Town planners take a closer look at parking and traffic in the village
By Sophie Pappas
Village intersections take priority in 2014
South Main Street is seeing a developmental boom that will slow local travel unless lawmakers take action soon.
According to Town Council President Jeff Papa, three main intersections need to be updated in the village: First and Oak Streets, Main and Sycamore Streets, and Sycamore and First Streets.
This list includes the former PNC property, which the town purchased last year for $650,000, and the nearly 21 acres across from the PNC lot. This is where CITGO gas was located and is being surveyed by Buckingham Companies. This land is worth $1,523,000 and once it is developed will make village traffic control a necessity.
The town paid A&F Engineering $30,000 to survey this area. A&F told the town that these intersections should be restructured in ways to better suit the community.
Papa said the town doesn’t want to lose the possibility of using the PNC lot for additional parking or even a roundabout.
“I think what may end up happening is that we will gather public input and take bids,” Papa said. “We know that this is an entryway for the brick street and it is now up to us.”
A&F will enter phase two of its study of that intersection this year. Street Superintendent Lance Lantz said the infrastructure committee will be the first to review different ideas for a roundabout-type improvement.
“But we do not yet have diagrams as it is too preliminary,” Lantz said.
TADI report counts cars
The town commissioned Chicago-based company TADI to do a $79,000 independent study of the market and parking in downtown Zionsville. TADI monitored the village’s average daily traffic counts, or ADTs.
On a single weekday, vehicular counts at the intersection of Zionsville Road and Sycamore Street were 8,669, with an additional 6,335 on Zionsville Road. Counts on West Oak Street from First Street to Sheets Road were 12,667 and “increase slightly moving to the west.”
TADI states, “For a traditional downtown district, these nearby ADTs are good; many traditional downtowns lack similar visibility,” meaning simply that most residents in Zionsville are not within walking distance of big-box retailers and thus need to drive on the main roads to access those stores.
In addition, “The Michigan Road counts are significantly greater and increase from north to south, ranging from 17,634 to 35,964. Michigan Road’s auto orientation reinforces its desirability and visibility for (retailers).”
Plan commission approves TIS
In addition to A&F’s reviews of village intersections and TADI’s market and parking study, the traffic impact fee study will help give a comprehensive look at village traffic.
According to Lantz, the TIF is a state-mandated update and includes collecting data on intersection counts and road segment counts. It is funded via the town’s road impact fee fund and coordinated by the street department. The study costs $210,000.
“This information is necessary for the update, but also is useful information to have on its own,” he said.
Director of Planning Wayne DeLong confirmed that completing a traffic study is a three-step process.
The first step was completed in December, when a designated committee approved the petition for town planners to move forward with the TIS. Plan commissioners Jay Parks and Kevin Shiferl were part of this committee.
“As a staff we are certainly grateful to the committee for the time it invested in the creation of this draft,” DeLong said.
On Jan. 22, the plan commission was prepared to complete step two with its review and public hearing of the TIS draft. However, commissioners agreed to address the road impact fee ordinance at the Feb. 19 meeting.
DeLong said this will allow staff consultants to prepare necessary updates and clarifications.
Step three will be when the review moves from the plan commission to the town council.
By the numbers
$650,000 – amount the town paid for the PNC lot to create additional parking or build a roundabout in the village
$30,000 – cost of village traffic survey
$79,000 – cost of market and parking survey
$210,000 – cost of the state-mandated traffic impact fee study
8,669 – average number of cars that drive through the intersection of Zionsville Road and Sycamore Street in one day
12,667 – average number of cars that drive through the intersection of West Oak and First Streets in one day
