RFI - Attachment G - Traffic report - Stuart Holland

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1.0 Introduction

This traffic report has been prepared for Noosa Council in relation to the proposed Cooroy Hinterland
Playground at Marara Street, Maple Street and Lower Mill Road, Cooroy as shown on the Robinson
Architects plan at Figure 1, and the carpark proposal plan shown at Figure 2.




Figure 1: Site plan for playground works


The issues addressed are carparking provisions, impacts on the broader road network, and traffic layout
details.




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Figure 2: Upgraded carpark works




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HOLLAND TRAFFIC CONSULTING &

 

COOROY HINTERLAND PLAYGROUND

 

CARPARKING UPGRADE WORKS

 

 

 

LOCATION OF PROPOSED WORKS >
CARPARK AREA 2
REFER SHEET C12

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| -|NOT IN THIS CONTRACT

LOCATION OF PROPOSED WORKS
CARPARK AREA 4
REFER SHEET C10

 

 

 

 

LOCATION OF PROPOSED WORKS.
RAISED CROSSIN
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. PLAYGROUND

 

LOCATION OF
PROPOSED WORKS
CARPARK AREA 3

SHEET C14

 

 

 

 

LOCATION OF
PROPOSED WORKS
PATHWAY CONNECTION
REFER SHEET C13

 

 

 

PROPOSED
HINTERLAND

 

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LOCALITY PLAN

CONTRACT 1920T06!
SEPERABLE PORTION 1

PROJECT INDEX
SHEET REVISION SHEET DESCRIPTION
coc PROJECT COVER SHEET
cot ¢ DESIGN AND EXISTING LEGENDS
co oc GENERAL NOTES.
coo Oc TYPICAL SECTIONS
coc SETOUT PLAN - SHEET 4 of 2
cos SETOUT PLAN - SHEET 2 of 2
coc SETOUT TABLES
cor oc EXISTING, DEMO & SEDIMENT CONTROL PLAN 1 of 2
coe c EXISTING, DEMO & SEDIMENT CONTROL PLAN 2 of 2
coc DESIGN FEATURES - RAISED CROSSING
co 8 DESIGN FEATURES - CARPARK AREA 1
cn E MAINTENANCE ACCESS PLAN
cz oc DESIGN FEATURES - CARPARK AREA 2
csc DESIGN FEATURES - PATHWAY CONNECTION
cae DESIGN FEATURES - CARPARK AREA 3
csc ‘CONCRETE JOINT DETAILS
ce Oc LIBRARY CARPARK RECONFIGURATION PLAN
cr SAFETY IN DESIGN MATRIX
‘STANDARD DRAWINGS
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STANDARD DRAWING LOCATIONS:
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By the signing of fas statement | doom to cory all rawings inthis coniracUproject as lstedin he
<rawing index. shown on sheet C00, as being in accordance with this Project's Objectives.

PROJECT REVIEW ‘TITLE: INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING, DESIGN

‘AND DELIVERY MANAGER

SIGNED: DATE:

 

ENGINEERING CERTIFICATION
Inthe efect of Secton 115 ofthe Professional Engineers Act 2002, the professional engineering
sercoes in the areas of engineering required for ths project have been cared out by oF undes the
{Zupanvision of registered professional engineers who are regisered under the Actin respect ofthe
‘areas of engineering. _|ceriy thatthe design meets the requirements of al relevant Council
Policies, References, Standards, Planners and Design Inswucton, Code of Practice. Guidelines,
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As ees | Ben |S (Se RRR RSME po got tween TEWANTI CLD 455 EROIECT COVER SHEET [coo
i ie ii we es p07) $329 6500 emai: maiQnoosa ll gov au PROJECT COVER SHEET conc

 

 

 

 

 

 

igure 2: Upgraded carpark works

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2.0 Existing traffic conditions

The proposed playground site and other surrounding features are shown in Figure 3.




                                                                              Proposed new
                                                                              parking areas
 Industrial
 developments

                                                                               Cooroora
                                                                               woodworkers
                                                                               club

                                                                                      Existing
                                                                                      pedestrian
        Cooroy                                                                        bridge
        Camphor Laurel
        Timber Group            The Kilns


                                                                 Site

                                                                                           Cooroy
                                                                                           Library



                                Proposed new
                                parking area




Figure 3: Locality Plan


There is existing parking in Marara Street at the site frontage. That parking is currently primarily used for
the Cooroy Library, which also has access to parking in Maple Street at the front of the library.

There is an existing pedestrian bridge across the creek, linking the playground site with existing parking
at the front of the community buildings (Cooroora Woodworkers Club, The Kilns, and Cooroy Camphor
Laurel Timber Group) off Lower Mill Road. Some of that parking at the front of community buildings
(mainly at the western end) is used by staff of the industrial properties located on the western side of
Lower Mill Road. Staff of the industrial properties also park in the grassed elevated area on the eastern
side of Lower Mill Road.

Due to the current social distancing restrictions, particularly with regard to restrictions on operation of the
library, it has not been possible to undertake parking surveys to identify baseline parking demands
across the week as a basis for detailed assessment of parking impacts.

