Transportation Plan - 2009, amended

3.1 Roadways cont’d

Level of service (LOS) of ‘D’ or above is generally considered acceptable. Roadways and intersections with an LOS of ‘E’ or ‘F’ are considered unacceptable and should be targeted for improvements. Current level of service in Morrisville, as illustrated in Figure 3.2, could then be considered unaccept- able for many main roadways, such as Davis Drive, Morrisville- Carpenter Road, and some segments of NC 54. Problematic intersections are similar, including those in the Town Center, along Davis Drive and Cary Parkway, several locations along NC 54, McCrimmon Parkway at Church Street, and Airport Boulevard and Factory Shops Road. Accidents Vehicle accidents in Morrisville, as shown in Figures 3.4 and 3.5, are highest along Cary Parkway, segments of NC 54, Air- port Boulevard, Aviation Parkway and Morrisville-Carpenter Road. Since these roadways also carry the heaviest traffic through the town and rank among the worst level of service, this data is not surprising. The specific locations with the high- est number of accidents include Airport Boulevard at Fac- tory Shops Road and near Cary Parkway and NC 54. More detailed accident data is provided for major roadways as part of the roadway inventory in Appendix E. Accidents involving collisions between vehicles and bicy- clists or pedestrians are of particular concern in terms of tar- geting locations where improvements could have the most safety benefits. Figure 3.4 also shows the locations of those accidents, which are distributed around the town, with some concentration along Airport Boulevard, McCrimmon Park- way, and Morrisville-Carpenter Road. Parkside Valley Drive, a residential collector through a major subdivision, shows two pedestrian-related accidents which occurred prior to the 2007 improvements to that roadway. Those improve- ments included high-visibility crosswalks and narrowing the roadway by adding striped bike lanes. This data will inform the discussion of bicycle/pedestrian recommendations in this Plan. Intersections In addition, during the first public workshop held as part of the transportation planning process, participants were asked to tell us the most problematic intersections in Morrisville (Figure 3.6). These intersections largely match those with poor levels of service in Figure 3.2. Along with accident data, this input was then used to select intersections for more detailed study (Appendix F), which then informed the recommendations in Section Five.

Figure 3.5 High Vehicle Accident Locations in Morrisville 2002-2007

Accidents 2002-2007

Highest Vehicle Accident Intersections

NC 54 & Cary Parkway

60 59 53 53 50

Airport Boulevard & Factory Shops Road

NC 54 & Aviation Parkway/Morrisville-Carpenter Road

Davis Drive & Morrisville-Carpenter Road Church Street & McCrimmon Parkway

Accidents 2002-2007

Highest Vehicle Accident Segments

NC 54 between Weston Parkway and Cary Parkway Airport Boulevard between I-40 and Slater Road Cary Parkway between NC 54 and Darrington Road NC 54 between Cary Parkway and Wilson Road

50 39 34 19

Accidents per mile 2002-2007

Overall Roadway Accidents (Intersections + Segments)

NC 54 south of Aviation Parkway

181 143 135 135 121

Cary Parkway

Aviation Parkway Airport Boulevard

Morrisville-Carpenter Road

Davis Drive

94 81 77 66 59 57 35

NC 54 from McCrimmon Parkway to Aviation Parkway

McCrimmon Parkway Morrisville Parkway

NC 54 from NC 540 to McCrimmon Parkway

Perimeter Park Drive

Church Street

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3 Existing Conditions