07/2398 - Traffic report · 132007.2398

 

 

4 Future Conditions

As discussed in Section 1.0 of this report, for the purposes of the following traffic analysis, the
“Base Year” for assessing of the impact of the proposed development was 2009 as this
represents the likely completion date of the first stage of the Retirement Village development.
The planning horizon, therefore, was 2019.

The critical intersections during the base scenarios in the vicinity of the site are considered to be:

« Elm Street at Pearsons Road; and
e¢ Elm Street at Diamond Street.

Only the above intersections have been analysed for the base scenarios as it surveys established
that the traffic currently using Trading Post Rd was negligible.

4.1 2009 Base Traffic Operations

Estimating the likely growth rate for the background traffic over the next 2 years took into
account historical growth rates from traffic surveys on Elm Street conducted by the Queensland
Department of Main Roads (DMR). DMR staff indicated that a traffic growth of approximately
3% (compound) per annum would be appropriate for Elm Street, as discussed in Section 2.3.
This is in contrast to the Shire’s population, which is recorded to have grown by only 2.3%? over
the 2000-2005 period. Interestingly, over the 2005-2006 period, the population has stabilised
within Noosa Shire, growing by less than 1% while the traffic volumes have continued to grow
significantly, indicating that the traffic growth could be the result of growth in pass-through and
tourist traffic.

Adopting DMR’s recommended growth rate of 3% p.a. (compound), the base traffic volumes in
2009 during the AM and PM peak periods have been determined and are illustrated on Figures
B3 and B4 within Appendix B herein.

The following table summarises the results of a traffic operational assessment for the three key
intersections that could potentially be affected by the proposed development for the 2009 base
year. The assessment of these intersections was undertaken utilising SIDRA3.2. The base 2009
Intersection Movement Summary output data sheets are provided in Appendix C.

SIDRA generated configurations of the existing intersections are shown as Figures 2 and 3
overleaf.

 

? Noosa Shire Financial Sustainability Review, Section 4, December 2006

 

3427-001(1}-Final doc: 04/1207