Edgeworth City Zoning Code

Inventory. The study shall examine the Borough's street and highway network and make a preliminary determination as to the streets and intersections likely to be affected by the proposed development. For purposes of this finding, the expected addition of as many as 20 vehicles per hour traveling in any direction along the affected street or approach to an intersection during either the a.m. or p.m. peak hour shall be deemed to be a significant effect. For these significantly affected streets and roadways, an inventory of pavement widths and conditions, travel speeds, traffic flow composition, twenty-four-hour traffic flows along the streets and a.m. and p.m. peak street traffic hour period (two hours each) turning movement counts at the intersections shall be obtained. The physical inventory data shall include locations and lengths of restricted sight distances, restricted lateral clearances, traffic and parking regulatory controls and pertinent observations concerning traffic operating conditions. Traffic flow data shall be adjusted to represent the expected flow on an average annual day through application of appropriate PennDOT adjustment factors.

The most current available three-year history of accidents as filed with the police department shall be obtained for each affected intersection. Collision diagrams shall be prepared for any high accident location (five or more per year) along the affected street system.

For each study intersection, a level-of-service capacity study, using the techniques for signalized or unsignalized intersections as described in the current edition of the Transportation Research Board's Highway Capacity Manual shall be completed. For these purposes, intersections shall be treated as if they are signalized with an optimum timing plan.

Any section of the affected street system which is carrying 300 or more vehicles per hour on a two-lane section, also shall be subjected to the appropriate capacity study.

The presentation of the findings of these studies shall include findings on what improvements, if any, are indicated as being needed under existing conditions, and their relationship to the improvements and priorities described in Edgeworth Borough's Zoning and Subdivision and Land Development regulations. These findings shall include an examination of the volume and accident warrants for signalization in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, as they may apply to any of the unsignalized study intersections which have need for immediate signalization.

The expected number of trips to be generated by the proposed development shall be estimated for the a.m. and p.m. peak hours and for a twenty-four-hour period by use of the appropriate trip generation factors in the current edition of Trip Generation, published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. The expected numbers of vehicles to be generated to and from the site may be adjusted downward by the estimated proportion of passersby in the existing flow which will be intercepted by the new development. This adjustment shall be reasonable and, wherever possible, based on actual survey results.

In similar fashion, for complex multiuse sites, the number of off-site movements may be adjusted downward by estimating the synergistic absorption of movements between different generators on-site. Again, this adjustment shall be reasonable and defendable.

The expected distribution of the generated movements throughout the defined study area shall be estimated for the a.m. and p.m. peak hours and for a twenty-four-hour period. This distribution shall be based on the best available information as to the likely movement directions to and from the site. The directional distribution and magnitudes of existing traffic flows may be employed for this purpose as well as origin and destination data for the area which can be obtained from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC).

The distributed flows shall be added to the existing volumes and turning movements for the a.m. and p.m. peak hour and for a twenty-four-hour period. These shall then be the estimated flows which are expected to prevail upon completion of the development.

For projects which will take several years to complete, the projected overall development plan shall be presented, and specific portions for which permits are sought shall be sufficiently detailed to make the above-described studies. The timetable for completion of each section for which permits are sought shall be specified and the study shall be broken into phases in accordance with this schedule.

The trips for the first section shall be added to the existing flows for a current year estimate and the trips for subsequent sections shall be added to the estimated volumes expected on the street system for each appropriate year plus the generated trips added for each prior section. It is to be noted that this procedure covers only those sections for which permits are being sought and does not constitute any obligation or assurance concerning future sections of the development on the part of Edgeworth Borough or the developer.

For each established study location, appropriate level-of-service capacity studies shall be made to ascertain the expected impact on the traffic flow. If the expected level of service is "D" or less, appropriate corrective measures shall be identified and described. If the prescribed corrective measures are already identified in the Edgeworth Borough Zoning or Subdivision and Land Development regulations, that fact shall be noted. If the expected level of service has changed from "D" to "E" or "F" as a result of the added traffic, that fact shall also be noted.

For each identified high hazard location, and for each study intersection with five or more accidents per year, and studies shall be presented of the extent to which these may be due to existing physical or control conditions and the extent to which the added traffic may exacerbate the condition. Appropriate corrective measures, along with their relationship to the minimum levels of service established by Edgeworth Borough, shall be identified and described.

If the developer desires to volunteer to undertake any of the identified corrective measures at his cost in the interest of timely completion in respect to his project, they should be identified in the impact report.

The location and design details of all proposed site access points shall be presented along with estimates of expected peak-hour entrance and exit flows and turning movements. Sight distances along the access streets at the access points shall be stated and any proposed modifications or controls of the access street which the developer proposed to build or install shall be described. An analysis of the expected level of hazard which may exist at the access points when in operation shall be presented.

In the case of multistage, multiyear projects, the overall development project shall identify the anticipated final access point layout, but only those access points being provided to handle the development traffic for those sections which permits are requested, need be subjected to this detailed analysis.