Continuing · Comprehensive · Cooperative · Transportation Planning Highway Element of the 2045 Metropolitan Transportation Plan Cumberland County Harnett County Town of Eastover City of Fayetteville Fort Bragg Hoke County Town of Hope Mills Town of Parkton City of Raeford Robeson County Town of Spring Lake March 27, 2019 Draft
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The highway element is the backbone of the entire transportation plan, and has existed since the development of
the first Fayetteville Thoroughfare Plan in the early 1960’s. The thoroughfare planning process was mandated
by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1959 (G.S. 136-66.2). During the 2001 session, the General Assembly
ratified the statute. The statute requires that each MPO in cooperation with the Department of Transportation
develop a Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) in accordance with 23 U.S.C-G.S.134. The statue also
states that an MPO may include projects in its transportation plan that are not included in the financially
constrained plan or are anticipated to be needed beyond the horizon year. Lastly, the statue also states the
development of the transportation plan for municipalities located within the MPO will be done through the MPO
and the MPO will represent the municipalities’ planning and programming interests to the Department. The
Metropolitan Transportation Plan will also be used to update the FAMPO CTP. There are many advantages to highway planning, but the primary mission is to ensure that the road system will be progressively developed to serve future travel demands. Thus, the main consideration in highway planning is to make provisions for future street and road improvements so that, when the need arises, feasible opportunities to make improvements exist. There are two major benefits derived from highway planning. First, each road or highway can be designed to perform a specific function and provide a specific level of service. This permits savings in right-of-way, construction, and maintenance costs. It also protects residential neighborhoods and encourages stability in travel and land use patterns. Second, local officials are informed of future improvements and can incorporate them into planning and policy decisions. This will permit developers to design subdivisions in a non-conflicting manner, direct school and park officials to better locate their facilities and minimize the damage to property values and community appearance that is sometimes associated with roadway improvements.
The Study Area
The model area for the Fayetteville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO) includes all of Cumberland County, and portions of Harnett County, Hoke County, Moore County and Robeson County. However, FAMPO’s Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA) boundary does not include all of Cumberland County. As a result of possible air quality designation as non-attainment for ozone by the Environmental Protection Agency, all of Cumberland County is included in the travel demand model update. The 2045 FAMPO travel demand model is divided into 854 zones that span the MPO planning jurisdiction.
Model Development In order to develop an efficient highway plan it is necessary to develop and calibrate a travel demand model of the study area. Developing a travel demand model requires a methodical process which seeks to emulate the travel patterns in the study area based upon data such as population, employment, land use, the existing and future roadway network, traffic counts and local travel patterns. The 2045 travel demand model used population and employment data for 2015 in the base year and a planning horizon year of 2045. Socioeconomic data, population and employment is then projected to the horizon year and applied to the roadway network. The model may be
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used to evaluate any resulting street system deficiencies generated from future traffic and alternate solutions to these problems. A variant of the traditional four step travel demand model has been developed which includes trip generation, destination choice, mode choice and traffic assignment. Private and commercial vehicle trips are also represented (autos and trucks). Level of service for each model link is also produced as part of the analysis. Detailed model documentation consisting of design considerations and model structure is provided in a report written and is included as Appendix 1 with this document. The 2045 FAMPO travel demand model was developed by Cambridge Systematics in cooperation with NCDOT and FAMPO.
The Roadway Network The purpose of the travel demand model is to replicate the travel patterns of FAMPO’s highway system. Roadways represented in the model include all Interstate, US, and NC facilities as well as locally significant roadways that are relevant to the movement of people and goods within the study area. Generally, major arterials and significant land accesses, and collector streets are represented.
Data Requirements In order to produce an adequate traffic model of the study area, two primary types of data are required. First, traffic counts on routes used in the model provide a basis for calibrating the model. These traffic counts show a snapshot of traffic conditions in the study area. Second, socioeconomic data (household data and employment estimates by Standard Industrial Code classification) are necessary in order to generate traffic within the model. The data for the dwelling units and employment for 2015 were developed using the 2010 Census Blocks and the 2016 American Community Survey data from the United States Census Bureau. The projection of socioeconomic data to the future year was performed by the FAMPO staff, as well as the collection of the base year socioeconomic data, and was based on historical growth trends throughout the respective counties.
