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March 12, 2015
4297.06
Nathan Gurvich
Development Coordinator
Cressey Development Group
Suite 800, 925 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 3L2
Dear Nathan:
Re: Residential Development at 3365 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC
Transportation Review
We have completed our transportation review for the 117-unit residential rental development at 3365
Commercial Drive and specifically to articulate the following key points with respect to the project:
Document existing transportation conditions and any particularly issues;
Highlight the development scale is appropriate for the location (e.g. close to transit, amenities,
etc.);
Review vehicle parking and bicycle numbers for the project in the context of the City’s bylaw
and best practice;
Ensure loading can be managed for the development’s needs;
Quantify projected new vehicle movements travelling to/from the development; and,
Assess operations on the adjacent street network with the focus on the pedestrian-activated
signal at Commercial Drive with East 18th Avenue.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours truly,
Bunt & Associates
Paul Dorby, MSc.,
Senior Transportation Planner
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 2 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
1. INTRODUCTION Cressey Development Group is proposing a 117-unit residential rental project, positioned at the
north-west corner of Commercial Drive at East 18th Avenue in the City of Vancouver. It is located at
around 10-minutes walk from the Broadway and Commercial Drive transportation hub, with access
to the SkyTrain and bus routes along with commercial activities. The site location is highlighted at
Exhibit 1.1.
A site plan has been developed to meet the City’s requirements in terms of development form,
landscaping, parking, and loading, and as part of this process the City has requested a supporting
Transportation Study.
This letter report addresses this requirement, where the main focus will be assessing the site plan
from a transportation perspective, covering new vehicle movements, site access, parking provisions,
loading, and intersection analysis. These are typical considerations expected from the City based on
similar projects, but they may also identify if further work or review is needed depending on the
findings.
2. EXISTING CONDITIONS The development site fronts onto Commercial Drive and East 18th Avenue and will involve the
consolidation of 5 single-family lots to achieve the new development footprint. A close-up plan of
the site location and key transportation features is presented at Exhibit 2.1.
The main point of access for vehicles is expected to be at the intersection of East 18th Avenue and
Commercial Drive, which has a pedestrian-activated signal with minor stop controls on the East 18th
Avenue and Finlay Street (located opposite) approaches. To the west, East 18th Avenue connects with
Knight Street, where there is a minor stop control.
2.1 Transportation Surveys
Transportation surveys were conducted at both these intersections during the weekday morning
(7am to 9am) and afternoon (3pm to 6pm) periods to understand existing vehicle patterns for the
typical peak times along with the movement of pedestrians and cyclists. At the Commercial Drive
and East 18th Avenue intersection, the number of the traffic light activations was also recorded.
Weekday peak-hour periods were identified as follows:
Morning - 8am to 9am
Afternoon – 4:45pm to 5:45pm
&
S:\PROJECTS\Paul\4297.06 3365 Commercial Dr\7.0 Deliverables\7.1 Draft Reports\Graphics
3365 Commercial Drive Development, Vancouver, BC4297.06 June 2014 Scale NTS
Site LocationExhibit 1.1
SITEE 18th Ave
Com
merc
ial D
r
Knig
ht S
t
N
Victoria D
r
TroutLake
E Broadway
E 12th Ave
Central Valley Greenway
Kingsway
&
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3365 Commercial Drive Development, Vancouver, BC4297.06 June 2014 Scale NTS
Context PlanExhibit 2.1
SITE
Com
mercia
l Dr
Victoria
Dr
E 18th Ave
Fle
min
g S
t
Fle
min
g S
t
Lanew
ay
Welw
yn S
t
Fin
dla
y S
t
N
Bus Stops
Bicycle Push Buttons
Sidewalks
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 5 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
Vehicle volumes (two-way) observed along the East 18th Avenue and Commercial Drive frontages of
the site are summarized in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1: Two-way vehicle Volumes
Street Section AM PM
East 18th Avenue 300 150
Commercial Drive 940 1000
As is evident, the AM vehicle volumes on East 18th Avenue are almost double the PM levels, and
much of this difference can be attributed to the two local schools located nearby, which are active in
the morning peak period but not in the evening peak. Commercial Drive has marginally higher
vehicle volumes in the afternoon PM peak period, but is more than half the level on Knight Street at
East 18th Avenue, i.e. 2,300 vph (even though both have similar four-lane configurations).