There are 2 hour time limit restrictions on the existing parking spaces on the southern side of Marara
Street, and at the front of the library in Maple Street, but there are no restrictions on parking on the
northern side of Marara Street or in the Lower Mil Road parking areas.



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An extract from the Noosa Carparking Study 2017-2036 identifies Council controlled parking in the
Cooroy township area, south of Marara Street (see Figure 4). Most of that parking has a 2 hour limit.
The report indicates that there are 329 Council controlled parking spaces in the area shown in Figure 4.

In addition to the Council controlled parking areas shown in Figure 4, there would be just as many
parking spaces located on private land within that township area, such that the township area would have
in the order of 600-700 parking spaces in total.




Figure 4: (Figure 3-5 from the Noosa Carparking Study 2017-2036) showing existing Council controlled
parking in the Cooroy township.


Traffic counts undertaken at the site frontage to Maple Street in February 2020 indicated in the order of
2200 vehicles per day with 8% heavy vehicles.




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3.0 Proposed development

The proposed development involves substantial upgrades to playground facilities as shown in Figure 1,
together with the addition of additional parking areas highlighted in Figures 2 and 3, including 12 new
parking spaces on the western side of Maple Street (as well as a new zebra crossing of Maple Street),
22 new parking spaces opposite the existing community building spaces off Lower Mill Road, and 30 new
parking spaces adjacent to the western side of the creek off the eastern end of the existing community
building parking area (64 new spaces in total).

It is also proposed to reconfigure the existing staff parking area at the rear of the library to achieve more
parking spaces in that area.


4.0 Traffic impacts on the broader road network

It is widely accepted in traffic engineering impact assessments that if development generated traffic flows
are less than 5% of existing traffic flows, that impacts are considered insignificant and then do not require
further detailed assessment.

Any concern with traffic flow impacts associated with the proposed new parking facilities would be
centred on impacts at the Garnett St / Maple Street / Myall Street roundabout.

For the following combination of reasons, traffic flow impacts associated with the proposed park
improvement works would be less than 5% of existing peak hour traffic flows at the Garnett St / Maple
Street / Myall Street roundabout, such that impacts on the broader road network would be insignificant
and do not need to be considered further:

(i)         While the proposal is to provide an additional 64 parking spaces to service the park
            improvements, the turnover of parking spaces associated with playground users would be
            lower than for parking spaces associated with use of the existing Cooroy township which has in
            the order of 600-700 parking spaces.

(ii)        Some of the playground users would combine their trip to the playground with a trip to the
            Cooroy town centre area, so those shared trips would not create additional traffic loadings on
            the broader network.

(iii)       In addition to traffic flows introduced to the roundabout by the 600-700 existing town centre
            parking spaces, there is also additional through traffic using the roundabout to/from areas west
            along Garnett Street and Mary River Road and south along Maple Street.

(iv)        The road traffic peaks occur in the weekday 8-9am and 3-4pm periods. Playground generated
            traffic flows at those road traffic peak times would be expected to be relatively low, with the
            playground expected to be busiest on weekends and less busy on weekdays (and an
            weekdays being busier in the middle of the day than in the AM or PM road peaks).


5.0 Carparking provisions

Assessment of parking provisions required for the proposed playground upgrade is not straight forward
and involves a range of considerations as discussed hereunder:

(i)         While it is important to ensure that sufficient parking spaces are provided, it is equally important
            to ensure that overprovision of parking does not occur so that scarce Council resources are not
            wasted in the provision of carparking spaces that may not be regularly utilised.

(ii)        Times of peak parking demand for the varying uses in the local area are unlikely to coincide.
            However, it is difficult to adequately profile and assess existing baseline demands across a


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            typical week at present, due to land use operating restrictions associated with current social
            distancing requirements. For example, playground parking demands are likely to peak at
            midday on weekends, when parking demands associated with competing land uses (other than
            perhaps the library on Saturday) are likely to be low. Also, the time of park parking demand for
            the overall surrounding area may also be at late morning on a weekday in school holidays,
            when all of the surrounding land uses, and the playground may be relatively busy.

(iii)       It is difficult to estimate the parking demand profiles across the week for the community
            buildings off Lower Mill Road, so it is difficult to estimate how those parking demand profiles
            might mesh with the parking demand profile for the playground.

(iv)        It is difficult to estimate how successful the playground might be and the associated parking
            demands at different time of the day and week and at different time of year (summer, winter,
            school holidays).

Parking provision requirements for these types of parkland upgrade are not well documented in the
literature. HTC has reviewed the peak parkland parking demand assessment prepared by Council
officers, “Hinterland Adventure Playground – Carparking Evaluation and Comparison Review”. That
document comprehensively reviews peak parking requirements for playgrounds of a similar size, and
reaches sound conclusions, that are relatively consistent with recent similar work undertaken by HTC
evaluating potential Council “water parks” at Logan City Council. That is, HTC agrees that the provision
of 60 additional parking spaces would likely be sufficient to cater for additional parking demands
generated by the proposed parkland upgrade.

