Avery Road Widening
Evaluation of Scenarios
Each of the three scenarios was evaluated under the following criteria.
Traffic Safety - potential for preventing traffic crashes under future traffic demands. The potential for traffic crashes is greatest at locations where conflicting vehicles cross paths, such as on undivided roadways, and at intersections and driveways. Minimizing the number of conflicts at access points and providing appropriate traffic control at intersections maximizes traffic safety on an arterial such as this.
Construction Cost - total construction cost for the project. The cost includes roadway construction, drainage, right-of-way, and access and service road construction.
Land Use - impacts to the ability to maintain and develop adjacent land for its desired use, consistent with the current City of Dublin Community Plan.
Environmental - impacts to the environment. Impacts include potential impacts to environmentally sensitive areas such as public parks, streams, cemeteries, wetlands, historical or cultural sites. Also included are air quality impacts, storm water runoff increases, and noise impacts.
Community - impacts to neighborhoods such as pedestrian convenience and safety, cut-through traffic, noise, and aesthetics.
Traffic Operational Efficiency - Amount of total delay and vehicle backups under forecasted traffic demand.
Scenarios Comparison
Traffic Safety |
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Scenario 1 |
The consolidation of access points to Avery Road and elimination of direct left turns at driveways by way of the center median will significantly decrease the number of conflict points in the corridor, and thus represents a major safety benefit over the no-build option. The angle accident potential at the signalized intersections for this scenario is greater than for the roundabout intersections in Scenarios 2 and 3. Pedestrian safety is increased by the construction of sidewalks and bikeways and minimizing driveway conflicts along these pedestrian/bike facilities. Pedestrian crosswalks would be provided at the signalized intersections with pedestrian pushbuttons to provide adequate signal timing for crossings. |
Scenario 2 |
In addition to the benefits of access consolidation and the center median for Scenario 1, the roundabout intersections at Shier-Rings Road and Tuswell Drive would nearly eliminate the potential for severe angle crashes, making Scenario 2 safer than Scenario 1. Also, roundabouts have been shown to be safer than traditional intersections for pedestrians. |
Scenario 3 |
In addition to the benefits of Scenario 2, the roundabout at Woerner-Temple Road nearly eliminates the severe angle crash potential at this intersection, making Scenario 3 safer than Scenario 2. |
Construction Cost |
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Scenario 1 |
Estimated construction cost is $ 9.8 million. |
Scenario 2 |
Estimated construction cost is $ 8.1 million. |
Scenario 3 |
Estimated construction cost is $ 8.1 million. |
Land Use Impacts |
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Scenario 1 |
As the traffic volume on Avery Road more than doubles during the next 20-25 years, the improvements in this scenario will be a major benefit to potential land usage adjacent to Avery Road. This scenario creates safe and convenient access, which would not be the case under the current access conditions. Service road connections to the signalized intersection location at Tuswell Drive would provide adequate access to Avery Road. However, the construction of parallel service roads could have a significant impact on usable lot sizes. The final alignments of such service roads should be based on the preserving the usefulness of impacted properties. |
Scenario 2 |
In addition to the future benefits of Scenario 1, the U-turn location provided by the roundabouts at Shier-Rings Road and Tuswell Road eliminates the need for parallel service roads, making this scenario much less impacting to adjacent properties. |
Scenario 3 |
The benefits of this scenario are the same as for Scenario 2. |
Environmental Impacts |
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Scenario 1 |
For this scenario minor negative impacts will result from additional storm water runoff due to the increased amount of impervious area (pavement) created by road widening and service road construction. Additionally, the construction of the service roads will have some minor impacts to existing streams. These negative impacts are somewhat offset by a decrease in air pollution due to more efficient vehicular traffic flow. |
Scenario 2 |
The negative impacts of this scenario are similar to those of Scenario 1, except that service roads are not required, thus significantly reducing the amount of pavement required and eliminating potential stream impacts. Also, less pavement widening is required on Avery Road between the intersections than Scenario 1, which will further decrease the net amount of storm water runoff. Positive environmental impacts are that more efficient vehicular flow will decrease air pollution, and there will be significantly less noise due to fewer decelerating, accelerating, and stopping vehicles at the proposed roundabout intersections at Shier-Rings Road and Tuswell Drive than at the respective signalized intersections in Scenario 1. |
Scenario 3 |
The impacts of this scenario are the same as for Scenario 2 except that there is an additional reduction in pavement required. Also, the roundabout intersection at Woerner-Temple Road will further reduce air pollution and noise. |
Community |
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Scenario 1 |
Boulevard type construction with sidewalks and bike paths will improve corridor aesthetics and pedestrian environment. Vehicular and Pedestrian safety is enhanced (see Traffic Safety). |
Scenario 2 |
In addition to the benefits of Scenario 1, roundabout intersections at Shier-Rings Road and Tuswell Drive will provide lower noise levels than traffic signals due to reduced numbers of stopping and accelerating vehicles. There is greater potential for additional green space and aesthetics due to the reduced amount of pavement needed compared to Scenario 1. Traffic and pedestrian safety is further enhanced because of the roundabout intersections (see Traffic Safety). A negative impact of this scenario only, is that due to restricting left turns onto Avery Road south of Tuswell Drive, it is anticipated that a small amount of additional traffic will pass through the neighborhood, with the highest during any one hour being 12 additional vehicles (morning peak). This equates to one car every 5 minutes. |
Scenario 3 |
In addition to the benefits of Scenario 2, the roundabout intersection at Woerner-Temple Road will provide lower noise levels than a traffic signal. There is greater potential for additional aesthetics and green space due to the reduced amount of pavement needed compared to Scenarios 1 and 2. Traffic and pedestrian safety is further enhanced because of the additional roundabout intersection (see Traffic Safety). There are no identified negative community impacts for this scenario. |
Traffic Operational Efficiency |
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Scenario 1 |
The access consolidation, center median, and traffic signals in this scenario provide a major traffic operations improvement compared to current conditions, particularly under anticipated future traffic conditions. This scenario provides the opportunity for adjacent properties to access Avery Road at a signalized location, which will provide better convenience during peak hours of travel, during which accessing Avery Road would be difficult without the aid of a signal. |
Scenario 2 |
In addition to the benefits of the access consolidation and center median in Scenario 1, the roundabout intersections at Shier-Rings Road and Tuswell Drive provide better traffic operation than the respective signalized intersections in Scenario 1. |
Scenario 3 |
In addition to the benefits of Scenario 2, the roundabout intersection at Woerner-Temple Road provides better operation than the signalized intersection in Scenario 2. |
