Transportation Plan - 2009, amended

3.0 E xisting C onditions 3.1 Roadways

The people of Morrisville live in a place that many other people are going through on the way to someplace else: Research Triangle Park, Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and the municipalities of Raleigh, Cary, and Durham. This statement was particularly true until the turn of the millennium, when the night-time, residential population of the Town started to catch up with the day-time, employee population. Many of these new residents are accommodated in residential subdivisions that exemplify disconnected development pat- terns. Figure 3.1 compares the suburban land use and transportation pattern of Morrisville to the more connected patterns of other cities. Morrisville’s development is the product of rural heritage and suburban location. However, it has the option of development pat- terns that are more connected, which could allow for shorter trips between work, home and shopping.

Figure 3.1 Example Land Use and Transportation Patterns

The impact of the suburban development pattern is to funnel nearly all trips onto a few major (arterial) roads. Combined with Morrisville’s rapid development and the fact that more than 90% of all trips in Morrisville are made by private automobile (the vast majority with just one person in the car), this pattern has led to substantial traffic congestion and delays. Moreover, the Triangle Region’s municipalities, including Morrisville, perennially exceed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits for major air quality pollutants like ozone, partially due to the reliance on private automobile travel. Level of Service Traffic specialists and engineers typically measure transportation performance in two ways: traveler delay (especially during “peak” morning and evening rush periods) and the number of traffic accidents. Figure 3.2 illustrates recent data for the former. Note that the Level-of-Service letter codes are simply a shorthand way of discussing traffic in terms of traveler delays. Like a grade received in school, ‘A’ is great, indicating that the vehicle traffic is within the roadway capacity and flows freely, but ‘F’ is bad, indicating that vehicle traffic greatly exceeds the design capacity for that road, leading to significant delays (Figure 3.3 below provides more detail). The grades are given based on the worst conditions on a roadway, during peak times, and can be different for different directions (e.g., northbound is rated ‘A’ but south- bound is rated ‘C’). These reflect current conditions as of spring 2008, with ongo- ing widening projects unaccounted for.

A. (above) Photos and graphics illustrate the different land use patterns of cities. Note the connected patterns of both Boston and Portland, characteristic of older cities. More recent forms are less planned and more focused on separating land uses from each other. B. (below) Diagrams compare Connected and Separated land use and transportation patterns. These patterns have implications for development costs, traffic congestion, and the ability to travel to basic needs by car, foot, transit, or bicycle.

Connected

Figure 3.3 Basic Level-of-Service (LOS) Descriptions

Car

Example Morrisville Locations

Bike 3

Pedestrian 4

LOS

Street 1

Intersection 2

A >80%

<10

<10

<10

Eastbound ramp to NC 540 from NC 54

Separated

B 65-80 C 50-65

10-20 20-35

10 - 20

10 - 20 Town Hall Drive

20 – 30 20 – 30 Eastbound Aviation Parkway 30 – 40 30 – 40 Perimeter Park Drive at Airport Boulevard 40 – 60 40 – 60 Morrisville Parkway at NC 54

D 40-50

35-55

E 25-40

55-80

F

<25

>80

>60

>60

Aviation Parkway at NC 54

(1) Percent of free-flow vehicle speed on road. E.g., if the speed you drive in free- flowing traffic (no delays) is 45 mph, then the roadway receives an ‘A’ if the speed at peak times is greater than 36 mph (80%). (2) Intersection delay, in seconds.

(3) Bicycle delay at intersection, in seconds. (4) Pedestrian delay at intersection, in seconds.

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3 Existing Conditions