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Distribution of Total Population by Transportation Analysis Zone
Figure 1 - Cambridge Systematics
Land Use Scenario Overview Maps
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Distribution of Total Employment by Transportation Analysis Zone
Figure 2 - Cambridge Systematics
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Highway Classification System Streets perform two primary functions, traffic service and land access, which when combined are basically incompatible. The conflict is not serious if both traffic and land service demands are low. However, when traffic volumes are high, conflicts created by uncontrolled and intensely developed abutting property lead to intolerable traffic flow friction and congestion. The underlying concept of the highway plan is that it provides a functional system of streets that permits travel from origins to destinations with directness, ease and safety. Different streets in this system are designed and called on to perform specific functions, thus minimizing the traffic and land service conflict. For the purpose of simplicity, the classification system used in this plan is the recently approved Functional Classification Update.
Idealized Major Highway System
The coordinated system of major highways that is most adaptable to the desired lines of travel within an urban area and that is reflected in most urban area highway plans is the radial-loop system. The radial-loop system includes radials, cross towns, loops, and bypasses. Radial streets provide for traffic movement between points located on the outskirts of the city and the central area. This is a major traffic movement in most cities, and the economic strength of the central business district depends upon the adequacy of this type of highway. If all radial streets crossed in the central area, an intolerable congestion problem would result. To avoid this problem, it is very important to have a system of cross town streets that form a loop around the central business district. This system allows traffic moving from origins on one side of the central area to destinations on the other side to follow the area’s border. It also allows central area traffic to circle and then enter the area near a given destination. The effect of a good cross town system is to free the central area of cross town traffic, thus permitting the central area to function more adequately in its role as a business or pedestrian shopping area. Loop system streets move traffic between suburban areas of the city. Although a loop may completely encircle the city, a typical trip may be from an origin near a radial thoroughfare to a destination near another radial thoroughfare. Loop streets do not necessarily carry heavy volumes of traffic, but they function to help relieve central areas. There may be one or more loops, depending on the size of the urban area. They are generally spaced one-half mile to one mile apart, depending on the intensity of land use. A bypass is designed to carry traffic through or around the urban area, thus providing relief to the city street system by removing traffic that has no desire to be in the city. Bypasses are usually designed to through-highway standards, with control of access. Occasionally, a bypass with low traffic volume can be designed to function as a portion of an urban loop. The general effect of bypasses is to expedite the movement of through traffic and to improve traffic conditions within the city. By freeing the local streets for use by shopping and home-to-work traffic, bypasses tend to increase the economic vitality of the local area.
Objectives of Highway Planning
Highway planning is the process public officials use to assure the development of the most appropriate street system that will meet existing and future travel needs within the urban area. The primary aim of a highway plan is to guide the development of the urban street system in a manner
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consistent with the changing traffic patterns. A highway plan will enable street improvements to be made as traffic demands increase, and it helps to eliminate unnecessary improvements, so needless expenses can be averted. By developing the urban street system to keep pace with increasing traffic demands, a maximum utilization of the system can be attained, requiring a minimum amount of land for street purposes. In addition to providing for traffic needs the highway plan should embody those details of good urban planning necessary to present a pleasing and efficient urban community. The use of Context Sensitive Design standards, as recommended by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), will be employed by the MPO and recommended to NCDOT as often as possible, making our network a true multi-modal system that is accepted by our citizens and that provides them with a better quality of life by providing a sense of place. The location of present and future population, commercial, and industrial development effects major street and highway locations. Conversely, the location of major streets and highways within the urban area will influence the urban development pattern. Other objectives of a highway plan include:
To provide for the orderly development of an adequate major street system as land development occurs;
To reduce travel and transportation costs;
To reduce the cost of major street improvements to the public through the coordination of the
street system with private action; To enable private interest to plan their actions, improvements, and development with full
knowledge of public intent;
To minimize disruption and displacement of people and businesses through long-range advance planning for major street improvements;
To reduce environmental impacts resulting from transportation, and To increase travel safety.
These objectives are achieved through improving both the operational efficiency of highways and improving the system efficiency through system coordination and layout.
Operational Efficiency The operational efficiency of a street is improved by increasing its capability to carry more vehicular traffic and people. In terms of vehicular traffic, a street’s capacity is defined by the maximum number of vehicles which can pass a given point on a roadway during a given time period under prevailing roadway and traffic conditions. Capacity is affected by the physical features of the roadway, nature of traffic, and weather.
Physical ways to improve both vehicular and non-motorized capacity include:
Street widening - widening of a street from two to four lanes more than doubles the capacity of the street by providing additional maneuverability for traffic.
Intersection improvements - increasing the turning radii, adding exclusive turn lanes, and
channelizing movements can improve the capacity and safety of an existing intersection.
