At the end of May, the Danville Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) concluded Phase I of the Piney Forest Road corridor study in the City of Danville. The intent of the study is to identify deficiencies along the corridor and formulate recommendations to improve both the functionality and safety of this corridor. The MPO contracted with EPR Planning Consultants, of Charlottesville, to conduct the majority of the study. EPR has worked with the MPO extensively in past years, delivering high-quality products to the agency which have included the Danville River District Bicycle and Pedestrian Study, the Mount Cross Road/Averett University Study, and most recently, the MPO’s 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan update.
The Piney Forest Road corridor under study comprises a 2.6-mile segment extending from Holt Garrison Parkway at the south end to Franklin Turnpike at the north end. Traffic volumes along the corridor are very high, ranging from about 24,000 to 31,000 vehicles per day. EPR, in performing initial studies on the corridor, noted an increase in traffic and congestion, as well as a prevalence of crashes. A crash analysis conducted by EPR determined that the largest share of crashes, 52 percent, involved rear-end collisions, with 24 percent being angle-type crashes. EPR’s analysis showed that a major reason for the high number of crashes and types of crashes is the lack of vehicle access management along the corridor. Access management refers to managing and limiting the number of vehicular ingress and egress points so as to improve safety and functionality of a roadway. The study team determined that the corridor was served by, on average, 72 access points per mile, which mainly constitute driveways serving commercial establishments.
In addition to the vehicle safety and functionality elements of the study, the project team is also focusing on multimodal improvements, which include pedestrian, bicycle, and transit enhancements. It had been determined that, while sidewalks are present along the corridor, crosswalks are lacking in many areas, thereby contributing to unsafe pedestrian activity. Additionally, no bicycle infrastructure is available along the corridor, requring cyclists to ride in the travel lanes with high traffic volumes. Lastly, transit improvements are being explored, particularly with regard to providing at least one additional bus shelter in a high-transit use area of the corridor.
Danville MPO staff were responsible for conducting part of the analysis for this study. Specifically, a staff member explored the feasibility of implementing parallel vehicular connections along the corridor with the intent of reducing the number of vehicles directly utilizing the corridor. This was accomplished by identifying possible locations for frontage roads, backage roads, and opportunities for inter-parcel connectivity, whereby traffic could access a number of establishments along the corridor by way of these connections. MPO staff also explored best practices in access management by researching recent corridor studies and projects that had taken place in different areas of the U.S.
The public input process is underway with regard to the Piney Forest Road corridor study, and a virtual town hall meeting took place on April 27, which involved a project presentation as well as opportunities for members of the public to ask questions and provide comment. Furthermore, the MPO administered a MetroQuest survey to gather additional input into the plan, and this netted 476 total responses. This interactive survey solicited responses such as the types of projects respondents would like to see and how they would like funding allocated; a map view was also provided to enable survey takers to select where in the MPO area they believed issues existed as well as a comment box to describe the nature of those issues. Some of the public comments received noted that issues of aggressive driving existed, a need for access management, and questions regarding the effectiveness of a median, among others.
Phase II of the study will begin in late summer and will consist of collection of traffic data, field observations, and travel time analyses; Danville MPO staff will be responsible for the latter two of these items. As part of this phase, EPR will also forecast future traffic volumes and mitigation strategies. You may learn more about the Piney Forest Road corridor study by visiting https://danvillempo.org/.