Pedestrian movements and traffic light activations at the Commercial Drive and East 18th Avenue
intersection are summarized in Table 2.2 for the survey periods.
Table 2.2: Commercial / E18 / Finlay Pedestrian Crossings and Activations
Hour
Pedestrians
Crossing
Commercial Dr
Activations
7:00 to 8:00 33 21
8:00 to 9:00 60 37
15:00 to 16:00 44 29
16:00 to 17:00 38 20
17:00 to 18:00 45 27
Activations were reasonably frequent during the hours surveyed, ranging from 1 per 3-minutes to 1
per 2-minutes with the 8:00 to 9:00 period being the highest. This information will be used on the
operational assessment in Section 6.
2.2 Vehicle Trends
One of the key trends observed in the City of Vancouver is how it has experienced growth in
population levels while vehicle volumes have actually reduced over time. This point is covered in
Table 2.3.
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 6 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
Table 2.3: Traffic Entering Vancouver 1981 to 2006
Year of Count 7am to 9am 4pm to 6pm Rest of the day All Day
1981 62,000 44,000 212,000 318,000
1986 66,000 47,000 235,000 348,000
1991 75,000 60,000 294,000 429,000
1996 69,000 60,000 304,000 433,000
2001 62,000 56,000 280,000 398,000
2006 58,000 53,000 270,000 381,000
Source: City of Vancouver Website
Vehicle volumes entering the City have decreased since 1991, and at all times of the day, even
within the backdrop of increasing employment and population levels. Part of this success can be
attributed to locating new developments close to transit and local amenities, and hence lowering
the need for people to drive.
2.3 Parking
Table 2.4 summarizes parking supply on the street sections generally within a 5-minute walk of the
site, while ‘no parking’ is allowed on Commercial Drive in the vicinity of the site. It highlights that
there is a generous supply of visitor parking in the area and as part of the development plan the
parking along the site’s frontage will be formalized at East 18th Avenue.
Table 2.4: Parking Supply and Location
Street Boundary Parking
Location Supply
E 18th Avenue Knight St to Commercial Dr North and South Side 144
Findlay Street E 16th Ave to Commercial Dr East and West Side 39
Fleming Street E 15th Ave to E 20th Ave East and West Side 106
Welwyn Street E 18th Ave to E 20th Ave East and West Side 50
Dumfries Street E 15th Ave to E 18th Ave East and West Side 68
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 7 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
3. ACTIVE MODES AND TRANSIT This section reviews the site’s accessibility for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit as this will be an
important influence on the development’s future vehicle and parking projections. It will also
confirm the site’s suitability for the development form planned.
3.1 Pedestrians
Walking is a realistic form of travel for most people, especially over short distances, i.e. up to 2
kilometres or a 40-minute walk. The distance a person is willing to walk is to a large extent
dependent on the purpose of the journey, but is also influenced by factors such as urban form,
convenient street crossings, safety, personal fitness, auto ownership, parking availability, etc.
Guidance on the distances people are willing to walk for different land-use destinations are set out
in Table 3.1, focusing on those that can reasonably be accessed from the site.
Table 3.1: Pedestrian Facilities
Facility Threshold
Distances
Facilities that are within Threshold Distances to the
development
Bus Transit 400m (a) Bus stops on Commercial Drive at East 18th Avenue,
although the ones on Knight Street are 600-metres away
Rapid Transit 800m (a) Commercial / Broadway Station is around 800-metres
Schools 600-1,200m (b) Tyee and St Josephs Elementary Schools
Leisure Facilities 600-1,200m (b) Trout Lake Community Centre, John Hendry Park and
Clark Park
Shops, restaurants,
commercial 800-1,200m (b) Broadway, Commercial Drive, Finlay Street
Employment 2,000m (b) Shops and businesses along Broadway and Commercial
Drive
Sources: (a) TransLink; (b) Institute of Highways and Transportation (UK)
Clearly, the site is well-located for access to everyday amenities and this will form an important
influence on how the future residents should be able to lower their auto use.