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Improvement of vertical and horizontal alignment - reduces the congestion caused by slow moving vehicles.
Elimination of roadside obstacles - reduces side friction and improves a driver’s field of
sight.
Implementation of Complete Streets Standards designed to offer something for everyone
including sidewalks, bike lanes, wide shoulders, abundant crosswalks, refuge medians,
special bus lanes, raised lanes, audible pedestrian signals, bus pull outs, and sidewalk bulb-
outs. The “Complete Streets” policy adopted by the NCDOT “directs the department to
consider and incorporate several modes of transportation when building new projects or
making improvements to existing infrastructure”. They describe the benefits of this approach
as:
o Making it easier for travelers to get where they need to go;
o Encouraging the use of alternative forms of transportation;
o Building more sustainable communities;
o Increasing connectivity between neighborhoods, street, and transit systems;
o Improving safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.
FAMPO encourages the use of the complete streets concept in all current and future projects
where feasible. The Raeford Road Corridor Study, a joint effort between the City of Fayetteville,
NCDOT, and FAMPO, embraced many complete street guidelines. These streets encourage
walking and bike riding and improve safety, while increasing capacity and welcoming all citizens
by providing an interconnected, multi-modal transportation network. They are also fiscally
responsible for the many low cost solutions that they can offer. Other complete streets projects
being promoted in the FAMPO region include Murchison Road, Ramsey Street, and Robeson
Street.
The northern Ramsey Street project in Fayetteville (pictured above) implemented many Complete Streets principles which helped increase safety and improve walkability through the corridor.
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Operational strategies to improve street capacity include:
Control of Access - a roadway with complete access control can often carry three times the traffic handled by a non-controlled access street with identical lane width and number.
Parking removal - Increases capacity by providing additional street width for traffic flow
and reducing friction to flow caused by parking and un-parking vehicles.
One-way operation - The capacity of a street can sometimes be increased 20 -50%, depending upon turning movements and overall street width, by initiating one-way traffic operations. One-way streets can also improve traffic flow by decreasing potential traffic conflicts and simplifying traffic signal coordination.
Reversible lane - Reversible traffic lanes may be used to increase street capacity in situations
where heavy directional flows occur during peak periods.
Road Diets - techniques to reduce the number of lanes on a roadway cross-section or to add
multi-modal capacity without necessarily displacing traffic. On higher volume roads, signals
may be replaced with roundabouts, and other means to keep traffic moving smoothly and
uniformly and minimize idling. Other benefits of road diets include lower vehicular speeds
and/or improved pedestrian safety. Also, road diets may promote better land use, reduce
induced vehicular traffic, promote greater driver attentiveness, and promote cycling.
Providing left turn lanes at intersections improves vehicular safety and can enable efficiency
gains along the roadway.
Signal phasing and coordination - Uncoordinated signals and poor signal phasing restrict
traffic flow by creating inefficient stop-and-go operation. Travel Demand Management is another method used to improve the efficiency of existing streets. Travel demand can be reduced or altered in the following ways: Carpools - Encourage people to form carpools and vanpools for journeys to work and other
trip purposes. This reduces the number of vehicles on the roadway and raises the people carrying capability of the street system.
Alternate mode - Encourage the use of non-highway modes of transportation including
transit, bike or walking when appropriate. Work hours - Encourage industries, businesses, and institutions to stagger work hours or
establish variable work hours for employees. This will spread peak travel over a longer time period and thus reduce peak hour demand.
Land use - Plan and encourage land use development or redevelopment in a more travel
efficient manner. FAMPO staff participates in plan review for Cumberland County and the City of Fayetteville to help accomplish this goal.
System Efficiency Another means for altering travel demand is the development of a more efficient system of streets that will better serve travel demand. A more efficient system can reduce travel distances, time, and
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cost to the user. Improvements in system efficiency can be achieved through the concept of functional classification of streets and development of a coordinated major street system.
Application of Highway Planning Principles The concepts presented in the discussion of operational efficiency, system efficiency, functional classification, and idealized major highway system are the conceptual tools available to the transportation planner in developing a highway plan. In actual practice highway planning is done for established urban areas and is constrained by existing land use and street patterns, existing public attitudes and goals, and current expectations of future land use. Compromises must be made because of these and the many other factors that affect major street locations. Through the highway planning process, it is necessary from a practical viewpoint that certain basic principles be followed as closely as possible. These principles are listed below:
1. The plan should be derived from a thorough knowledge of today’s travel - its component parts, and the factors that contribute to it, limit it, and modify it.
