Township of Mansfield, NJ Article XXA Transportation and Impact Report

[Added 12-27-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-13]

§ 65-99.2 Identification of hazards; traffic study; analysis of impact.

A. Requirement. The maintenance of a safe transportation network is important to the public safety and welfare. The need to identify all hazards or problems created by proposed development is an essential step for the protection of the public and the assurance of orderly land development patterns.

B. Traffic studies will be required for all fast-food stores, convenience stores, banks and any facilities with a drive-in window, other commercial facilities of over 20,000 square feet, housing developments of over 50 houses, developments with 95 parking spaces or more or other developments as reasonably required by the Consolidated Land Use Board of Mansfield Township.

[Amended 3-5-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-5]

C. The transportation impact report is designed to identify the traffic impacts that are generated by a proposed use or uses and to identify all improvements required to ensure safe ingress to and egress from, maintenance of adequate roadway capacity and elimination of hazardous conditions as related to proposed development or developments.

(1) Traffic network site description.

(a) A detailed description of the highway network within the study area, a description of the proposed land uses, the anticipated stages of construction and the anticipated completion date of the proposed land development shall be provided. This description, which shall be in the form of a map at a scale of at least one inch equals 400 feet, shall include the following terms: all major intersections, all proposed and existing ingress and egress locations, all existing roadway widths and rights-of-way, all existing and proposed public transportation services and facilities within the study areas and the eighty-fifth-percentile speed.

(b) In addition, any changes to the highway network within the study area project shall be mapped and described. This description shall include the above items, as well as any proposed construction project that would alter the width and/or alignment of the present highway. All sources of such information shall be identified with reference to the title, author, date and publisher.

(c) The study area shall include areas that are impacted by the development. The study area should be confirmed with the traffic consultant for the Consolidated Land Use Board of Mansfield Township consultant prior to beginning the traffic study.

[Amended 3-5-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-5]

(2) A description of existing traffic conditions shall be provided indicating the following:

(a) A twenty-four-hour traffic count shall be conducted for a period of three weekdays (Monday to Friday) on all roadways which have direct access to the proposed development site. Prior to conducting traffic counts, the applicant shall submit a map identifying the location(s) for said site to the traffic consultant and seek approval to conduct counts at the specified locations. The existing average daily traffic volume and the highest average peak hour volume for any weekday hour between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. shall be recorded. Where such counts are conducted at intersections, delineation of all turning movements shall be made on fifteen-minute intervals. These traffic volumes shall be averaged to determine the average hourly peak traffic volumes and a projection of the thirtieth-highest hour volume for the three days between Monday and Friday. The applicant shall make available, upon request, all worksheets and field data used to generate figures documenting existing traffic conditions. Alternate traffic counts may be required during weekend or other peak time periods to anticipate seasonal variations in recreational traffic or other peaking characteristics. This requirement will be at the discretion of the traffic consultant, based upon the use proposed.

(b) All commercial activities will require Saturday hourly directional counts and will require manual turning movement counts between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

(c) Proposed plan. The transportation impact of the proposed project shall provide accurate data on the traffic conditions of roads in the immediate vicinity of the proposal at the time it is actually developed.

(d) Transportation impact of the development. The average weekday trip generation rates and the highest average hourly a.m., p.m. and Saturday trip generating rates for the proposed use shall be determined from the Institute of Transportation Engineers' trip generating report of comparable source information recognized by the traffic engineering profession. (Note: For most highways in Mansfield Township, the peak hours occur between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., except as required for seasonal evaluations. On such roads, the worst time condition of the road is unlikely to change solely because single use has different peak hours. Large development of regional impact may, however, alter this generalization; hence, data for both time periods must be provided.)

(e) Determination of roadway levels of service.

[1] Calculate roadway levels of service. Roadway service volumes shall be calculated for all roadways in the study area utilizing the latest Highway Capacity Manual and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) approved software.

[2] Levels of service shall be calculated for existing conditions, future conditions without site traffic and future (build out) conditions with site traffic.

(3) Determination of intersection service level.

(a) Calculated intersection levels of service. Intersection levels of service shall be calculated for all intersections in the study utilizing the latest Highway Capacity Manual and NJDOT approved software.

(b) Levels of service shall be calculated for existing conditions, future conditions without site traffic and future (build out) conditions with site traffic.

(4) Analysis of transportation impact. The future projected traffic, as determined above, will be assessed on the area transportation network. The analysis will determine the existing level of service, the future level of service in the year of build out and the future level of service at build out. In addition, improvements that may be required to determine an adequate level of Service C in the future will be determined. The applicant will determine the percent impact of the site on the various impacted roadways and intersections, any improvements needed to achieve level of Service C in the future, the cost of these improvements and the developer's fair share contribution for these improvements.

(5) If violation of state or federal air quality standards is found to exist or will result from the proposed development, the applicant will be required to pay a pro rata share of the cost necessary to make the required improvements to meet the state or federal air quality standards. Since development will not be allowed without this improvement in place, the developer that causes this violation may have to stage development or pay for the entire improvement to be allowed to develop fully.

(6) Traffic control devices. Whenever, as a result of additional traffic generated by a proposed development, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices determines the need for traffic signals or regulatory signs, the developer shall be responsible for securing all permits prior to obtaining final approval of all traffic devices and signs. If the traffic signal is warranted by the traffic that is produced by the development or would not be required without this development, the applicant shall be required to provide the traffic signal or bond for the  full cost of the construction of the traffic signal.

(7) Pedestrian circulation plan. A pedestrian circulation plan shall be created indicating the route and volume relationships of pedestrian traffic from sources such as recreation, work, schools, churches, etc., within the project boundary and within one mile of the project boundary and shall be assessed for adequacy.