Generally speaking the street network in the local area is, for the most part, fine-grained with the
exception of the footprints of the local parks at Clark and John Hendry and, even here, there are
pathways through them away from vehicle activity.
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 8 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
The strongest pedestrian desire line to local amenities and transit is expected to be northwards
along Commercial Drive to Broadway, while the local commercial on Finlay Street and Commercial
Drive (south of East 18th Avenue) will be important for day-to-day needs.
Sidewalks are present surrounding the site, as indicated at Exhibit 2.1, and extend along East 18th
Avenue, Fleming Street, Finlay Street, Welwyn Street, and Commercial Drive. Along the frontages of
the site the sidewalks will be upgraded along with the landscaping as part of the development plan
while the corner at Commercial Drive and East 18th Avenue will be given specific treatment.
Commercial Drive at East 18th Avenue has a pedestrian / cycle activated traffic signal. Pedestrian
volumes at East 18th Avenue is around 20 to 30 people crossing on the north-leg of the intersection
(adjacent to the site) during the peak-hour periods, and the storage for people waiting will be an
important design consideration.
Another pedestrian controlled crossing is located to the north at East 14th Avenue while full traffic
signals can be found at East 12th Avenue (Grandview) and Broadway.
Knight Street has pedestrian activated facilities at East 19th Avenue (for the school and bus stops)
and East 14th Avenue (accommodating the bicycle route). East 18th Avenue at Knight Street is not
considered to be on any particular desire line for cyclists or pedestrians.
3.2 Cyclists
The site is also well-located for cycling in Vancouver and the distance to the downtown is around 6-
kilometres. Bike routes in the vicinity of the site are highlighted at Exhibit 3.1 along with transit
connections and key local amenities.
To the west side of the site is the Dumfries / Woodlands bicycle route, running in a north-south
direction parallel to Commercial Drive and Knight Street. It connects with the east-west routes at
East 14th Avenue and East 10th Avenue to the north, and East 37th Avenue to the south.
To the east of Commercial Drive is John Hendry Park, where the Vanness and Gladstone routes are
located and these can be accessed via Victoria Drive and East 19th Street.
Cycling-activated push buttons are provided at the East 18th Avenue and Commercial Drive traffic
light.
Bicycle volumes on the section of East 18th Avenue fronting the site are typically around 10
movements per hour during the peak-hour periods
&
Pedestrian and Cycling RoutesExhibit 3.1
Bus Route
Bike Route
Commercial Area
Bus Stops
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3365 Commercial Drive Development, Vancouver, BC4297.06 June 2014 Scale NTS
E Broadway
E 12th Ave
E 15th Ave
Kingsway
E 18th Ave
Com
merc
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icto
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Dr
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Fra
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Woodla
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E 14th Ave
Nanaim
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King Edward Ave
E 22nd Ave
E 10th Ave
Lakew
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Central Valley Greenway
Gla
dsto
ne
St
Vanness Ave
#20#22
#9,99
800 m walk radius
Trout LakeCommunityCentre
St Joseph’sParish
St Joseph’sSchool
TyeeElementary
School
VancouverSchoolBoard
CommercialSkytrainStation
NanaimoSkytrainStation
#19,22,25
SITE
#25
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 10 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
3.3 Transit
Located around 800-metres from the site is the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station, which is
equivalent to a 10-minute walk (generally accepted by TransLink as the maximum threshold).
Pedestrian access is direct along Commercial Drive and has fronting commercial activities over
much of this distance.
Commercial Drive and Knight Street are also designated Frequent Transit Network (FTN) corridors,
and provide links to the downtown and the rapid transit networks. On Commercial Drive, for
example, the travel to time to the Commercial and Broadway Station from the site on the #20 route
is around 4-minutes (if people decide not to walk).
Altogether there are 4 daytime bus routes in the local area, located on the Commercial, Knight and
Broadway corridors. These are summarized in Table 3.2 and shown graphically at Exhibit 3.1.