2. Traffic demands must be enough to warrant the designation and development of each major
street. The highway plan should be designed to accommodate a large portion of major traffic movements on a few streets.
3. The plan should conform to and provide for the land development plan for the area. 4. Certain considerations must be given to urban development beyond the current planning
period. Particularly in outlying or sparsely developed areas that have development potential, it is necessary to designate roadway facilities on a long-range planning basis to protect rights-of-way for future development.
While being consistent with the above principles and realistic in terms of travel trends, the plan must be economically feasible.
Environmental Concerns In the past several years, environmental considerations associated with highway construction have come to the forefront of the planning process. The legislation that dictates the necessary procedures regarding environmental impacts is the National Environmental Policy Act. Section 102 of this act requires the execution of an environmental impact statement, or EIS, for road projects that have a significant impact on the environment. Included in an EIS would be the project’s impact on wetlands, water quality, historic properties, wildlife, and public lands. SAFTEA-LU (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act – A Legacy for Users) of 2005 and MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century) of 2012 as well as the FAST (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) Act of 2015 each emphasized the need to evaluate environmental and social impacts by requiring consultation with resource agencies (U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Historic Preservation Offices, U.S. Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, etc.) and the formulation of a systems level Mitigation Plan to be included in the 2045 FAMPO Metropolitan Transportation Plan. A selection of maps depicting sensitive areas is included in this plan. The Mitigation Plan will include additional maps and will describe the methodology and sources used in generating them.
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Wetlands, Forests, and other Natural Areas In general terms, wetlands are lands where saturation with water is the dominant factor in determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface. The single feature that most wetlands share is soil or substrata that is at least periodically saturated with or covered by water. Water creates severe physiological problems for all plants and animals except those that are adapted for life in it or in saturated soil.
Wetlands and other natural areas are crucial ecosystems in our environment. They help regulate and
maintain the hydrology of our rivers, lakes, and streams by slowly storing and releasing floodwaters.
They help maintain the quality of our water by storing nutrients, reducing sediment loads, and
reducing erosion. They are also critical to fish and wildlife populations. Wetlands provide an
important habitat for about one third of the plant and animal species that are federally listed as
threatened or endangered. Riparian forests are those forested lands adjacent to streams, rivers, or
shorelines that form the transition between land and water environments. Although riparian areas
typically comprise only about 5 to 10 percent of the land in the watershed, they play an important
role in maintaining the health of watersheds. Forests are the most effective type of riparian buffer.
Riparian forest buffers improve water quality while providing habitat for wildlife and fish.
Riparian buffers are key to controlling non-point source pollution. They also:
• Help maintain the integrity of stream channels and shorelines;
• Reduce the impact of upland sources of pollution by trapping, filtering and converting sediments,
nutrients and other chemicals; and
• Supply food, cover and thermal protection to fish and other wildlife.
Planning in coordination with various natural resources partners and implementing best management practices, including those outlined in the Green Highways Concept, allow wetlands and forests impacts to be avoided or minimized to the greatest extent possible while preserving the integrity of the transportation plan. The Green Highways concept embraces the following strategies:
Threatened and Endangered Species The Threatened and Endangered Species Act of 1973 allows the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to impose measures on the Department of Transportation to mitigate the environmental impacts of a road project on endangered plants and animals and critical wildlife habitats. By locating rare species in the planning stage of road construction, we can avoid or minimize these impacts.
Historic Sites The federal government has issued guidelines requiring all State Transportation Departments to make special efforts to preserve historic sites. In addition, the State of North Carolina has issued its own guidelines for the preservation of historic sites. These two pieces of legislation are described below:
National Historic Preservation Act - Section 106 of this act requires the Department of Transportation to identify historic properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places and properties eligible to be listed. The Department of Transportation must consider the impacts of road projects on historic properties and consult with the Federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
NC General Statute 121-12(a) - This statute requires the Department of Transportation to identify historic properties listed on the National Register, but not necessarily those eligible to be listed. The Department of Transportation must consider impacts and consult with the North Carolina Historical Commission, but the Department is not bound by their recommendations.
Measures will be taken to make certain that all historic sites and natural settings in the Fayetteville Metropolitan Area are preserved. Therefore, further evaluations of local historic sites will be conducted prior to the construction of any proposal.
