LTC 092-2010 Drexel Avenue Closure Expanded Area Traffic Study® ,
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER ~~ ~ ~ 3 3 ~;~ ~ ~ ~ ~~,.,
No. LTC # , ~ LE1L~'~ T4~!~,~~~MmmIW1FSSION
X092-2010 ,
TO: ~ Mayor Matti H: Bower and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager ` "~' JM~
DATE: April 1, 2010
SUBJECT: Drexel Avenue Closure Expanded Area Traffic Study
The purpose of this Letter to Commission (LTC) is to inform you of the status of the Drexel Avenue Closure
Expanded. Area Traffic Study. At the January 13, 2010 City Commission meeting, the closure of Drexel
Avenue was approved. As part of this approval, City staff was requested to conduct an expanded traffic study
for the parking garages and surface lots in~the vicinity of New World Symphony, City Hall, and the Convention
Center. The Commission authorized the Administration to execute the study; however, staff was also
directed to issue an LTC if the cost of the study would be over $25,000 prior to the signing of the study
agreement by the City Manager. The purpose of the traffic study is to develop traffic operations plan options
taking into consideration current and projected traffic flows and identifying options that minimize the impacts
of this traffic on the Flamingo/Lummus Neighborhood as a result of these developments.
Ci staff received a ro osal with I fee of 100 000 for the r
ty p p $ equested traffic study from PBS&J, which is the
engineering consulting firm who conducted the first phase of the Drexel Avenue Closure Study (see
Attachment, Proposed Scope of Work and Fee by PBS&J). The proposed fee of $100,000 of the Expanded
Area Traffic Study was negotiated down by staff to $49,938. This amount is considered to be fair and
reasonable for the professional services required by the scope of work.
City staff will be issuing a notice to proceed so the study can be completed as per the schedule provided in .
the attached PBS&J scope of work which, include completion of the preliminary recommendations and draft
memo four weeks after notice to proceed and final recommendations and traffic study report 3.5 weeks after
the major event (Memorial Day weekend).
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Attachment: Proposed-Scope of Work and Fee by PBS&J
JMG/J /FB/FV/XF/CB
F:\cmgr\$ALL\JGG\NWS\Drexel Avenue Expanded Area Study-rev5.doc
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
PROPOSED DREXEL AVENUE CLOSURE -EXPANDED STUDY AREA
INTRODUCTION
At the request of City of Miami Beach, PBS&J had performed a transportation study to analyze
the impacts of the closure of Drexel Avenue; the study area was from Pennsylvania Avenue on
the west to Washington Avenue on the east and from 17th Street on the north to 16th Street on the
south. The City has now requested PBS&J to expand this area of study from Meridian Avenue
on the west to Washington Avenue on the east and from 17th Street on the north to 15th Street on
the south. This traffic operational study of the expanded area will- cover the 17th Street parking
garage, the convention center parking lot, the New World Symphony. parking garage and the P-
Lotboth under normal conditions and- special event conditions. The study will help determine the
traffic patterns in the neighborhood during peak hours of operation on regular weekdays and
during special events and will examine potential traffic circulation improvement alternatives
including improved signal synchronization to minimize the impact of traffic on the local roads in
the neighborhood and alleviate traffic congestion within the area during major events. Figure 1
shows the expanded study area.
STUDY AREA
The Miami-Dade ~ County signal systems database has identified the following signals within the
study area. Since signalized intersections are points of bottle necks on an arterial, the following.
signalized intersections will be studied and analyzed as part of this study:
• Drexel Av & 15 St, Signal Asset ID - 2706.
• Drexel Av & 16 St, Signal Asset ID - 2707
• Drexel Av & Lincoln Rd, Signal Asset ID - 2708
• Euclid Av & 15 St, Signal Asset ID - 2710
• Meridian Av & 15 St, Signal Asset ID - 2745
• Meridian Av & 16 St, Signal Asset ID - 2746
• Lincoln Rd & Meridian Av, Signal Asset ID - 2747
• Meridian Av & 17 St, Signal Asset ID - 2748
• Lincoln Rd & Pennsylvania Av, Signal Asset ID - 2769
• Washington Av & 15 St, Signal Asset ID - 2805
• Washington Av & 16 St, Signal Asset ID - 2806
• Lincoln Rd & Washington Av, Signal Asset ID - 2807
• Washington Av & 17 St, Signal Asset ID - 280,8
• Washington Av /Lincoln Rd / 16 St, Signal Asset ID - 2818
• 17 St /Meridian Av /Meridian Ct/Euclid Av, Signal Asset ID - 3395
~ Convention Center Dr & 17 St, Signal Asset ID - 4275
• Drexel Av & 17 St, Signal Asset ID - 6023
1
Some of the intersections above have already been studied as part of the previous study and the
results from those will be incorporated within the expanded area.