Table 3.2: Transit Services within reasonable walking distance
Route / Stop Service headway (minutes)
# Name AM Period PM Period
9 Boundary / Granville / Alma 4 min 4 min
99 UBC / Commercial/ Broadway Station (B-line) 5 min 3 min
20 Victoria Drive / Downtown 6 - 12 min 6 - 12 min
22 Dunbar Loop to Knight via Downtown 6/7 min 6 / 7 min
Bus stops are located at the Finlay Street / East 18th Avenue / Commercial Drive intersection,
adjacent to the development site. The northbound one is positioned north of Finlay Street while the
southbound one is on the Victoria Diversion (south of Commercial Drive). Both locations have bus
shelters.
3.4 Accessibility Summary
Overall the site’s accessibility to local amenities, bicycle routes, and transit will positively influence
the future travel behavior of the new residents in lowering their auto use. Indeed, this is expected
to be a key motivation in attracting people to this location.
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 11 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
4. DEVELOPMENT PLAN The planned development at 3365 East 18th Avenue is projected to have 117 rental residential units
overall. Five of these units will be located on the west side of the site, developed around a heritage
house, while the main concentration of 112 units will be located in a new multi-family building.
A development site plan is presented at Exhibit 4.1 and a summary of the development statistics is
presented in Table 4.1. All parking for the development will be located on-site within a single level
underground parking structure.
Table 4.1: Development Breakdown
Land Use Number of units Floor Areas
West Building 5 597 sqm
East Building 112 7,400 sqm
The main pedestrian entrance to the East building will be on East 18th Avenue, close to the
Commercial Drive intersection.
Driveway access to the underground parking structure, serving both buildings, is planned at East
18th Avenue, which is the local street connecting between Commercial Drive and Knight Street. It will
be positioned 70-metres distance from the intersection at Commercial Drive, providing adequate
clearance distance.
The driveway location is slightly offset with the intersection opposite at Welwyn Street, but its
position has been constrained by a combination of elevation and depth on the development site.
This offset is not expected to be an operational issue given the relatively low level of vehicle turning
movements, and this matter has already been discussed with the City in a pre-application meeting.
Along the East 18th Avenue frontage, the sidewalk width is planned at 1.8metres along with a
landscape strip varying between 1.4-metres and 2.8 metres. On Commercial Drive, the sidewalk is
planned to be maintained at 2-metres width along with a set-back to the property line. These
dimensions are articulated on the landscape drawings.
Although not shown on the landscape plans, there may be opportunity to provide an on-street
parking or passenger loading pocket, but it will need to take into consideration the location of
existing utilities, trees, and maximising the public realm. This matter can be reviewed further as the
design progresses.
Additional pedestrian space is planned at the northwest corner of Commercial Drive and East 18th
Avenue, and this will assist with the comfort of pedestrians waiting to cross.
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 13 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
4.1 Vehicle and Bicycle Parking
Vehicle parking supply has been assessed separately between the main East Building (112 units)
and Heritage West Building (5 units) given the different building forms. In the case of the West
Building, 10 parking spaces are planned for residents and visitors, and this would be above the
bylaw minimum of 6 spaces required (as per Table 4.2.1.13).
For the East Building (112 units), it is planned to provide 64 parking spaces overall, and this
includes for accessible and visitor stalls. Presented in Table 4.2 is a summary of the City’s bylaw
parking requirement relevant to this building.
Table 4.2: City of Vancouver Parking By-law Requirements
Section Use Requirements
3.2.2(c)
For secured market
rental housing not
Downtown
Car-share provision: at a 1:5 ratio, to a maximum of 4
shared vehicles and 4 shared parking space for each 100
dwelling units;
4.5.B1
For Secured Rental
developments, except
Downtown, SEFC and
EFL
Min. 1 per 125 sq m GFA, less 20% (given accessibility of
the location – see Section 3);
Max. = Min. + 0.5 per unit;
Visitors Allocation: ( Min. 7.5%, Max. 15% of the No. of
units)
6.2.1.2 Multiple Dwelling Bicycle Space: Class A: 1.25 per unit; Class B: Min. 6
Summarized in Table 4.3 is the bylaw (minimum rate) calculation applying the allowable reductions
outlined in Table 4.2.