Archaeology FAMPO coordinates with resource agencies to identify potential areas and mitigate as necessary, in accordance with the Mitigation and Consultation element of the MTP. FAMPO will incorporate GIS datasets into our planning process as they are developed. There are various archaeological sites located in the Fayetteville Metropolitan Area, and care will be taken to ensure that any possible archaeological sites will be evaluated prior to the construction of any proposals.
Air Quality
Protecting environmental air quality is essential to preserving a high quality of life for residents of
the Fayetteville Metropolitan Area. There is widespread recognition that a clean and healthy
environment is a prerequisite for a high quality of life. In transportation planning, FAMPO strives
to make the design, construction and management of our region’s transportation system conducive
to the conservation, restoration or minimization of adverse impacts to the natural environment,
including improving and maintaining air quality standards. To this end, FAMPO participates in the
1 K = LA; L = Length of vertical curve, A = Algebraic difference of grades (%) 2 100 feet minimum distance between vertical curves 3 Use super elevation – 0.06 feet/feet 4 At intersections with other collectors and thoroughfares that will be determined through traffic
analysis of the area 5 Design speed of 40 mph 6 Design speed of 50 mph 7 Shoulder sections
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Appendices
Appendix 1: MTP Model Development Report
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), in cooperation with the
Fayetteville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO), has updated the FAMPO travel
demand model, in order to better serve the planning needs in the region. The FAMPO plans to
use the updated model to support the development of a new Metropolitan Transportation Plan
(MTP) starting in 2018. In addition to supporting the MTP development, the updated model will
serve as an analytical tool to provide technical support to regional planning studies such as
transportation improvement program and to planning studies at the subarea and corridor level,
with appropriate refinement and validation. NCDOT initiated a joint model development
process through the active participation of NCDOT staff and FAMPO staff, as well as
Cambridge Systematics (CS). NCDOT and FAMPO staff include modelers, planners and
engineers, who were actively engaged in appropriate model development efforts and in providing
oversight and guidance on model developments.
Model Design Considerations
The model design considers the NCDOT’s and FAMPO’s needs in applying the FAMPO model
for planning and policy evaluations. This consideration is consistent with the needs about
considering the measures of effectiveness and performance measures that the model will
generate, especially in relation to the development of a prioritization process for projects. The
new FAMPO model can contribute to the prioritization process of projects in the region. It is
essential to first develop measures of effectiveness and performance measures that will be
expected to be generated from the regional model and to clearly define the role of the regional
model in the planning process, recognizing that the regional model is just one tool in
the toolbox.
The project scoping meeting on August 9, 2017 confirmed the objectives and needs of the
FAMPO travel demand model update.
• The updated model should be a trip-based model, with a model structure similar to the
existing model.
• The Fort Bragg Military Reservation should receive special treatment, given its unique
travel characteristics.
• Feedback loop will be added to the model structure so as to account for the potential
effects of congestions.
• New data sources should be taken advantage of during the model development process,
including the 2017 NHTS Add-On and big data such as Origin Destination data.
The model design plan considers the following publications as references:
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• Cambridge Systematics, Inc. Final Report: Validation and Sensitivity Considerations for
Statewide Models, NCHRP Project 836-B Task 91, Prepared for American Association
of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), September 2010.
• Cambridge Systematics, Inc. NCHRP Report 716: Travel Demand Forecasting
Parameters and Techniques, Prepared for the Transportation Research Board, 2012.
• Cambridge Systematics, Inc., Travel Demand Modeling Policies and Procedures,
prepared for VDOT by Cambridge Systematics, June 2014.
• Cambridge Systematics, Inc. A Recommended Approach to Delineating Traffic Analysis
Zones in Florida. Prepared for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)
• NCDOT Small Area Travel Demand Model Guidelines (August 2008)
• Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) FSUTMS–Cube Framework Phase II
Model Calibration and Validation Standards
Model Structure
The overall model structure uses a variant of the traditional four-step procedure, including trip
generation, destination choice, mode choice, and traffic assignment. The overall modeling
process is a typical one for a conventional trip-based model, exemplified by a recommended
travel demand model process defined in the manual, Travel Demand Modeling Policies and
Procedures (2014).
A trip generation model includes Internal-Internal (I-I) trips, Internal-External (I-E) trips,
External-Internal (E-I) trips, and External-External (E-E) trips. The survey data (2007
Fayetteville Household Travel Survey and 2017 NHTS Add-On data) were used as the source of
data for the I-I trips that are produced by residents, and StreetLight origin-destination (O-D) data
were used to estimate external travel. The model considers five trip purposes: home-based work