Figure 1
It is anticipated that following tasks will be needed to complete the study as mentioned above:
Task 1 Data Collection and Parking Review
Task 2 Existing Conditions Analysis
Task 3 Mass Transits, Pedestrian and Bicycle Circulation Review
Task 4 Assign Committed Development
Task S Evaluate ImprovementAlternatives for Future Conditions
Task 6 Evaluate Possibility of Signalizing Pennsylvania Avenue & 17th Street
Task 7 Develop Traffic Operations Plan Options
Task 8 Recommendations and Report
Task 9 Meetings and Coordination
These tasks are described below:
Task 1 Data Collection and Parking Review
All traffic data used in the previous study will be incorporated in this study. As a part of this task
traffic data available from other previous traffic studies performed in the expanded area and
available with the City of Miami Beach will also be obtained and used. Additionally data
collected by PBS&J within the study area for other projects will be utilized for this study at no
2
additional cost. All additional traffic counts will be collected at intersections within the study
area. Following traffic studies have already been reviewed by PBS&J as part of the previous
study: ,
/ Lincoln East Parking Garage
/ 'TAO Restaurant Study (Supp)
/ TAO Restaurant Study
/ BODR for 16th Street
New World Symphony Study
/ Miami Beach City Center Mobility Study -The SYNCHRO model produced for this
study by AECOM was reviewed, however the model does not include the study area
proposed .for this study.
Seven day continuous counts will be performed within the area along major corridors to obtain
the variation of traffic within the study area .over a week and also to identify the peak hours of
operation. Tube counts will be performed at the following locations: .
~ Washington Avenue Between 17th Street and 15th Street
• Meridian Avenue Between 17th Street and 15th Street
• 17th Street Between Washington Avenue and Meridian Avenue
• 16th Street Between Washington Avenue and Meridian Avenue
• 1 Sth Street Between Washington Avenue and Meridian Avenue
It has already been established from previous studies in the area that on a typical weekday most
of the traffic congestion on roadways occurs during~the PM peak period and it is not necessary to
evaluate the AM peak period as the traffic conditions are less congested at that time. Therefore
turning movement counts will be performed at the intersections (locations where counts are not
already available) .during PM peak period and during a special event. A major special event was.
identified on Memorial Day Weekend (Year 2010) and it was decided in consultation with the
City that traffic behavior during this event would be studied..
All typical weekday PM peak traffic counts will be adjusted to account for seasonal .variation of
traffic using the appropriate Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) factor, which is
published by FDOT and is used to convert traffic on any given day to peak season traffic, so that
the most. conservative traffic volumes are used to perform traffic studies. Additionally a growth
factor (in case of older data) will be used; the growth factor used will be in consultation with the
City and Miami-Dade County.
Since this traffic. study will be conducted during Miami Beach's off-season period, therefore to
make the most conservative projection of traffic volumes for peak season special events, as part
of this data collection task, a detailed historical parking data for l year (broken down per day,
per hour) will be obtained from the City of Miami Beach Parking Department for garages within
the study area. This data will be used to generate a. factor that will reflect the growth of traffic
during the peak season. This factor will ~ then. be used to project the Memorial Day event traffic
volumes to peak season event traffic volumes, the increased volumes will then be used in Task 2,
Task 5 and Task 7, to recommend improvement alternatives on roadways within the. study area
and propose traffic operation plans on roadways.
3
Experienced traffic engineers will drive through .the roadways within the study area. to observe
and establish current traffic patterns within the neighborhood roadways during the PM peak
period of a regular weekday and during the peak hours of the Memorial Day Weekend special
event.
Signal timing information will be obtained from Miami-Dade County Public Works Department
(Traffic Signals and Signs Division). All background documentation collected will be provided
as part of the Appendix of the study. The current signal coordination and progression for two-
hour periods before and after special events, on 17th Street, 16th Street and 15th Street, will also
be observed.
. The current operation of parking garages/lots will be observed during regular weekday peak hour
of operation and during the Memorial Day Weekend special event ~ and the parking patterns
including the maximum utilization will be observed ,for each garage/lot. The parking pattern of
visitors in the .general vicinity will also be observed to identify the pattern in which the three
garages currently fill up before an event and empty after an event. The direction. of travel of the
visitors to and from the garages/lots will be observed and tracked to identify how they disperse
. on the roadways within the study area during the PM peak hour of a regular weekday and during
the above mentioned .special event. The control strategy currently followed .before and after the
event at various garages/lots and on the roadways will also be observed and inefficiencies will be
identified. This task will help link the traffic pattern at the garages to the traffic pattern on the
roadways as part of -Task 2, .which will help in developing the. traffic operations plan in Task 7.