Table 4.3: East Building Parking Supply Review for the 7,400sqm (rounded) Floor Area
Item Bylaw
(minimum) Comments
Residents 59 without reductions
Accessibility -12 20% deduction as per bylaw
Car share reduction (4 vehicles) -16 optional to development needs - under review
Residents 31 or 47 after reductions with and without the car
share
Allocation to visitors 9 7.5% of units
Total 40 or 56 64 spaces planned, including 9 visitor
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 14 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
Key points from this review are:
64 spaces are planned, including 9 visitor and 5 accessible, and this will meet the City’s
minimum bylaw requirement along with being below the maximum (which is minimum plus 0.5
x 112units).
Five of the parking spaces will meet the City’s accessibility requirements and these can be
counted as double in the bylaw calculation.
Four spaces could be allocated to car-share vehicles, but this would not be fixed as the parking
provision is not reliant on this bylaw reduction.
Additionally 20% of the resident parking spaces are expected to have an electric charging
station, i.e. 11 spaces.
Just under 25% of the provision will be small parking spaces, i.e. 15 spaces.
All parking will be accessed from the planned new driveway at East 18th Avenue.
Summarized in Table 4.4 is the planned bicycle parking provision in the context of the bylaw
requirement to demonstrate that there is sufficient numbers planned.
Table 4.4: Bicycle Parking Requirement for all 117 units
Land use Class
Type Planned
Number
Required Rate
Residents A 154 147 A minimum of 1.25 spaces for every unit.
Residential
Visitor B 6 6
A minimum of 6 spaces for any
development with a minimum of 20 units
Bicycle parking will be located in the underground parkade (which is on one level) with the majority
stored in bike rooms.
4.2 Truck Servicing
City of Vancouver loading requirement is for 1 Class-B space per 100 to 299 residential units,
suggesting that for the 117 units planned 1 space would be required for the project, even though it
is only marginally over the 100 unit minimum threshold.
More of challenging is the fact that site does not have a rear laneway access and, from an urban
design standpoint, providing a loading space within the underground parkade will have a significant
impact on the elevation along East 18th Avenue, i.e. for creating the necessary additional headroom.
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 15 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
With this is in mind, the loading activities for the residential building have been reviewed in more
detail and how this can be managed given the constraints. Table 4.5 shows the typical service
vehicle type proportions for two residential projects in the downtown (covering a 12-hour period).
Table 4.5: Daily Residential Loading Demand (weekday 12-hours)
Vehicle Type Residence on
Georgia The Lions
Car, courier, van, pick-up truck 8% 62%
Cube Van 61% 35%
Single Unit Truck 31% 3%
Based on trip rates from these two buildings, the development is projected to generate 5 to 6
service vehicle movements per 12-hour period. This would be equivalent to 1 movement every 2
hours and, of these, a Single Unit truck movement would be 1 every 2 days.
This level of activity could be handled with a passenger loading space marked on East 18th Avenue
fronting the site (mentioned earlier). Smaller vehicles could access the visitor parking located within
the building, and especially as it has a higher utilization in the evening periods while servicing
activity is more daytime related.
This approach to loading seems pragmatic given there is no rear laneway access and intensity of
servicing activity will be low with the majority of movements being small vehicles or vans.
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 16 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
5. VEHICLE TRIP GENERATION Residential trip generation rates for the development were estimated from site surveys undertaken
by Bunt at other locations with similar location characteristics. Table 5.1 provides a summary of the
trip rates collected, and these are expected to be conservative given they are based on market
residential buildings whereas rental projects typically have lower vehicle trips rates.
