lettertotheeditor
Reader gives reasons for his support of new traffic study
In response to the May 25 article (in farragutpress) regarding the townhomes for the Biddle Farms Town Center, I was surprised by how much information was missing regarding my comments on the traffic implications in and around this area.
The article stated, “Farragut resident Michael Wilson asked for another traffic study. It would include the townhomes, thus updating the development’s original plan.”
While I indeed ask for a new traffic study, the reasons I called for it were left out of the article.
There were three major issues I raised during my comments. First, the previous Biddle Farm traffic study clearly indicated that a Level-of-Service rating of E and F is considered unacceptable by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. In the original Biddle Farm traffic study, there are 16 instances of lanes having an E or F LOS rating during peak service times by 2025.
These LOS ratings include the planned mitigation strategies of Optimized Signal Timing and Double Left- and Right-Turn Lanes at the two intersections on Kingston Pike (Concord Road & Campbell Station).
Next, I quoted the Biddle Farm Traffic Study regarding the challenge of placing double left-turn lanes at Campbell Station. The study says, “Double left-turn movements for the Kingston Pike and Campbell Station Road intersection would be very difficult with the current development of the intersection corners. The provision of these double left-turn lanes would require several design exceptions if they were to be considered by the Town of Farragut, minimizing any right-of-way.” (Emphasis added) I questioned how these design exceptions will impact public safety in an area with high-vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Finally, I noted the Biddle Farm Traffic Study used an assumption that background traffic volumes would grow by 3.5 percent compounded annually from 2020-2025.
I then noted that, based on the 2022 TDOT Vehicle Counts, the average Concord Road vehicle counts increased by 4.4 percent per year from 2020–2022. During this same time, South Campbell Station Road vehicle counts increased 4.9 percent per year. The TDOT Average Annual Daily Trip calculations from 2020–2021 indicate Concord Road increased by 26 percent (after a 16 percent decrease in 2020).
This same data shows that the S. Campbell Station Road AADT calculations from 2020–2021 increased 32 percent (after an 11 percent decrease in 2020).
All of these numbers are well above the 3.5 percent growth number used to calculate the 2025 Levels-of-Service in the four intersections along Kingston Pike. This ultimately means that the number of unacceptable (E and F) Level-of-Service Ratings is likely much higher than 16; that is before adding 48 additional townhomes to this area.
What I actually asked for was a new traffic study that incorporates the 2022 traffic volumes and re-assess the Level-of-Service at the four impacted intersections along a half-mile section of Kingston Pike.
Simply updating the previous study by adding the additional 48 townhomes does not accurately depict what is happening with traffic in this area.
Michael Wilson
Farragut