For example some garages/lots may fill up before others, or all garages/lots may be filled up at
the same time, and so forth depending on what roadway controls are in place and at what
locations.
As part of the data collection process, information of all the planned and committed
developments within the area of study will also be obtained from the City of Miami Beach along
with other relevant input from the City staff.
Task 2 Existing Conditions Analysis
Existing intersection operating conditions within the area of study will be evaluated for the two
peak periods identified. Currently Drexel Avenue is temporarily closed between Lincoln Lane
and 17th Street for the construction of the New World Symphony and the Commission of the City
of Miami Beach has. directed that this section of Drexel Avenue will remain closed in future with
certain amendments. Upon discussion with the City staff it was agreed that the existing
conditions analysis will be performed for conditions after the closure..
The SYNCHRO model currently available with the City of Miami Beach for City .Center ,
Mobility Study was reviewed, however it does not include the study area proposed for this study,
therefore the "Synchro 7" traffic simulation model used in the previous "Drexel Avenue Closure
.Study" conducted by PBS&J will be expanded to .analyze the entire study area defined above.
The operating conditions on key roadway segments within the study area will be analyzed based
on the Generalized Service Volume Tables from FDOT's 2009 Quality/Level of Service
Handbook.
4
The parking data collected in Task 1 will be analyzed along with other intersection data.. This
will provide the basis to establish parking behavior before, during and after the above identified
special event within the area of study and during .the PM peak hours of a regular weekday. This
analysis will also be used to project parking behavior at the proposed garages/lots. This task will
help connect the current parking behavior to current control .strategies in place during the event
and identify any potential areas of concern. The results in this task will help develop, intersection
control strategies and traffic operations plan within the study area for the future. .
Task 3 Mass Transit, Pedestrian and Bicycle Circulation Review
City of Miami Beach has a significant proportion of traffic that is pedestrian bike and uses the
mass transit system and. other available facilities in the area. This pedestrian bike traffic
. especially during special events, spill on to the roadways disrupting vehicular traffic and causing
safety issues. Based on task 1, in this task the existing mass transit service, pedestrian. and
. bicycle facilities within the area of study will be reviewed including the current circulation
patterns and if necessary, mitigation measures will be provided. This task is necessary in order to
develop a comprehensive traffic operations plan for the future within the area of study.
Task 4 Assign Committed Development Traffic
The traffic volumes in the "Full build-out Year", which was obtained from the City of Miami
Beach Planning Department as part of Task 1 will be distributed on the. roadways within the
expanded study area. This traffic was assigned in the previous study but was limited to the study
area from Pennsylvania Avenue on the west to Washington Avenue on the east and from 17th
Street on the north to 16th Street on the south. As part of this study the traffic will be assigned on
all the roadways from Meridian Avenue on the west to Washington Avenue on the east and from
17th Street on the north to 15th Street on the south. This is necessary as it will help estimate the
increment in traffic volumes on the neighborhood roadways and intersections and will be used
for analysis in Task 5.
The traffic distribution on the roadways will be performed using the approved Miami-Dade
County planning model and_ in coordination with the City and County. The trip assignment for
the New World Symphony project (based on the AECOM Traffic Study) will also be readjusted
and reassigned to the roadways within the expanded study area as part of this task.
A background growth rate within the expanded area of study will be calculated based on historic
growth trends at nearby FDOT traffic count stations. Additionally, growth rates based on Miami-
IDade _ Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) projected 2015 and 2030 model network
volumes will be .examined. The higher of the two growth rates will be used in .the analysis.
Documentation will be provided in the Appendix of this study.
Task S Evaluate Improvement Alternatives. for Future Conditions
As part of this task the following scenario will be analyzed:
• Full Build-out Year within the study area (With Drexel Avenue Closed, including the
amendments proposed by the City Commission, -and roadway improvements that will help
intersections achieve acceptable level of service)
Based. on the results of the tasks above a set of improvement alternatives (in addition to the
improvements already identified in the previous study) will be developed for the maximum
impacted conditions and discussed with the City. The improvement alternatives that will be
explored will include the possibility of a dual right turn lane from Lincoln Lane to Washington
Avenue. Up to two (2) alternatives will be modeled in SYNCHRO to quantify delay and level of
service at roadway links and intersections. At the end of this task the improvements will help the
roadway links and intersections attain acceptable levels of serviceability:
The roadway alternative proposed for the Drexel Avenue in the previous study will be used in
the current study.