Table 5.1: Residential Trip Generation Rates
Residential Sites AM Peak Hour PM Peak Hour
In Out Total In Out Total
205 E 10th Avenue, Vancouver 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.21 0.05 0.26
2181/2137 W 10th Ave, Vancouver n/a n/a n/a 0.18 0.05 0.23
Arbutus Walk, Vancouver n/a n/a n/a 0.19 0.08 0.27
819 Hamilton Street, Vancouver 0.01 0.19 0.20 0.19 0.09 0.28
1166 Melville Street, Vancouver 0.07 0.11 0.18 0.14 0.11 0.25
4132 Halifax Street, Burnaby 0.02 0.24 0.26 0.12 0.09 0.19
Proposed Rate 0.04 0.16 0.20 0.18 0.08 0.26
Based on the rates in Table 5.1, the number of new vehicle movements generated from the 117 unit
residential development is summarized in Table 5.2.
Table 5.2: Projected Residential Trips Movements Generated by the Development
Land Use AM Peak Hour PM Peak Hour
In Out Total In Out Total
Residential 5 19 24 22 10 32
At the development’s driveway access on East 18th Avenue, this would equate to around 23 to 30
new vehicle movements generated in the weekday peak-hour periods, which is equivalent to 1
vehicle movement every 2 minutes.
These new vehicle movements are expected to dissipate quickly on the local street network and
Table 5.3 sets out the expected distribution patterns based on existing observations on East 18th
Avenue at its connections with Commercial Drive and Knight Street.
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 17 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
Table 5.3: Residential Trip Distribution
Direction Proportion AM
Vehicle Trips
PM
Vehicle Trips
Commercial Drive North 35% 8 11
Victoria Diversion South 25% 6 8
Finlay Street 5% 1 2
Knight Street North 20% 5 6
Knight Street South 15% 4 5
Totals 100% 24 32
Given the development’s proximity to Commercial Drive, around 65% of the movements, or 15 to 20
vehicles per hour, are expected to pass through this intersection to access Commercial Drive
(arterial road). The remaining vehicle movements, 8 to 10, are expected to access Knight Street
(arterial road), which would be equivalent to 1 vehicle movement every 6 minutes.
To provide further clarity with the change of vehicle movements at Knight and Commercial, Table
5.4 summarizes the differences.
Table 5.4: Estimated Change in Vehicles at the East 18th Intersections
Street (section) Morning (veh/hr) Afternoon (veh/hr)
Volume Net Change Volume Net Change
Commercial Dr / E 18th Avenue 1150 1.3% 1110 1.9%
Knight St / East 18th Avenue 1960 0.4% 2390 0.4%
Evidently, the net change in vehicle volumes is expected to be modest at less than 2% during the
weekday peak-hour periods, and this would be well within the daily hourly variations.
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 18 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
6. OPERATIONAL REVIEW Intersection operations were modeled at East 18th Avenue’s intersections with Commercial Drive and
Knight Street for the weekday AM and PM peak-hour periods using Synchro 8.0.
Existing vehicle volumes are presented at Exhibit 6.1 based on the observed survey flows referred
to in Section 2 of the report, while future movements were added to the network based on the
distribution patterns developed in the previous section and these are presented at Exhibit 6.2.
One of the key outputs of the Synchro model is “Level of Service” (LOS), and outlined below is the
range of LOS outcomes based on vehicle delay and volume / capacity ratio (Source: Highway
Capacity Manual):
LOS A: Free Flow
LOS B: Reasonably Free Flow
LOS C: Stable Flow
LOS D: Approaching Unstable Flow
LOS E: Unstable Flow
LOS F: Forced or Breakdown Flow
Synchro has its limitations with regard to modelling pedestrian-activated signals, such as at
Commercial Drive and East 18th Avenue. For un-signalized intersections, the volume / capacity ratio
is not reported so alternatively the intersection capacity utilization (ICU) is used, which essentially
presents the capacity of the intersection and its utilization percentage. The model also includes
pedestrian volumes crossing Commercial Drive at E 18th Avenue along with the number of
activations (presented in Table 2.2).
Results from the existing intersections operations are presented in Table 6.1.
