Attachment 5 - Traffic Impact Assessment Final PTT · 132005.638.06

3.1.3         Transfer station design capacity
To determine the number of bays required data provided by NSC for November 2023 weighbridge passes
have been analysed to evaluate various arrangements and the associated level of service, and queuing from
transfer. Clearing time for each bay type, including vehicle manoeuvring and unloading after weighbridge
access, has been taken as the limiting design factor in selecting the number transfer station bays required.
There is approximately 40m of available queue length from the entry roundabout to the weighbridge at
transfer areas. The estimated time to manoeuvre in, unload and manoeuvre out, with sorting by patrons at
transfer bays for each vehicle type is provided in Appendix A. Sensitivity of total time required, wait time and
queue length by number of bays is provided in Appendix B and has been used to select the number of each
bay type, where queue length does not extend into the roundabout area at site entry. Vehicle volume
estimated average unload time and frequency are provided in Table 12.
Bay lengths are assigned for small vehicles, vehicles towing trailers, and large vehicles. Each of the three
categories have differing manoeuvring and length requirements. Large vehicles can be assigned to transfer
station bays or diverted to open tipping floor (preferred). This separation of bays also addresses the issue
identified with trailer manoeuvring difficulty; particularly public vehicles raised by the NSC operational team.
Table 12      Transfer bays and utilisation, minimum number of bays required

 Bay category      Vehicle types                      Number of          Weighted average                Maximum                  Minimum
                                                      vehicles           unload time                     vehicles per             bays
                                                                                                         hour observed            required
 Small             A - car                            3423               11.06 minutes                   22                       4
 vehicles          E - van or ute                                        + 1 minute                      4 occasions,
                   J - light commercial vehicle                          manoeuvring into                November
                                                                         bay and entering/               2023
                   H - rigid truck                                       exiting
 Vehicles          B – cars towing trailers           1338               12.79 minutes                   12, occurs               3
 towing trailers   F – vans and utes towing                              + 2 minutes                     once.
                   trailers                                              manoeuvring into                Saturday,
                                                                         bay and entering/               18 November
                                                                         exiting                         2023
 Large             K - compactor truck                84                 26.37 minutes                   3, occurs once.          Bulk
 vehicles          G - rigid truck towing a trailer                      + 2 minutes                     Friday,                  Tipping
                                                                         manoeuvring, bulk               17 November              Floor
                   L - articulated motor vehicle
                                                                         tipping floor is a loop         2023
                   M - vehicle carrying containers                       access road but
                   N - vehicle carrying                                  requires positioning
                   containers (Deeming)                                  of vehicle.


Sensitivity on number of bays has been determined for vehicle volumes up to 20% exceeding the volumes
observed in the November 2023 data to understand the impact of traffic volume variations. Peak periods of
high volume can be managed through reduced public sorting (reducing time in transfer bays) and deferred
operator sorting to mitigate traffic queuing. However, increasing the number of bays to five small bays, four
trailer bays and a bulk tipping floor for large vehicles provides additional risk management, queue length and
level of service (wait time) benefits that outweigh the loss of operational space and have been incorporated
into the Masterplan Design. These impacts are provided in tables in Appendix D to Appendix F. In
considering cumulative queuing between bay types, the vehicles to bulk tipping floor (BTF) are not included
as there is opportunity for vehicle staging within the warehouse, small and trailer bays are captured in
Table 13 to Table 16.
The minimum number of bays that will accommodate the anticipated traffic volumes without exceeding 40m
of queue length is four small bays and four trailer bays from the sensitivity cases. At 120% sensitivity, this is
1m from reaching the maximum queue length available and provides no opportunity for operational activities
or delays within the bays. Five small bays, four trailer bays and a bulk tipping floor arrangement can
accommodate the 120% sensitivity case of vehicle volumes within the available queuing length of 40m in the
Masterplan design, this was selected for implementation in the masterplan design. There is capacity in this
arrangement to accommodate operations including change of full skips, bays not in use due to full skips,
long duration unloading by the public, or interactions with operators.


                                                             Project number 526384 File Noosa Masterplanning Report 2025-02-07 Revision 0   19