Task 6 Evaluate Possibility of Signalizing Pennsylvania Avenue & 17th Street
. The possibility of .signalizing the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue & 17th Street will be
explored in this task. This ~ will be performed . for, .future conditions when the New World
Symphony garage will be operational. The conditions will be explored for PM peak hour and
special event traffic. As part of this effort, it will be tested whether this signal may be tied with
the signal at Convention Center Drive.
Task 7 Develop Traffic Operations Plan Options
This effort will examine strategies to improve traffic circulation efficiently during PM peak hour
of a regular weekday and during special events within the area of study. Temporary traffic
control devices and potential traffic re-routing, temporary closure or temporary one-way street
conversion in addition to improved traffic signal synchronization will all be examined.
It is known that a well: coordinated signal system encourages the traffic to remain on the main
corridors/collectors going through a neighborhood thus reducing the cut-through traffic on the
local roads. Therefore as a part of the traffic signal synchronization strategy, the signal
coordination will be analyzed on 17th Street, 16th Street and 15th Street within the study area and
evaluated in conjunction with the operation of parking garage/lots during special events. An
improved signal coordination strategy, which will best serve the parking garage/lot operation
will be developed in coordination with the City and County and further evaluated, to quantify the
serviceability at intersections. The measure of effectiveness at intersections for current and
improved conditions- will be tabulated and compared to quantify the increase in efficiency. This
effort will ensure balanced traffic on the neighborhood roadways during PM peak hour on
regular weekdays and during special events.
Based on all the tasks above a set of traffic operations plan alternatives for special events will be
developed. -This may contain a series of strategies or a combination of different strategies
involving different departments of the City of Miami Beach. In a joint discussion with the City
and County all the strategies will be discussed along with the "pro/con" of each strategy and a
final list will be developed.
Task 8 Recommendations and Report
Based on the. tasks performed above recommendation for the area studied will be summarized
and discussed with the City and County. A report will be prepared which will summarize the
work effort performed. and also .include text and graphics necessary to summarize the
6
assumptions and analysis. If intersection and/or roadway segment capacity deficiencies are
identified,. strategies and. improvements will be developed and provided to attain City of Miami
Beach adopted level of service standards. The report will be submitted only electronically to the
City of Miami Beach. A draft report will be submitted for review and comments which will be
finalized upon approval.
Task 9 Meetings and Coordination
Meetings .and coordination, with the City, County and/or other entities as required, will be
conducted in this task. Up to three (3) meetings will be conducted and this will include meetings
with the public to present and discuss the result of findings and recommendations of the study
and with City staff.
END OF SCOPE
7'
~ -
~ y
DELIVERABLE:
Traffic Study Report for "Proposed Drexel Avenue Closure -Expanded Study Area" .will: be
submitted, which will include the following items:
• Evaluation of Possibility of Signalizing Pennsylvania Avenue & 17th Street
• Evaluation of Various. Traffic Operational Improvement Alternatives. within Study Area
• Signal Synchronization Strategy within Study Area During PM Peak Hours of Regular
Weekday and During Special Events
• Traffic Operations Plan Strategy within Study Area During PM Peak Hours of Regular
Weekday and During Special Events
SCHEDULE:
The following Schedule was set, taking in to account that a "Special Event", which significantly
impacts -the neighborhood will occur at-the City of Miami Beach at a later date, and the tasks
related to that will. be performed when the event occurs. The project will start once a formal
Notice to Proceed (NTPI is received bvPBS&J.
Task Schedule of
Com letion
Traffic. Counts - 1.5 Wks. from NTP
Data Collection and Parking (Information Collected from City of Miami Beach) Review 1.5 Wk from NTP
a Existing Conditions Analysis 2.0 Wks from NTP
W Mass Transit, Pedestrian and Bicycle Circulation Review 2
0 Wks from NTP
.
.c Reassign Committed Development and Existing Traffic - - 2.5 Wks from NTP
z Evaluate Improvement Alternatives for Future Conditions 3.5 Wks from NTP
Evaluate Possibility of Signalizing Pennsylvania Avenue & 17th Street 3.5 Wks from NTP
Preliminary Recommendations and Draft Memo 4.0 Wks from NTP
Traffic Counts/Data Collection 0.5 Wk from Event
Existing Conditions Analysis 1.0 Wk from Event
W Evaluate Improvement Alternatives 2.0 Wks from Event
Develop Traffic Operations Plan Options 2.5 Wks from Event
Final Recommendations and Traffic Study Report 3.5 Wks from Event
8
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