Table 6.1: Existing Traffic Conditions – Weekday AM and PM Peak hours
Street (section) Morning Peak Hour Afternoon Peak Hour
Overall LOS V/C Overall LOS V/C
Commercial Dr / E 18th Avenue
(Pedestrian Activated Signal) A 0.38 A 0.32
Knight St / East 18th Avenue
(Un-signalized) A 0.46 A 0.64
*Note – Intersections have different laning configurations which can have an effect on their capacities. LOS is a
function of vehicle delay and v/c ratios, and therefore some movements may experience significant delays while
others have plenty of spare capacity and vice versa resulting in variances in reported LOS versus v/c ratios
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3365 East 18th Avenue, Vancouver, BC4297.06 March 2015 Scale NTS
Existing Vehicles VolumesExhibit 6.1
N
3203
408
1111
7 25
2 750
21
7187
522866
87
55
21
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45
275
9
201530
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AM PEAK PERIOD
PM PEAK PERIOD
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Findlay St
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3365 East 18th Avenue, Vancouver, BC4297.06 March 2015 Scale NTS
Total Vehicle VolumesExhibit 6.2
N
3606
40
8
1111
7 26
5 750
22
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592971
88
55
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47
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AM PEAK PERIOD
PM PEAK PERIOD
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Site
Access
3150
246
7 12
SITE
1639
426
39
55
19
16
1340
27
31115
231533
35
29
51
5
48
635
5
E 18th Ave
Dum
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Findlay St
Site
Access
1480
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4 6
SITE
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 21 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
Clearly, no operational issues are observed based on the existing volumes applied to both the
intersections.
In the case of the intersection operation performance in the future, this entailed adding the new
development movements to the network, and Table 6.2 shows the results for the intersections
reviewed for the study along with the site access.
Table 6.2: Future Traffic Conditions – Weekday AM and PM Peak hours
Street (section) Morning Peak Hour Afternoon Peak Hour
Overall LOS V/C Overall LOS V/C
Commercial Dr / E 18th Avenue A 0.40 A 0.29
Knight St / East 18th Avenue A 0.47 A 0.67
E 18th Avenue / New Site Access A 0.18 A 0.19
Evidently the network will continue to operate well within an acceptable performance level and no
modifications will be necessary.
3365 East 18th Avenue Vancouver BC | Transportation Review 22 bunt & associates | Project No. 4297.06 March 2015
7. SUMMARY Cressey Development Group is proposing a 117-unit residential rental project, located at the north-
west corner of Commercial Drive and East 18th Avenue within the City of Vancouver.
The site driveway access will be located around 70-metres west of Commercial Drive and would be
slightly offset from Welwyn Avenue, located opposite.
On-site observations and analysis confirm no existing operational issues were identified in the
vicinity of the site. Weekday morning vehicle flows are typically higher along East 18th Avenue due to
the influence of the local schools nearby.
The development project is accessible to local amenities and transit, and especially given its
proximity to the Commercial and Broadway transit hub. It therefore can be considered supportive of
the density planned.
On-site vehicle parking provisions of 74 spaces falls within the minimum / maximum allowed under
the bylaw for this type of rental residential project, and all of which will be located on a single level
below grade structure. Parking space allocation will comply with the City’s design requirements for
small spaces and charging stations.
Resident bicycle parking (146 spaces) will be provided mainly in storage rooms, with some bike
room provision, while visitor parking will be located close to the main entrance on East 18th Avenue.
The development unit count at 117 is just above the minimum threshold for triggering a Class-B
loading space (i.e. 100 units). More challenging, however, is that there is no rear laneway for the
site, while the servicing vehicle intensity is expected to be low (1 movement per 2 hours). Given
this, it is proposed to provide a passenger loading zone on East 18th Avenue, fronting the site, and
smaller servicing vehicles would be able to access the visitor parking located within the building if
necessary.
New vehicle movements projected with the development site are expected to be around 23 to 30
(per hour) in the peak period times, or 1 vehicle every 2 minutes, and where the majority (two-
thirds) are expected to directly access Commercial Drive at the East 18th Avenue intersection.
The pedestrian-activated signal at Commercial Drive / East 18th Avenue / Finlay Street is expected
to operate well within capacity at peak times along with the intersection at East 18th Avenue and
Knight Street.
* * * * * * * * *