD # #1 5 GATE 195 (12 hrs) STATE HIGHWAY # 3 # SOUTH PKG ESTIMATED TRAFFIC BASED ON PARTIAL TRAFFIC COUNTS. JUNE 3, 27 FIGURE 3 TOTAL DAILY TRAFFIC VOLUME AT EACH GATE, SUNDAY 6 AM TO 6PM TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDY Napa Flea Market City of Napa

7 Page 6 Napa Flea Market Traffic and Parking Table 2 Maximum Hourly Traffic Volume At Each Gate to the Napa Flea Market Gate 1) Hwy 29 Northbound Lanes 2) South Pkg Kelly Exit Only Max Hourly Traffic Volume Time of Day with Max Traffic 42 vph 8-9 AM 32 vph 3-4 PM 3) Kelly Exit 16 vph 1-11 AM 4) Kelly Entry 31 vph 3-4 PM 5) Kelly 1 34 vph 1-11 AM 6) Kelly 2 39 vph 3-4 PM 7) Kelly 3 Case Court 24 vph AM Roadway Capacity and Traffic Congestion. Table 3 shows the intersection capacity results for each of the seven parking lot driveways. During the Sunday peak hour conditions, all of the seven gate intersections operate at acceptable Level of Service conditions. At Gate #2 (South Parking Lot), the heaviest traffic delay occurs on Kelly Road, but this is within normally accepted conditions. At all other times, the intersection conditions are Level of Service A. Gates #1, 2, 3, and 7 are closed at all other times. Gates #2, 3, and 4 are open for employee to access the area, but the traffic volumes are minimal. It should be noted that the exiting traffic volumes at each driveway can vary considerably from one week to the next. The Flea Market management can control these volumes by internal control of the exiting traffic flow. Table 3 Intersection Capacity Results Driveway/ Intersection 1) Hwy 29 Northbound Lanes 2) South Pkg Kelly Exit Only Traffic Control Level of Service (V/C Ratio) During Max Hour None.12 None.7 LOS C Time Period of Max Capacity Conditions Typical LOS Results During Weekday Peak Hour 8-9 AM LOS A Gate Closed 3-4 PM LOS A Gate Closed 3) Kelly Exit None.54 4) Kelly Entry None.27 5) Kelly 1 None.12 6) Kelly 2 None PM LOS A Gate Closed 1-11 AM LOS A Open for Local Access 1-11 AM LOS A Open for Local Access AM LOS A Open for Local Access 7) Kelly 3 Case Court None PM LOS A Gate Closed

8 Page 7 Napa Flea Market Traffic and Parking Based on these studies, the Flea Market is successfully managing the traffic at each gate and has distributed the traffic efficiently between each of the gates. The Flea Market should continue to monitor the conditions at each gate, and make adjustments as necessary. There are no further recommendations for changes to the traffic patterns at each gate. Parking Management Issues As noted, the site is sized to handle about 8 vendor s vehicles plus 1,75 parked cars for customers and visitors at any one point in time. The Flea Market operates on Sundays only and is open between 7 AM and 6PM. On most days of operation, there is ample parking on-site. However, there are some occasions where one of the parking lots will reach capacity before the others, and the flea market will then use temporary signing to guide the entering traffic. This is a very fluid condition which can change throughout the day. On-site Parking. The current parking plan has evolved over many years. Our review of the parking shows that current layout is very efficient. The area that is used for customer parking covers about 12.5 acres and has approximately 1,75 spaces. This indicates that the lots accommodate one space for each 32 square feet of area, which indicates a very effective and efficiently striped and. There may be some minor modifications that will improve pedestrian access and traffic circulation, and some changes that could add up to about 1 parking spaces on-site. However, there are many trade-offs that must be considered, particularly for pedestrian safety. Off-site parking. Parking is noted to occur on Kelly Road on Sundays on the east side of the street only. There is also parking on the north side of Case Court, and some parking that occurs on the cul-de-sac street to the south of the site. Much of this parking occurs in order to avoid the entry fee for parking at the flea market, or simply because of the convenient location of the parking. Since most of the neighboring businesses on Case Court are closed on Sundays, this has not been a problem. Not all of this parking is related to the flea market. A rough estimate of the off-site parking for flea market is that there may be about 1 vehicles parking off-site at the times of maximum activity on Sunday between 1 am and 2 pm. During the Sunday periods when there is parking along Kelly Road, the traffic continues to flow smoothly at all times of day. There are some delays that are caused by the vehicles parking along Kelly, but this actually helps to slow traffic on Kelly Road, and provides a traffic calming effect during the times the market is open. Our recommendation would be to continue the current parking conditions. If the Kelly east side parking were to be prohibited, the result would likely be to force this traffic onto other nearby private property. Shuttle Bus Service. To date, the size of the crowds does not dictate the need for such a service. For a shuttle bus service to be effective, there would need to be a large available off-site parking area, and an excess parking demand of over 5 vehicles. This is never expected to occur. Signing on Kelly Road. Figure 4 shows the existing signing on Kelly Road in the area adjacent to the Napa Flea Market. The majority of the signs refer to the parking regulations on Kelly Road. Parking is currently prohibited on the west side of Kelly Road, but permitted on the east side. Of the 23 existing signs, 18 are related to parking regulations.

9 Page 8 Napa Flea Market Traffic and Parking The only other other regulatory signs are related to speed limits. For northbound traffic there is a 5 mph speed limit sign. For southbound traffic, there are two signs that advise of a 4 mph speed limit. The remaining signs have been placed by property owners, and add further emphasis to the parking regulations. The type of signing that would most helpful in this area would be some directional signs directing the flea market customers to the appropriate entrance. The County may also wish to reconsider the speed limits on this portion of Kelly Drive given the level of activity in this area during the flea market. The flea market operator would like to work with the County Traffic Engineer to modify the signing on Kelly Road.

10 NO STOPPING TOW AWAY ZONE PARK PARALLEL 4 M.P.H. + W1-2 NO STOPING AT ANY TIME SPEED LIMIT 5 NO STOPPING AT ANY TIME TOW AWAY ZONE WRONG WAY STOP SEVERE TIRE DAMAGE STOP NOT A THROUGH ROAD + NO PARKING AT ANY TIME FIGURE 4 TRAFFIC SIGNS TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDY Napa Flea Market City of Napa Abrams Associates