The area of uncertainty, having regard to the above discussion, is whether the provision of 60 additional
parking spaces would potentially be excessive in practice, and lead to a waste of scarce Council
resources. For example, it may well be the case that the provision of the 12 additional parking spaces in
Maple Street together with the 22 additional spaces opposite the existing community building parking
area off Lower Mill Road could prove to be sufficient to satisfactorily accommodate peak parking
demands in a typical week.

A recommended compromise to address the above issues would be to fully construct the new parking
areas in Maple Street (12 spaces) and the additional spaces opposite the existing community building
parking area off Lower Mill Road (22 additional spaces), and to construct the other new parking area
proposed parallel with the creek (30 spaces) as an overflow parking area. This would be in conjunction
with a requirement that use of the overflow parking area be monitored for a full week in school holidays
and a full week outside of school holidays (possibly using a tube traffic counter at the eastern end of the
existing community building parking area) after the playground has been fully operational for three
months (and again at six months), and for the overflow parking area be formally sealed and linemarked if
regular use is identified at either period of monitoring. Funds should be set aside in the Council budget
to complete those works, but if the monitoring indicates that formalisation of the carpark is not necessary,
then those funds could then be used for other more worthy purposes.

In the above recommendation, the overflow parking area would need to be formally defined with log
fencing or similar, with parking space locations indicated on that fencing, and surfaced with an
appropriately drained material to prevent bogging of vehicles in wet weather and to accommodate foot
traffic.


6.0 Other traffic and parking related items

6.1 Library parking

The proposal will primarily impact on existing parking for the library because the prime parking spaces for
the playground are those in Marara Street. There are 9 existing parking spaces, including 2 disabled
parking spaces, on the southern side of Marara Street fronting the library building. There are no time
restrictions on the disabled parking spaces, and there is a 2 hour limit on the remaining 7 spaces.


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It is recommended that the three parking spaces closest to the existing disabled parking spaces be
signed as being for 15 minute parking, and that the remaining 4 parking spaces in that existing 2P zone
be clearly signed as being for library use only. 3 months after that change has been implemented, usage
should be reviewed to determine whether the number of 15 minute spaces (for short duration library
trips) should be increased or decreased to meet demands.

There is also a proposal to alter the existing configuration of parking at the rear of the library to provide
additional staff parking spaces in that area. The existing configuration in that area at the rear of the
library is necessary to accommodate manoeuvring of the very large library truck that moves to and from
that area daily. It is understood that there is currently an application to use a much smaller library truck.
It is recommended that alteration to the staff parking area at the rear of the library be postponed until
after use of smaller library truck commences.


6.2 Detailed layout traffic items

Sight lines when departing from the new Maple Street parking area, back onto Maple Street, are
restricted toward the west by the existing pedestrian bridge railing. The sight line would be improved by
moving the stop bar at the exit onto Maple Street out to the edge of the on-road cycle lane. Preliminary
review indicates that this would provide satisfactory sight distances, but ideally the drawing would be
extended west to that the full extent of the sight line can be demonstrated on the plans.

Modifications to the new zebra crossing as discussed on-site.


7.0 Conclusion

This report as assessed traffic and parking impacts associated with the proposed Cooroy Hinterland
Playground. It is concluded that:


(i)         Traffic impacts of the proposal on operation of the broader road network are considered
            insignificant (less than 5% of existing volumes in road traffic peak hour periods).

(ii)        The proposed parking provisions would be satisfactory to cater likely additional parking
            demands.

(iii)       To avoid wastage of scarce Council resources it is recommended that the new parking areas in
            Maple Street (12 spaces) and the additional spaces opposite the existing community building
            parking area off Lower Mill Road (22 additional spaces) be fully constructed as proposed, and
            that the other new parking area proposed parallel with the creek (30 spaces) be constructed as
            an overflow parking area. This should be in conjunction with a requirement that use of the
            overflow parking area be monitored for a full week in school holidays and a full week outside of
            school holidays (possibly using a tube traffic counter at the eastern end of the existing
            community building parking area) after the playground has been fully operational for three
            months (and again at six months), and for the overflow parking area be formally sealed and
            linemarked if regular use is identified at either period of monitoring. Funds should be set aside
            in the Council budget to complete those works, but if the monitoring indicates that formalisation
            of the carpark is not necessary, then those funds could then be used for other more worthy
            purposes.

(iv)        It is recommended that of the nine (9) existing parking spaces on the southern side of Marara
            Street, the three (3) parking spaces closest to the existing disabled parking spaces be signed
            as being for 15 minute parking, and that the remaining four (4) parking spaces in that existing
            2P zone be clearly signed as being for library use only. 3 months after that change has been
            implemented, usage should be reviewed to determine whether the number of 15 minute spaces


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            (for short duration library trips) should be increased or decreased to meet demands.




S A HOLLAND (RPEQ 05611)
HOLLAND TRAFFIC CONSULTING PTY LTD




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